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John Aylesworth Passes

August 2, 2010/by Robert K Oermann

John Aylesworth (L) with actor Lorne Greene on the Hee Haw set in 1976. Photo Credit: Family Photo

Veteran television producer John Aylesworth died Wednesday in Rancho Mirage, CA at age 81.

He was best known to Nashvillians as the co-producer of the enormously successful country-music series Hee Haw. Born in Canada, Aylesworth moved to the U.S. in 1958 to write for the CBS TV series Your Hit Parade. He and his writing partner Frank Peppiatt went on to write television specials for Perry Como, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, as well as the rock ‘n’ roll TV series Hullabaloo.

When Laugh-In and The Beverly Hillbillies were the two top-rated programs on TV, Aylesworth and Peppiatt decided to combine elements from both, and Hee Haw was the result. At the time, neither man had ever been to the South. But from 1969 to 1993 they traveled to Nashville twice a year to tape the long-running show. At its peak, Hee Haw showcased every major star in country music and was seen by 15 million people a week.
Earlier this year, Aylesworth published his memoir, The Corn Was Green: The Inside Story of Hee Haw.

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Robert K Oermann
Robert K Oermann
Robert K. Oermann is a longtime contributor to MusicRow. He is a respected music critic, author and historian.
Robert K Oermann
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https://musicrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/MusicRow-header-logo-Mar19B.png 0 0 Robert K Oermann https://musicrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/MusicRow-header-logo-Mar19B.png Robert K Oermann2010-08-02 13:00:562010-08-02 13:00:56John Aylesworth Passes
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0 replies
  1. J Bartley
    J Bartley says:
    August 9, 2010 at 11:43 am

    Your photo of “John Aylesworth (L) with actor Lorne Greene” is really a photo of actor Paul Lynde with Lorne Greene. Check out this wiki page for Lynde, with photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lynde

    Log in to Reply
    • Sarah Skates
      Sarah Skates says:
      August 9, 2010 at 1:52 pm

      Aylesworth and Lynde look a lot alike, but we have confirmed that this photo is of Aylesworth, see here.

      Log in to Reply

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