June 5, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Boss Hogg, played by long-time actor Sorrell Booke, had a much wider range of skill and talents than the bumbling Boss would have some believe. Here to tell the story is Nick Ragone, host of the popular YouTube channel, "This Date in History with Nick Ragone."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories up next. The
Dukes of Hazard spend seven seasons reyaling television viewers with
the antics of a group of Southern cousins as they
dealt with everyday life, but somehow involved leaping over ramps
in their iconic car. The General Lee, opposing the Cousins
with all the skills of Barney Fife on Valium, stood,
(00:32):
among others, Commissioner Boss Hog, a corrupt and greedy politician
that managed to embody every Southern stereotype while still being
a beloved character to many who watched the show. Played
by longtime actor Sorrel Book, the man himself had a
much wider range of skill and talents than the bumbling
Boss would have some believe. Let's take a listen to
(00:54):
the story.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Just a good old Boss.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
When you hear the name Boss Hogg, what do you
think of?
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Most likely the corrupt boss of Hazard County that was
forever trying to entrap those rascally Duke boys and lock them.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Up on one false charge after another.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Glary, you're going to be out of my head for
two years.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
You conjure up images of a ball portly shortman and
his trusty sidekick Roscoe P. Coltrane, who together ruled Hazard County,
Georgia with an iron fist. You probably don't give much
thought to the actor who portrayed Boss Hogg Sorell Book.
After all, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about him, other
than that he seemed to have perfected the buffoonish, cartoon
(01:46):
like character that was Boss Hogg. But what if I
told you that Sorell Book, the man who played Boss
Hog of the Dukes of Hazzard was actually a bona
fide genius and.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
A legitimate war hero. Would you believe me?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Well, it is true.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I'm Nicker Goon, host of the popular YouTube channel This
Day and History with Nicker Goon, and we've been doing
a series of videos on Hollywood heroes, the men and
women of film and TV who served their country during wartime.
So many of the people that we admired from the
movies and TV also served in combat and rarely, if ever,
spoke about it. People like Russell Johnson, the professor from
(02:27):
Gilligan's Island. The guy flew forty four combat missions of
the Pacific during World War Two and received a purple heart.
Our Carney of the Honeymooners also received a Purple Heart
during World War Two. Betty White and b Arthur, two
of the Golden Girls, served in the Army and Marines, respectively,
(02:47):
during the Second World War. The list of actors and
athletes who have served during combat just goes on and
on and on. But the person who has received the
most interest by far in our series has been Currell
Book Boss Hogg, and it's not even close.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
People are absolutely.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Stunned and fascinated to learn that Surrel Book was the
polar opposite of his most iconic character, Boss Hogg's.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
That truth, Sir was creeping into his domestic bliss.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Jefferson Davis Hogg, you are a low down pole cat
if the walkah, but lu.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Lu Kim's I didn't mean what I said, and that
is I meant it, but I didn't mean to say it.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
What I mean is I can't help, for some compelling
reason from saying anything but the awful truth that you
married me for my money.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
That was the only way to get it.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And I'm as big as a house.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well they're all different sized houses.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
And that when I went to the beauty parlor, it
looked like I never got weited on.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Did you I mean, didn't you know it? On? I
don't know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I just know that I can't help what's come over me.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
This look true real out you out.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
It just goes to show that you should never judge
a book by its cover pun intended. You know, the
word genius gets thrown around a lot, way too much
in fact, but in the case of Sorel Book, it
really does apply. The man was an honest to goodness
genius the time with an IQ that's off the charts.
(04:27):
You don't believe me, Try this on for size. Sorel
Book graduated. He graduated from Columbia University, one of the
most prestigious and difficult colleges in the country at that time,
at the age of nineteen. Mind you, most people are
wrapping up high school or entering their freshman year at
that age, and he's already earned a degree in drama.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
During his time at Columbia.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
He was a very accomplished Shakespearean actor, and he immediately
went out to receive a master's degree from the Yale
School of Drama.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
The premiere program for serious dea Espians.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
By the time he was twenty one, so Sorel Book
is twenty one years old, has degrees in drama from
Columbia and Yale. He's already well regarded and making a
name for himself in the stage community. And what does
he decide to do. He joins the United States Army.
