Sorrell Booke (January 4, 1930 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He acted in more than 100 plays and 150 television shows, and is best known for his role as corrupt politician Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg in the television show '' The Dukes of Hazzard''.

Early life and education

Booke was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, the son of Sol Booke, a physician. As a child, he entertained patients in his father's waiting room, and began acting on radio at nine. As a young radio actor he was known for his impersonations. He won a radio contest for mimicking the voice of Adolf Hitler, and appeared regularly as an actor on local radio stations WGR and WEBR. He attended Bennett High School and was valedictorian of the Class of 1946. Booke enrolled in

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

at 16, and performed in Shakespearean plays in Columbia's drama club. He graduated from Columbia at 19 in 1949, and received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

at the Yale School of Drama. He once starred in a stage production of Beethoven with Paul Newman while at Yale. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

for two years as a counterintelligence officer.

Career

After his Army service, Booke appeared

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

in '' The White Devil'' and had his first television role in the series '' Omnibus''. His Broadway debut was in 1956, in Michael Redgrave's production of '' The Sleeping Prince''. One prominent early role was that of Senator Billboard T. Rawkins in the 1960 revival of '' Finian's Rainbow.'' He also appeared in the films '' Black Like Me'', '' A Fine Madness'', '' What's Up, Doc?'' and '' Fail Safe''. In 1962, he starred in the Broadway musical '' Fiorello!'' as the title character. Aside from his film roles, he appeared on numerous television shows such as ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central charact ...

'', ''Cannon'', ''Ironside'', ''Route 66'', ''Hawaii Five-O'', '' The Rockford Files'', ''

Full House ''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend ...

'', '' The Guiding Light'' and '' 12 O'Clock High.'' He worked as a voice actor in the 1980s and early 1990s. Booke also was a guest conductor at the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Booke received an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

nomination for his appearance in '' Dr. Kildare'' in the episode "What's God to Julius?". He appeared in an episode of '' Mission: Impossible'' from the first season in 1966. Booke appeared in two early episodes of '' M*A*S*H'', as General Barker in "Requiem for a Lightweight" and " Chief Surgeon Who?"; the latter marked the debut of the character Corporal Klinger, with whom Booke's character had previously dealt. He also had a recurring role in ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American sitcoms in the United States, sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as ''Archie Bunker's Pla ...

'' as Mr. Sanders, personnel manager at Archie Bunker's workplace, Prendergast Tool and Die Company. (He had previously appeared on ''All in the Family'' as Lyle Bennett, the manager of a local television station.) Booke was featured on an episode of '' Good Times'', and had a recurring role as the Jewish mob boss "Lefkowitz" on ''

Soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

''. He also appeared in two episodes of '' Columbo'', "Swan Song" in Season 3 (featuring Johnny Cash) and "The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case" in Season 6. In 1976 he played a record producer in '' Rich Man, Poor Man Book II''. Booke's most notable role was in ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' as Boss Hogg, the humorously wicked antagonist to Bo and Luke Duke. The series ran on CBS for seven seasons, from 1979 to 1985. It spawned an animated series, '' The Dukes'' (1983), two reunion TV specials (by which time Booke had died, and the character of Boss Hogg was also said to be deceased), a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

(2005) and '' The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning'' (a 2007 TV movie). By the late 1980s, Booke had stopped appearing physically in acting roles, but he continued to perform voice work on several television shows and movies, occasionally as narrator, and sometimes as a cartoon character's voice, in such movies as '' Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers'' (1987 television movie), '' Gravedale High'' (1990 television series), and '' Rock-a-Doodle'' (1991).

Personal life

Booke was tall, weighed at the time of his Boss Hogg role, and wore padding to seem fatter. He copied the Hogg character's American South drawl from U.S. senators

Sam Ervin Samuel James Ervin Jr. (September 27, 1896April 23, 1985) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1954 to 1974. A Southern Democrat, he liked to call himself a " country lawyer", and often told humorous ...

and Strom Thurmond. Booke was fluent in English, French, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, and Italian. He said that he also “fussed" with a half-dozen other languages such as

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, Dutch, Persian, Polish, and Swedish. One of his hobbies was moving into and restoring rundown houses. In 1981, he lived in a "modest home on a modest street in Los Angeles", where he did his own gardening and carpentry. He called his Boss Hogg character "despicable", but enjoyed meeting fans of the show. Booke married Miranda Knickerbocker, then a senior at

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

, in 1958. She was the daughter of journalist Hubert Renfro Knickerbocker. They had two children before divorcing in 1973.

