King of the Hill’s conspiracy-minded character Dale Gribble’s voice actor Johnny Hardwick passed away on August 8 at his Austin, Texas, home. He was 64.
The Emmy-winning animated series featured Hardwick and his persona with the unmistakable Texas drawl from its 1997 premiere until its final episode on Fox in 2010. Hardwick was confirmed to return for the show’s streaming comeback earlier this year by Hulu, where the reruns presently air.
The Austin coroner’s office verified the actor’s demise. No suspicion of foul play exists, and the coroner’s inquiry has not yet determined the cause of death.
The Mike Judge and Greg Daniels television series King of the Hill centres around Hank Hill (Judge), his wife Peggy (Kathy Najimy), and their teenage son Bobby (Pamela Adlon). It is situated in the fictional Texas town of Arlen. Stephen Root, Lauren Tom, and Ashley Gardner are additional voice actors on the show.
The actor, who was born John Michael Hardwick in Austin, began performing stand-up comedy in his community in 1990. He would later appear on The Jon Stewart Show and at the Montreal Comedy Festival and The Laugh Factory in Los Angeles.
During the first Fox seasons of King of the Hill, Hardwick was listed as a producer and writer. In 2001 and 2002, he was nominated for an Emmy as the show’s supervising producer, and in 1999, when King of the Hill won the award for Outstanding Animated Programme, he also received an Emmy nomination.
After King of the Hill’s initial run concluded, Hardwick started his own successful YouTube channel.
Last January, news of the 20th Television Animation resurrection for Hulu with Judge and Daniels serving as executive producers, was released. The production will welcome Saladin Patterson as an executive producer and showrunner.