(05:21):
The Korean War had just begun and there was a
need for counterintelligence officers who were fluent in Korean and
Chinese and who could help with translations, interrogations, counterintelligence operations, misinformation,
and a whole bunch of other classified work.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, the part I haven't.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Told you yet is that Sorel Book was also fluent
in twelve languages, and, as he put it, semi fluid
or conversational in six other languages. And those languages included Russian, Chinese,
and Korean, among others, which came in really handy during
the Cold War and specifically the Korean War. Look, mastering
more than a few languages is really, really hard. Being
(06:00):
fluent in a dozen or sol languages isn't only off
the charts insanely difficult, but it probably made him one
of only a handful of people on the planet at
the time who was fluent or semi fluent in more
than a dozen languages, especially some really difficult ones.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
He quite literally could have done anything he wanted to.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
He was that brilliant, and yet he chose to serve
his country at the ouset of the Cold War, a
time when the world was a pretty scary place. Remember,
the Soviets had just acquired the atomic bomb a few
years earlier. There was now a hot war in Korea
that most Americans really didn't understand. The Red Scare in
the US was just beginning to take off. Our country
(06:42):
was on edge, and there was still fatigue from World
War Two. Remember, but Sorell book answered the call when
he didn't have to, and that may be the most
impressive thing about the guy. This wasn't World War Two,
which almost everyone felt compelled to assist.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
In some way.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
This was the Korean War, a much different situation, and
for a man with this many options, this brilliant to
put his life and career on whold to service country
is a pretty extraordinary thing to do. Sadly, much of
his work during the Korean War remains classified to this day.
There's really not much in the public domain about specifically
what he did, other than that he specialized in counterintelligence.
(07:24):
I really hope someday that his file is declassified so
we can better understand what he worked on. And of course, Sorell,
like so many of the Greatest Generation heroes, never ever
spoke a word of his service. In fact, whenever anyone
asked him about being in the army or serving in
the Korean War, his standard answer was, I'm just an ordinary.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Guy from Buffalo, New York.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
What's so fascinating about Sorell isn't just his service during
the Korean War and his true genius, but also his
career arc. So many actors that are identified with one
character tend to denigrate or downgrade that role, or even
run away from the character. Think Carol O'Connor with Archie Bunker,
Robert Reid is Mike Brady, even Jason Alexander is George
(08:09):
to some extent because they don't want to be solely
remembered for that or sometimes they don't even love the
character that much or even like them the characters beneath
them or not really who they are. But that was
never the case with Cerell. Book he played one of
the most ridiculous characters in TV history, and I dare
you to find a quote from him denigrating boss Hog
(08:31):
or the show. You won't find it because it doesn't exist.
You probably remember seeing him on mash or Colombo, Gun Smoke,
The Rocker Files, and a million other shows. You may
not have always recognized him because as Boss Hog, he
actually wore a fat suit, believe it or not. And
there's no way he could have known that The Dukes
(08:52):
of Hazard would be a smash, hit and run for
as long as it did, and that he would sort
of be the breakout.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Star in a way.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
That show wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining without him.
And the thing that people remember about the Duke's the
Hazard is the car, the general Lee, Boss Hog, and
of course Daisy Duke, or more specifically Daisy Dukes, and
so that's what we remember him for boss Hog. It
would have been nice to know all this about him
while the show is running, but these heroes just didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Work that way.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
They weren't going to talk about themselves and they rarely did.
It certainly would have changed the way I looked at
the character.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Of boss Hog, for sure.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
God blessed this extraordinary man in Patriots Surrell book. I
bet there's a reward in all this big enough to
choke a plowhorse.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Well, what are you standing there for? Ldhead mount of
mercive man?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Look name too, I was mister Hall's.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Spread out one you get them?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Will you get Platt in the system? Lack of two
modern day Robin.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And a terrific job on the storytelling, production and editing
by our own Greg Hengler and a special thanks to
Nick Ragone. You can find him on YouTube's This State
in History and What a story he told about. Sorel Book,
the polar opposite of the character he played in The
Dukes of Hazzard, And of course he graduated from the
Yale School of Drama, the best in the country at
(10:29):
the age of twenty one, and then decides to volunteer
for the Korean War, being involved in the most important
part of warfare, and that of course is counter intelligence.