Death

On February 11, 1994, Sorrell Booke died of

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the Colon (anatomy), colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include Lower gastrointestinal ...

in Sherman Oaks, California. He is interred at the Jewish cemetery

Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery The Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery in Culver City, California, United States. Many Jewish people from the entertainment industry are buried there. The cemetery is known for Al Jolson's elaborate tomb (designed by Los Angeles ...

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...

Partial filmography

*'' Gone Are the Days!'' (1963) as Ol' Cap', Stonewall Jackson Cotchipee *'' Black Like Me'' (1964) as Dr. Jackson *'' Les Félins'' (1964) as Harry *'' Fail Safe'' (1964) as Congressman Raskob *'' A Fine Madness'' (1966) as Leonard Tupperman *'' Up the Down Staircase'' (1967) as Dr. Bester *'' Matchless'' (1967) as Colonel Coolpepper *'' The Borgia Stick'' (1967) as Alton *'' Bye Bye Braverman'' (1968) as Holly Levine *'' What's Up, Doc?'' (1972) as Harry *''

Slaughterhouse-Five ''Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death'' is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to his ...

'' (1972) as Lionel Merble *'' The Iceman Cometh'' (1973) as Hugo Kalmar *'' The Take'' (1974) as Oscar *'' Devil Times Five'' (1974) as Harvey Beckman *'' Bank Shot'' (1974) as Al G. Karp *'' The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery'' (1975) as Dr. Melon *'' Mastermind'' (1976) as Max Engstrom *'' Special Delivery'' (1976) as Hubert Zane *'' Freaky Friday'' (1976) as Mr. Dilk *'' The Other Side of Midnight'' (1977) as Lanchon *'' Record City'' (1978) as Coznowski *'' The Cat from Outer Space'' (1978) as Presiding Judge (uncredited) *'' Rock-a-Doodle'' (1991) as Pinky, the Manager (voice)

Television work

*'' The Guiding Light'' (1952) *'' Brenner'' (1959) *'' The Iceman Cometh'' (1960) *'' The Million Dollar Incident'' (1961) *''

Car 54, Where Are You? ''Car 54, Where Are You?'' is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 1961 to April 1963. Filmed in black and white, the series starred Joe E. Ross as Gunther Toody and Fred Gwynne as Francis Muldoon, two mismatched New York City Po ...

'', as Police Commissioner Harper in "How High Is Up?" (1962) *'' Route 66'', as Sam Frazier in "Voice at the End of the Line" (1962) *'' Naked City'' ''Beyond This Place There Be Dragons'' (9 episodes, 1960–1963) *'' The Patty Duke Show'', as Gilbert Tugwell in "Block That Statue" (1964) *'' 12 O'Clock High'', as Sgt. Aronson in "Faith, Hope, and Sgt. Aronson" (1965) *''

Slattery's People ''Slattery's People'' is a 1964–65 United States, American television series about local politics starring Richard Crenna as title character James Slattery, a state legislator, co-starring Ed Asner and Tol Avery, and featuring Carroll O'Conno ...

'' as Max Rice in "Question: What's a Swan Song for a Sparrow?" (1965) *''New York Television Theatre'' (1965) *'' T.H.E. Cat'' – Episode 1 (1966) *'' Mission: Impossible'' (1967) *'' The Borgia Stick'' (1967) *'' Ironside'' ''Shell Game'' (1968) *'' The Wild Wild West'', as Heisel in "The Night of the Egyptian Queen" (1968) *'' Hawaii Five-O'' - "The Double Wall" (1970) *''

Room 222 ''Room 222'' is an American comedy-drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox Television that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC for 112 episodes, from September 17, 1969, until January 11, 1974. The show was broadcast on 1969 ...

