Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 18, 2011
Southern Style
Claude Akins served with Southern sensibility
Randall Franks
Since I grew up during a time when network television executives decided arbitrarily to cancel any show that had a tree or a bale of hay in it, getting to watch shows such as “The Waltons,” “Dukes of Hazzard,” “BJ and the Bear” and “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo” were a real treat.
One of my favorite short-lived series featured actor Claude Akins as “Sheriff Lobo.” Akins took up the Lobo character in 1978 in the “BJ and the Bear” series pilot with Greg Evigan and later went on to have his own spin-off series which ran from 1979 to 1981.
While Lobo worked to get ahead by pulling some kind of scam working with Deputy Perkins, played by Mills Watson, Brian Kerwin, who played Deputy Birdie Hawkins, always managed to turn their underhanded scheme into an award-winning police bust. With each episode, Lobo just couldn’t seem to get ahead financially with his underhanded plans as Hawkins kept making him look better and better.
Akins and Watson made up what could be one of the best classic television comedy teams of all time. Unfortunately, critics didn’t like the show, and after two seasons it ended. This was a period when critics seemed to berate anything which reflected anything but urban themes.
Akins had another great series entitled “Movin’ On” from 1974 to 1976 in which he played a trucker named Sonny Pruett.?? For me, I assume this show was airing after my bedtime. So my memories of this series are not as vivid as Lobo, but when I was around him years later, I still heard fans call him by that character name which they came to admire him as. He always shared his time with them.
He also had great runs pitching products for companies such as AAMCO and Poly Grip. His credits go back to the early 1950s appearing in almost every notable TV series.
When Akins walked on the set of “In the Heat of the Night” in 1991 to play Benjamin Sloan in the episode entitled “An Eye for an Eye,” I found him to be so much more than the Lobo character that had made me laugh as a child. He was playing a man seeking revenge over the loss of his son to prison. So, he decided to kidnap District Attorney Darnelles (Wilbur Fitzgerald) daughter.
He was a star in every sense of the word and could have easily been accorded all that goes along with that after 40 years of creating a name known around the world.
After six hours on the job, we would break for lunch and go to catering. It was custom that the actors would go through the line first, followed by the crew. When we arrived at the catering truck and looked up to order our food, there stood Claude in a pressed white apron with a ladle in hand, taking our orders and dishing up our piping hot roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Instead of going back to his trailer and having the production assistant bring him a plate of food, he stood there serving up meals until the last extra went through the line. Then he filled a plate and joined us at the tables.
As a guest star, actors are only with the show a few days, and most never return. It was a unique experience to find a guest star that went out of his way to be a part of the show family.
Claude served us every day he was on the set. I asked him why he did it. He said that the crew works hard for the actors every day, and it was a way to show them he appreciated what they were doing. I also think it was a wonderful way for Claude to show the crew that he was the same as them. He was simply someone performing his craft to the best of his ability.
I enjoyed the time with Claude, and I had high hopes of working with him again.
Alan Autry and I had planned to include him in a project we were developing for television. Unfortunately, Claude passed away in 1994 before that dream was realized.
For an old Georgia boy from just down the road in Nelson, Claude Akins certainly went far. I believe his Southern manners took him a long way – all the way to the top. Once he was there, I believe he never forgot what it was like when he started his climb up the success ladder. Since many actors support their careers as waiters, it just shows the great ones are never too good to serve up some food.
It was a pleasure to know Claude and call him a friend but it was even a greater opportunity for me to learn how a star should be each and every day. We sure could use a few more class acts like Claude Akins showing those who are now considered to be stars what stardom is all about.
Randall Franks is an award-winning musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his role as “Officer Randy Goode” on TV’s “In the Heat of the Night” now on WGN America. His latest CD release, “An Appalachian Musical Revival,” is by www.shareamericafoundation.org. He is a member of the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame. He is a syndicated columnist for http://randallfranks.com/ and can be reached at rfrankscatoosa@gmail.com.
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