Lulu Roman, Popular ‘Hee Haw’ Comedian and Gospel Singer, Dies at 78

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | April 24th 2025 | Mike Barnes

[Ciaphas Cain]

Lulu Roman, the brash Hee Haw comedian and gospel singer who delighted fans of the long-running country music variety show while turning her life around in the process, has died. She was 78.

Roman died Wednesday in Bellingham, Washington, her son, Damon Roman, told The Hollywood Reporter. She had moved there to be with him seven months ago. No cause of death has been determined. <

Roman appeared on the first episode of CBS’ Hee Haw in June 1969 and on the last one, with the show in syndication, in June 1993. During its impressive run, she reinvented herself as a gospel singer, and she would release more than a dozen albums, perform in concert and record with the likes of Dolly Parton. (Watch and hear her sing “Crazy” here).

Mike Patrick, Longtime ESPN Play-by-Play Man, Dies at 80 Born Bertha Louise Hable in a home for unwed mothers on May 6, 1946, Roman was dropped off at a Baptist facility for orphans in Dallas. A thyroid condition would cause her to be overweight, and she was never adopted.

She said she developed a drug problem while attending W.W. Samuell High School, and after graduating in 1964, she made ends meet performing in a comedy act billed as “Lulu Roman, the World’s Biggest Go-Go Dancer” in nightclubs owned by Jack Ruby.

[MikelTackNailer]

We thought we were rich although we were really poor. Looking back, I see that we had all the riches in the world.

Well said. You speak for many of us here who measure wealth by our blessings and the time we have with those we love.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

It was such quality time.

Kids today will never know how it feels to have a mother waiting at home for them after school or being home with them when they are sick, bringing tomato soup and grilled cheese during The Price is Right on a tray or placing a cool cloth on your head when you had a fever. They will never know about courting or being courted by the cute girl or boy in high school, or the butterflies with that first kiss or family time at the pizza restaurant and everyone laughing together.

America has fallen.