'' (one episode 1971) as Mr Bomberg *''

'' (1972-1977) as Joseph Sanders (4 episodes) / Mr. Bennett *'' Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law'' (1971) *'' M*A*S*H'' (2 episodes, 1972) as Gen. Wilson Spaulding Barker *'' The Manhunter'' (1972) *'' Gunshot'' (1972) *''

'', in "Milligan" (1972) as Gerald Pandy *'' Alias Smith and Jones'' (1972) *''Adventures of Nick Carter'' (1972) *''Dr. Max'' (1974) as Dr. Scott Herndon *''The Last Angry Man'' (1974) as Dr. Max Vogel *'' The New Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1974) as Herbie Vincent / Otto *''

Cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

'' (1974) *'' Columbo: Swan Song'' (1974) as J.J. Stringer *'' Kolchak: The Night Stalker'' (1974) as Mr. Eddy *''

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

'', in "A Dream Within a Dream" (1974) as Sheriff Hodges *'' Adventures of the Queen'' (1975) as Robert Dwight *'' The Streets of San Francisco'' (1975) as Quincy Lloyd *'' Rich Man, Poor Man Book II'' (1976) 5 episodes, as Phil Greenberg *'' Brenda Starr'' (1976) as A.J. Livwright *'' The Bob Newhart Show'' (1976) as Mr. Perlmutter *'' Hunter'', episode "The Lovejoy Files" (1977) as Mervyn *'' Black Sheep Squadron'' Episode "Poor Little Lambs" (1977) as Father Phillipe *'' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'' (1977) as Rabbi Weintraub *''The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened'' (1977) as Samuelson *'' The Amazing Howard Hughes'' (1977) as Fiorello LaGuardia *'' Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case'' (1977) as Bertie Hastings *''Greatest Heroes of the Bible'' (1978) *''

'' (1978) as Charles Lefkowitz *'' Good Times'' (1978) as Mr. Galbraith *'' Little House on the Prairie'' (1978) as Mr. Watson *'' What's Happening!!'' (1978) as Mr. Finley *'' The Rockford Files'' "The Jersey Bounce" (1978) as Wade G. Ward *'' Bigfoot and Wildboy'' (1979) *'' The Dukes of Hazzard'' (1979-1985) as Boss Hogg / Jefferson Davis Hogg *'' The Love Boat'' (1980) as Lucius Kergo *'' The Dukes'' (1983) as Jefferson Davis 'Boss' Hogg (voice) *'' Alice'' (1983) as Jefferson Davis 'Boss' Hogg *'' The Pound Puppies'' (1985) as Mayor Fist aka The Mayor (voice) *'' Newhart'' (1985) as Sheik Fraser *'' Crazy Like a Fox'' (1986) as Bernard 'Bernie' Sinclair *'' You Again?'' (1986) as Roger Davidson *'' Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers'' (1987) as Sheriff Rufus Buzby / T.J. Buzby (voice) *'' Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears'' (1988) as Mountain Bear (voice) *''

'' Episode "Our Very First Christmas Show" (1988) as Lionel / Santa Claus *'' The Smurfs'' (1988) (voice) *'' Fantastic Max'' (1988) (voice) *'' Don Coyote & Sancho Panda'' (1990) (voice) *'' Tom and Jerry Kids Show'' (1990) as Announcer (voice) *'' Gravedale High'' (1990) (voice) *'' Civil Wars'' (1991) as Charles Previn *'' Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation'' (1992) as Big Daddy Boo (voice) *'' Capitol Critters'' (1992) (voice) *'' Bonkers'' (1993) as Boss Hoss (voice) *'' The New Adventures of Captain Planet'' (1993) as Sheriff Hebbs (voice) *'' Droopy, Master Detective'' (voice) (1993)

Stage appearances

*'' The Sleeping Prince'' (1956) *''Nature's Way'' (1957) *'' Heartbreak House'' (1959) *'' Fiorello!'' (1959–61) (replacement) *'' Finian's Rainbow'' (1960) *''

Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...

'' (1960) *'' Purlie Victorious'' (1961–62) *''The White House'' (1964) *''Jonah'' (1966) *'' The Iceman Cometh'' (1966) *''Come Live with Me'' (1967) *'' Morning, Noon and Night'' (1968)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Booke, Sorrell 1930 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American male actors United States Army personnel of the Korean War American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors American male voice actors Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery Deaths from colorectal cancer in California Jewish American male actors Male actors from Buffalo, New York Military personnel from Buffalo, New York United States Army officers David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni 20th-century American Jews