The story of boss Hog, that is the man who
played him. Sorel Book here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories up next. The
Dukes of Hazard spend seven seasons reyaling television viewers with
the antics of a group of Southern cousins as they
dealt with everyday life, but somehow involved leaping over ramps
in their iconic car. The General Lee, opposing the Cousins
with all the skills of Barney Fife on Valium, stood,
(00:32):
among others, Commissioner Boss Hog, a corrupt and greedy politician
that managed to embody every Southern stereotype while still being
a beloved character to many who watched the show. Played
by longtime actor Sorrel Book, the man himself had a
much wider range of skill and talents than the bumbling
Boss would have some believe. Let's take a listen to
(00:54):
the story.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Just a good old Boss.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
When you hear the name Boss Hogg, what do you
think of?
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Most likely the corrupt boss of Hazard County that was
forever trying to entrap those rascally Duke boys and lock them.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Up on one false charge after another.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Glary, you're going to be out of my head for
two years.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
You conjure up images of a ball portly shortman and
his trusty sidekick Roscoe P. Coltrane, who together ruled Hazard County,
Georgia with an iron fist. You probably don't give much
thought to the actor who portrayed Boss Hogg Sorell Book.
After all, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about him, other
than that he seemed to have perfected the buffoonish, cartoon
(01:46):
like character that was Boss Hogg. But what if I
told you that Sorell Book, the man who played Boss
Hog of the Dukes of Hazzard was actually a bona
fide genius and.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
A legitimate war hero. Would you believe me?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Well, it is true.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I'm Nicker Goon, host of the popular YouTube channel This
Day and History with Nicker Goon, and we've been doing
a series of videos on Hollywood heroes, the men and
women of film and TV who served their country during wartime.
So many of the people that we admired from the
movies and TV also served in combat and rarely, if ever,
spoke about it. People like Russell Johnson, the professor from
(02:27):
Gilligan's Island. The guy flew forty four combat missions of
the Pacific during World War Two and received a purple heart.
Our Carney of the Honeymooners also received a Purple Heart
during World War Two. Betty White and b Arthur, two
of the Golden Girls, served in the Army and Marines, respectively,
(02:47):
during the Second World War. The list of actors and
athletes who have served during combat just goes on and
on and on. But the person who has received the
most interest by far in our series has been Currell
Book Boss Hogg, and it's not even close.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
People are absolutely.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Stunned and fascinated to learn that Surrel Book was the
polar opposite of his most iconic character, Boss Hogg's.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
That truth, Sir was creeping into his domestic bliss.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Jefferson Davis Hogg, you are a low down pole cat
if the walkah, but lu.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Lu Kim's I didn't mean what I said, and that
is I meant it, but I didn't mean to say it.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
What I mean is I can't help, for some compelling
reason from saying anything but the awful truth that you
married me for my money.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
That was the only way to get it.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And I'm as big as a house.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well they're all different sized houses.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
And that when I went to the beauty parlor, it
looked like I never got weited on.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Did you I mean, didn't you know it? On? I
don't know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I just know that I can't help what's come over me.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
This look true real out you out.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
It just goes to show that you should never judge
a book by its cover pun intended. You know, the
word genius gets thrown around a lot, way too much
in fact, but in the case of Sorel Book, it
really does apply. The man was an honest to goodness
genius the time with an IQ that's off the charts.
(04:27):
You don't believe me, Try this on for size. Sorel
Book graduated. He graduated from Columbia University, one of the
most prestigious and difficult colleges in the country at that time,
at the age of nineteen. Mind you, most people are
wrapping up high school or entering their freshman year at
that age, and he's already earned a degree in drama.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
During his time at Columbia.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
He was a very accomplished Shakespearean actor, and he immediately
went out to receive a master's degree from the Yale
School of Drama.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
The premiere program for serious dea Espians.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
By the time he was twenty one, so Sorel Book
is twenty one years old, has degrees in drama from
Columbia and Yale. He's already well regarded and making a
name for himself in the stage community. And what does
he decide to do. He joins the United States Army.
