© Connie Gayer
This is how they all see me, just some funny country hick working the land, digging in the dirt and mud. Guess that isn’t so bad. Farming was good to Pa and kept our family fed. Of course, I’d been acting since before most of my fans were born, and worked alongside some of the biggest names in TV and film. I even sponsored a fishing tournament to raise money for kid’s charities. Me and the missus even helped out the Special Olympics. No, I guess it wasn’t a bad life, but I’m a lot more than just Uncle Jesse.
I wrote this for the Rochelle Wisoff-Fields photo writing challenge. The idea is to use the image above as the inspiration for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 100 words long. My word count is 100.
The man in the photo superficially looks like the late actor Denver Pyle who most people would recognize as the character Uncle Jesse from “The Dukes of Hazzard” television show (1979-1985).
When I looked up Pyle (yes, his real name was Denver Dell Pyle), I saw he made a career out of guest roles in both television and film going back to the early 1950s. He also did a lot of work for children’s charities including “Uncle Jesse’s Fishing Tournament” in Lamar County, Texas.
Denver died of lung cancer on Christmas Day 1997.
To read other stories based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.
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He does look like Denver Pyle! Very nice. 🙂
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Thanks, Cara.
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Dear James,
The photo does look like Denver Pyle. I loved him as Briscoe Darling. And a one and a two…
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle.
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Heh. I thought of Denver Pyle too. He does look like him
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Indeed. Gave me an excuse to look up his bio.
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Perhaps Russell really is Denver Pyle!
Click to read my FriFic tale
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He better hope not. Pyle has been in the grave for 21 years.
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I saw star quality in that image too, hence my country singer. Your take is great, and so interesting.
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Thanks, Jilly.
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I’m sure this life is better for him.
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Thanks, Sandra.
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Denver Pyle indeed. Loved this, James.
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Thank you, Dale.
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A lovely story, this James and thank you for sharing the history of this actor. I had no idea! Lovely
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Thanks, Lynn.
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My pleasure
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I had to look up Denver Pyle. Sad, that, because I’ve seen him in so many movies and really liked him. Thanks for the bit of history told in a well-done story.
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Even if you don’t know his name, chances are, as you said, you know his face. Thanks, Alicia.
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Never heard of Denver Pyle… but there is a lot more in a human than the first look
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He was a popular character actor in America from the 1950s until his death in 1997. A lot of people here wouldn’t know his name, but chances are, they’ve seen a TV show or movie in which he appeared.
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True story. One day I was at the store and a little boy about four said, “You look just like my Pawpaw.”
“Well,” I said, “You’re PawPaw must be an awfully handsome man.”
I liked Denver Pyle too, and feel flattered that people see a resemblance.
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Especially in those overalls. 😀
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Ah, thanks for the explanation. I wasn’t an aficionado of The Dukes of Hazzard! Clever take on the prompt.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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I never watched the show either, but back in the day, the TV ads were hard to avoid.
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in this case, i totally agree. the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
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Ah – I’m glad you explained – I didn’t watch The Dukes often enough to remember Jesse.
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Oh wow! That is Uncle Jesse! Wonderful tribute to the actor, I wasn’t aware that he did so much charitable work (raised more than $160,000 to support children’s programs as per the link).
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There’s a lot about people we don’t know unless we go looking.
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Good story. More to the man than meets the eye.
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Thank you.
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You’re right, he does look like “Uncle Jesse”. I thought of going that way, too… until I looked out the window… 🙂 Great story this week.
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Sweet spin in history.
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on history, not in!
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Thanks, Dawn.
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