Jimmy Dean

Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, songwriter, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials, and his likeness and voice continue to be used in advertisements after his death.

Dean became a national television personality starting on CBS in 1957. He rose to fame for his 1961 country music crossover hit into rock and roll with "Big Bad John", and his 1963 television series The Jimmy Dean Show gave puppeteer Jim Henson his first national exposure with his character, Rowlf.

His acting career included appearing in the early seasons in the Daniel Boone television series as the sidekick of the famous frontiersman played by star Fess Parker. Later, he played a supporting role as billionaire Willard Whyte in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971), starring Sean Connery.

He lived near Richmond, Virginia, and was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010, but died before his induction that year at the age of 81.

Dean was born on August 10, 1928, in Seth Ward, Texas, and raised in nearby Plainview, the son of George Otto Dean and his second wife, the former Ruth Taylor. Ruth taught Jimmy how to play piano at the age of 10. He attributed his interest in music to the Seth Ward Baptist Church. He dropped out of high school and became a professional entertainer after serving in the U.S. Air Force in the late 1940s. Dean was 22 and just starting in show business when he married his first wife, Mary Sue, in 1950.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.