(05:21):
The Korean War had just begun and there was a
need for counterintelligence officers who were fluent in Korean and
Chinese and who could help with translations, interrogations, counterintelligence operations, misinformation,
and a whole bunch of other classified work.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, the part I haven't.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Told you yet is that Sorel Book was also fluent
in twelve languages, and, as he put it, semi fluid
or conversational in six other languages. And those languages included Russian, Chinese,
and Korean, among others, which came in really handy during
the Cold War and specifically the Korean War. Look, mastering
more than a few languages is really, really hard. Being
(06:00):
fluent in a dozen or sol languages isn't only off
the charts insanely difficult, but it probably made him one
of only a handful of people on the planet at
the time who was fluent or semi fluent in more
than a dozen languages, especially some really difficult ones.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
He quite literally could have done anything he wanted to.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
He was that brilliant, and yet he chose to serve
his country at the ouset of the Cold War, a
time when the world was a pretty scary place. Remember,
the Soviets had just acquired the atomic bomb a few
years earlier. There was now a hot war in Korea
that most Americans really didn't understand. The Red Scare in
the US was just beginning to take off. Our country
(06:42):
was on edge, and there was still fatigue from World
War Two. Remember, but Sorell book answered the call when
he didn't have to, and that may be the most
impressive thing about the guy. This wasn't World War Two,
which almost everyone felt compelled to assist.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
In some way.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
This was the Korean War, a much different situation, and
for a man with this many options, this brilliant to
put his life and career on whold to service country
is a pretty extraordinary thing to do. Sadly, much of
his work during the Korean War remains classified to this day.
There's really not much in the public domain about specifically
what he did, other than that he specialized in counterintelligence.
(07:24):
I really hope someday that his file is declassified so
we can better understand what he worked on. And of course, Sorell,
like so many of the Greatest Generation heroes, never ever
spoke a word of his service. In fact, whenever anyone
asked him about being in the army or serving in
the Korean War, his standard answer was, I'm just an ordinary.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Guy from Buffalo, New York.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
What's so fascinating about Sorell isn't just his service during
the Korean War and his true genius, but also his
career arc. So many actors that are identified with one
character tend to denigrate or downgrade that role, or even
run away from the character. Think Carol O'Connor with Archie Bunker,
Robert Reid is Mike Brady, even Jason Alexander is George
(08:09):
to some extent because they don't want to be solely
remembered for that or sometimes they don't even love the
character that much or even like them the characters beneath
them or not really who they are. But that was
never the case with Cerell. Book he played one of
the most ridiculous characters in TV history, and I dare
you to find a quote from him denigrating boss Hog
(08:31):
or the show. You won't find it because it doesn't exist.
You probably remember seeing him on mash or Colombo, Gun Smoke,
The Rocker Files, and a million other shows. You may
not have always recognized him because as Boss Hog, he
actually wore a fat suit, believe it or not. And
there's no way he could have known that The Dukes
(08:52):
of Hazard would be a smash, hit and run for
as long as it did, and that he would sort
of be the breakout.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Star in a way.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
That show wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining without him.
And the thing that people remember about the Duke's the
Hazard is the car, the general Lee, Boss Hog, and
of course Daisy Duke, or more specifically Daisy Dukes, and
so that's what we remember him for boss Hog. It
would have been nice to know all this about him
while the show is running, but these heroes just didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Work that way.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
They weren't going to talk about themselves and they rarely did.
It certainly would have changed the way I looked at
the character.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Of boss Hog, for sure.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
God blessed this extraordinary man in Patriots Surrell book. I
bet there's a reward in all this big enough to
choke a plowhorse.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Well, what are you standing there for? Ldhead mount of
mercive man?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Look name too, I was mister Hall's.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Spread out one you get them?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Will you get Platt in the system? Lack of two
modern day Robin.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And a terrific job on the storytelling, production and editing
by our own Greg Hengler and a special thanks to
Nick Ragone. You can find him on YouTube's This State
in History and What a story he told about. Sorel Book,
the polar opposite of the character he played in The
Dukes of Hazzard, And of course he graduated from the
Yale School of Drama, the best in the country at
(10:29):
the age of twenty one, and then decides to volunteer
for the Korean War, being involved in the most important
part of warfare, and that of course is counter intelligence.
The story of boss Hog, that is the man who
played him. Sorel Book here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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