March 11, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Boss Hogg, played by long-time actor Sorrell Booke, had a much wider range of skills and talents than the bumbling Boss would have some believe. Here to tell the story is Nick Ragaon, 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 that somehow involved leaping over ramps
in their iconic car. The General Lee, opposing the Cousins
with all the skills of Barney Feife 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? Most likely the corrupt boss of Hazard County
that was forever trying to entrap those rascally Duke boys
and lock them up on one false charge after another.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Glory boys are going to be out of my head.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
For two years.
Speaker 3 (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 Hog, 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 Sorel Book, the man who played Boss
Hog of the Dukes of Hazzard, was actually a bona
fide genius and a legitimate war hero. Would you believe me? Well,
it is true. I'm Nicker Goon, host of the popular
YouTube channel This Day and History with Nicker Goon, and
(02:08):
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 Gilligan's Island, The guy flew
(02:29):
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 of Marines, respectively during the Second
World War. The list of actors and athletes who have
(02:51):
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 book Boss Hogg, and
it's not even close. People are absolutely stunned and fascinated
to learn that Surrel Book was the polar opposite of
his most iconic character, Boss Hogg.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
How's that truth, Sir, was creeping into his domestic bliss.
Jefferson Davis Hogg, you are a low down pole cat. If, however,
there was walk, Yeah, but lu 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 1 (03:26):
No, no, no, I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
What I mean is I can't help, for some compelling.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Reason from saying anything but the awful truth that you
married me for my money. That was the only way
to get it. And I'm as big as a house.
Well they're all different sized houses.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
And that when I went to the beauty parlor, it
looked like I never got weighted on.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Did you I mean, didn't you mean?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't know what I mean. I just know that
I can't help what's come over me. This good troops
real well you out.
Speaker 3 (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.
(04:49):
During his time at Columbia. He was a very accomplished
Shakespearean actor, and he immediately went out to receive a
master's degree from the Yale School of Drama, the premiere
program for serious deathspians. 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
(05:11):
and making a name for himself in the stage community.
And what does he decide to do. He joins the
United States Army. 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. Well,
(05:36):
the part I haven't 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
(05:57):
languages is really, really hard. Being fluent in a dozen
or soul 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. He quite literally could have
(06:19):
done anything he wanted to. 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
(06:40):
take off. Our country 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 in some way. Korean War a much different situation,
(07:03):
and for a man with this many options, this brilliant
to put his life and career on whole 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. I really hope someday that his file is
(07:25):
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 guy from Buffalo, New York. What's
(07:48):
so fascinating about Sorel 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 to
(08:10):
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 or
(08:31):
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 star in a way. That show
wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining without him. And the
thing that people remember about The Dukes of Hazard is
the car, the General Lee, Boss Hog, and of course
Daisy Duke, or more specifically Daisy Dukes, and so that's
(09:14):
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 work that way.
They weren't going to talk about themselves and they rarely did.
It certainly would have changed the way I looked at
the character of boss Hog, for sure. God blessed us
extraordinary man in Patriots Surrell book.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I bet there's a rewarding all this big enough to
choke a flower Horse, Well, what are you standing there for?
Ldhead Mount of mercive manhood? Name too, I was missed,
Paul spread out.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
And you get them.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Well, you just.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Fat in the system.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Lack of two modern day Robin Hoo 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 Date in History and
what a story he told about. Sorel Book, the polar
opposite of the character he played in The Dukes of Hazard,
(10:25):
and of course he graduated from the Yale School of Drama,
the best in the country at 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
(10:46):
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 that somehow involved leaping over ramps
in their iconic car. The General Lee, opposing the Cousins
with all the skills of Barney Feife 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? Most likely the corrupt boss of Hazard County
that was forever trying to entrap those rascally Duke boys
and lock them up on one false charge after another.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Glory boys are going to be out of my head.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
For two years.
Speaker 3 (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 Hog, 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 Sorel Book, the man who played Boss
Hog of the Dukes of Hazzard, was actually a bona
fide genius and a legitimate war hero. Would you believe me? Well,
it is true. I'm Nicker Goon, host of the popular
YouTube channel This Day and History with Nicker Goon, and
(02:08):
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 Gilligan's Island, The guy flew
(02:29):
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 of Marines, respectively during the Second
World War. The list of actors and athletes who have
(02:51):
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 book Boss Hogg, and
it's not even close. People are absolutely stunned and fascinated
to learn that Surrel Book was the polar opposite of
his most iconic character, Boss Hogg.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
How's that truth, Sir, was creeping into his domestic bliss.
Jefferson Davis Hogg, you are a low down pole cat. If, however,
there was walk, Yeah, but lu 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 1 (03:26):
No, no, no, I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
What I mean is I can't help, for some compelling.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Reason from saying anything but the awful truth that you
married me for my money. That was the only way
to get it. And I'm as big as a house.
Well they're all different sized houses.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
And that when I went to the beauty parlor, it
looked like I never got weighted on.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Did you I mean, didn't you mean?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't know what I mean. I just know that
I can't help what's come over me. This good troops
real well you out.
Speaker 3 (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.
(04:49):
During his time at Columbia. He was a very accomplished
Shakespearean actor, and he immediately went out to receive a
master's degree from the Yale School of Drama, the premiere
program for serious deathspians. 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
(05:11):
and making a name for himself in the stage community.
And what does he decide to do. He joins the
United States Army. 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. Well,
(05:36):
the part I haven't 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
(05:57):
languages is really, really hard. Being fluent in a dozen
or soul 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. He quite literally could have
(06:19):
done anything he wanted to. 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
(06:40):
take off. Our country 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 in some way. Korean War a much different situation,
(07:03):
and for a man with this many options, this brilliant
to put his life and career on whole 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. I really hope someday that his file is
(07:25):
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 guy from Buffalo, New York. What's
(07:48):
so fascinating about Sorel 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 to
(08:10):
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 or
(08:31):
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 star in a way. That show
wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining without him. And the
thing that people remember about The Dukes of Hazard is
the car, the General Lee, Boss Hog, and of course
Daisy Duke, or more specifically Daisy Dukes, and so that's
(09:14):
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 work that way.
They weren't going to talk about themselves and they rarely did.
It certainly would have changed the way I looked at
the character of boss Hog, for sure. God blessed us
extraordinary man in Patriots Surrell book.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I bet there's a rewarding all this big enough to
choke a flower Horse, Well, what are you standing there for?
Ldhead Mount of mercive manhood? Name too, I was missed,
Paul spread out.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
And you get them.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Well, you just.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Fat in the system.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Lack of two modern day Robin Hoo 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 Date in History and
what a story he told about. Sorel Book, the polar
opposite of the character he played in The Dukes of Hazard,
(10:25):
and of course he graduated from the Yale School of Drama,
the best in the country at 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
(10:46):
on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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