# Identify this Hee Haw character, "Gumdrop"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 17, 2022, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923 "2022-01-17T06:20:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923/1 "2022-01-17T06:20:26Z")

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A big old guy, with a head so square I can see where he might have got the nickname “Gumdrop”. Okay, Dopers! You guys can sleuth out darn near anything. I can’t find squat on this guy. Let me know what you all can come up with…

Only seen him a few times, mostly trading really corny jokes about women with Gordy Trap in a cornfield. Probably in seasons 5-10, judging by the rest of the cast. Totally forgettable, but what got me curious was his face, and the way he talked. Dude looked like a Jack O’Lantern in rigor mortis. Wore a perpetual grimace and his face and his mouth did not move when he talked. Looks like his lips had been burned off. Before the days of Closed Caption, if you were deaf, you were gonna miss whatever shitty jokes he was telling, and quite honestly, probably better off for it.

Anyway, I was curious. Who was this guy, and what was he originally famous for? And what was up with his face? Was he paralyzed or something? So I tried to look him up to see what was wrong with him and the circumstances of his probably most horrible death, 'cause I just know he’s gotta be dead by now.

Nothing! No mention on any Hee Haw sites, nothing under that name that could possibly be him, with the exception of old radio guy who had ficticious sidekicks (Dick Haymes, but there are pictures of him, and it sure don’t look like him. He had lips! And no mention of Hee Haw on his IMDB) named Gumdrop.

Who the heck was this guy? And what’s his story? See what Covid has driven me to?

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923/2 "2022-01-17T06:43:27Z")

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Could it be the name of a character, and not the name of a cast member? I looked at the cast member list on iMDB, and they list everybody that has been on that show, even for one day-No “Gumdrop”.

> **[Hee Haw (TV Series 1969–1997) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063908/fullcredits)**
>
> Hee Haw (TV Series 1969–1997) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.

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**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923/3 "2022-01-17T06:58:12Z")

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Dick Haynes played Gum Drop Gus on Hee Haw.

> **[Desert Sun 26 November 1980 — California Digital Newspaper Collection](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19801126.2.24&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1)**
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> California Digital Newspaper Collection

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923/4 "2022-01-17T07:01:08Z")

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GOOD pull!

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923/5 "2022-01-17T07:08:11Z")

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Well, how about that? The other sites have his name as “Haymes” and he sure as hell doesn’t look like the guy I’m seeing on the reruns of this show. I had this guy ruled out.

Now, which spelling of his name is correct???

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**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923/6 "2022-01-17T07:14:32Z")

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Dick Haymes is different guy.

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923/7 "2022-01-17T07:21:33Z")

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Now my mind is blown!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-hee-haw-character-gumdrop/957923/8 "2022-01-17T07:25:15Z")

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He also had a guest spot on _The Andy Griffith Show_ as Col. Tim.  
[![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTU0ODQ1MTQ2NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzMxODg3MjE@._V1_UY317_CR104,0,214,317_AL_.jpg) ](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTU0ODQ1MTQ2NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzMxODg3MjE@._V1_UY317_CR104,0,214,317_AL_.jpg)
