Jimmy Swaggart, Rick Hurst, Lalo Schifrin, and Mick Ralphs Dies

These guys were televangelist, gospel singer, and author; played Deputy Cletus Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard; composed the music for movies like Cool Hand Luke and The Amityville Horror, and TV like Hawaii 5-0; and wrote songs and played guitar for Mott the Hoople and Bad Company.

Jimmy Lee Swaggart (born March 15, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana) was a prominent American Pentecostal televangelist, gospel singer, author, and media entrepreneur whose life spanned from humble rural beginnings to global ministry dominance, dramatic public scandal, and a resilient spiritual legacy.

Raised in a devout Pentecostal household and related to music icons Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley, Swaggart began preaching in his teens and married Frances Anderson on October 10, 1952; they had a son, Donnie (born October 18, 1954), who continued the family’s ministerial tradition with his own son Gabriel,

making four generations of Swaggarts in preaching. Ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1961, he launched The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast in the early 1970s, founding Family Worship Center, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, the SonLife Broadcasting Network, and a Bible college, and published dozens of books—

including The Expositor’s Study Bible—while recording more than 15 million gospel albums and earning Grammy nominations. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Swaggart’s career was derailed by two high-profile prostitution scandals, leading to his defrocking and the collapse of his nationwide ministry,

though he later rebuilt a smaller but loyal following, continuing to preach through SonLife and his non‑denominational ministry. On June 15, 2025, he suffered cardiac arrest at home and was hospitalized in Baton Rouge; his son Donnie warned, “Without a miracle, his time will be short.” Swaggart passed away on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at the age of 90 in a Baton Rouge hospital, survived by his wife Frances, son Donnie, three grandchildren and several great‑grandchildren.

Rick Hurst, born Richard Douglas Hurst on January 1, 1946, in Houston, Texas, was a beloved American actor best known for his comedic television roles, particularly as the good-natured Deputy Cletus Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard. After earning a degree in psychology and theater from Tulane University in 1968 and later a master’s in fine arts from Temple University, he began a career that would span over four decades.

Hurst appeared in a wide array of television programs including M*A*S*H*, Happy Days, The Partridge Family, Sanford and Son, The Wonder Years, Family Matters, and Murder, She Wrote, as well as in films such as Steel Magnolias and The Karate Kid Part III. He was best known for his recurring role in The Dukes of Hazzard from 1979 to 1982 as Cletus.

He reprised the role in two TV movies and remained connected to fans through public appearances and nostalgia conventions. Off-screen, he was known as warm, generous, and gracious, traits celebrated by colleagues like Ben Jones. Hurst was married to acting coach Candace Kaniecki, with whom he had a son, actor Ryan Hurst, and later to Shelly Weir, with whom

he had another son, Collin. He died in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at the age of 79, survived by his sons Ryan and Collin and his former wives, with his death prompting tributes from fans and peers who remembered him as a gifted character actor and kindhearted man.

Lalo Schifrin, born Boris Claudio Schifrin on Tuesday, June 21, 1932, in Buenos Aires to a musically enriched family—his father led the second violins of the city’s Philharmonic—began formal piano studies at age six under Enrique Barenboim, later advancing under Andrea Karalis and harmonic tutelage from Juan Carlos Paz,

even pursuing sociology and law at the University of Buenos Aires before a musical scholarship to the Conservatoire de Paris at age 20 where he studied with Olivier Messiaen, performed jazz in Parisian clubs, and collaborated with Astor Piazzolla before joining Dizzy Gillespie’s quintet in New York in the early 1960s; transitioning to Hollywood in the mid‑1960s.

Schifrin composed more than 100 film and television scores, most famously the iconic “Mission: Impossible” theme (written in 5/4 time) as well as scores for Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, Dirty Harry, Enter the Dragon, and the Rush Hour trilogy, earning six Academy Award nominations, four Grammy Awards

(plus induction of his Mission: Impossible theme into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017), an honorary Oscar in 2018, and multiple Emmy nods, while also creating concert works like Gillespiana, directing major orchestras including London Symphony and Israel Philharmonic,

arranging for The Three Tenors and the 1990 World Cup, and founding Aleph Records; personally, he married Silvia Schon (later divorced) before wedding Donna Cockrell in 1971, had children William, Frances, and Ryan, and was remembered as a pioneering musical bridge between jazz, classical, Latin, and cinematic sounds;

he passed away from pneumonia in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at age 93, surrounded by his wife Donna and survived by his children and four grandchildren, leaving an enduring legacy that reshaped film music across genres.

Mick Ralphs, born Michael Geoffrey Ralphs on March 31, 1944, in Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire, England, emerged from a modest upbringing to become a defining force in 1970s British rock, mastering blues-inflected guitar and songwriting first with the Buddies and the Doc Thomas Group before co-founding Mott the Hoople in 1969; he penned enduring anthems like “Rock and Roll Queen,” “Ready for Love,” and “One of the Boys,”

collaborating with David Bowie on “All the Young Dudes” before departing the band in 1973 to form Bad Company with Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke and Boz Burrell, launching a massively successful career when their 1974 debut topped the U.S. charts and featured Ralphs’ iconic riffs on “Can’t Get Enough,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” and “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad.”

Known for his laid-back, tasteful playing rather than flashy solos, Ralphs also toured with David Gilmour in 1984, released solo work in the 1980s and 2000s, and formed the Mick Ralphs Blues Band in 2011 to revisit his blues roots. After suffering a debilitating stroke following his final performance at London’s O₂ Arena in 2016, he lived his remaining years bedridden before passing away on Monday, June 23, 2025,

at the age of 81 at a care facility in Henley‑on‑Thames, Oxfordshire. He is survived by his wife Susie Chavasse, their two sons as well as three stepchildren, and leaves behind a legacy celebrated by bandmates Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke, both honoring him as a songwriter, friend and humble musician whose tunes remain woven into the fabric of classic rock and whose band is set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this November.