Lulu Roman (born Bertha Louise Hable on May 6, 1947, in
Dallas, TexasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
) is a former telephone operator and
go-go dancerGo-Go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at a discotheque. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s when women at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City began to get up on tables and dance the twist...
turned
comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain members of an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and singer. She is probably best known as a regular on the comedy-music television series
Hee HawHee Haw was a television variety show, initially co-hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark and featuring country music and humor with fictional, rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop. It was taped at WLAC-TV and Opryland USA in Nashville...
.
Roman was born with a
thyroidThe thyroid is one of the largest endocrine glands in the body. This gland is found in the neck inferior to the thyroid cartilage and at approximately the same level as the cricoid cartilage...
dysfunction in a home for unwed mothers and quickly placed in an orphanage. It was there that her weight problem furthered her pain, preventing her adoption and making her the center of teasing by the other children.
Lulu Roman (born Bertha Louise Hable on May 6, 1947, in
Dallas, TexasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
) is a former telephone operator and
go-go dancerGo-Go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at a discotheque. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s when women at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City began to get up on tables and dance the twist...
turned
comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain members of an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and singer. She is probably best known as a regular on the comedy-music television series
Hee HawHee Haw was a television variety show, initially co-hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark and featuring country music and humor with fictional, rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop. It was taped at WLAC-TV and Opryland USA in Nashville...
.
Roman was born with a
thyroidThe thyroid is one of the largest endocrine glands in the body. This gland is found in the neck inferior to the thyroid cartilage and at approximately the same level as the cricoid cartilage...
dysfunction in a home for unwed mothers and quickly placed in an orphanage. It was there that her weight problem furthered her pain, preventing her adoption and making her the center of teasing by the other children. She felt that it was during this time that she learned to use her sense of humor as a defense. She attended W.W. Samuell High School in Dallas, graduating in 1964.
During her stint on
Hee Haw, she went through a bout of drug addiction which lead to two arrests and caused her to be booted from the show in 1971. About this time, the unmarried Roman discovered that she was pregnant.
During this time, Roman's search for happiness and acceptance, which had almost led her to her personal destruction, instead, led to her
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
conversion. Following her second incarceration, she reconnected with a friend from the orphanage who invited her to the Beverly Hills Baptist Church in
Oak CliffOak Cliff, Dallas was a town located in Dallas County, Texas , that was annexed by the neighboring city of Dallas in 1903. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as "Dallas' older, established neighborhood"...
,
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
, where she found help from the church's pastor. Positive changes in her life eventually resulted in a full pardon from the Governor of
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
and reinstatement on
Hee Haw, where she would stay until the show ended production in the mid 1990s.
She also has a career as a singer of
Southern GospelSouthern Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...
music, and has recorded several albums, although she never trained as a singer. In 1999 Lulu Roman was inducted into the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame with fellow artists
Andy GriffithAndy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer....
,
Barbara MandrellBarbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer. She is best-known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country music's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s.She was the first performer and is currently the only female...
,
David L. CookDavid L. Cook is an American Christian country music singer-songwriter, comedian and a multiple Emmy Award and Telly Award winner. Born to Donnell and June Cook , David is the oldest of six children....
,
Gary S. PaxtonGary S. Paxton, sometimes Pax , is an American record producer, songwriter and recording artist.-Biography:Born in Mesa, Arizona, Paxton was adopted and moved to Coffeyville, Kansas, at age three, where he was raised in rural poverty on a farm. He endured a troubled childhood, molested at age...
,
Loretta LynnLoretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter; she was one of the leading country vocalists and songwriters during the 1960s and is revered as a country music cultural icon....
, Jimmy Snow and
Jody MillerJody Miller is a country music singer. Born Myrna Joy Miller, she was born in Phoenix, Arizona and raised in Oklahoma. Discovered by actor Dale Robertson, she began her career in the early 1960s as a folk/pop singer, singing in the Los Angeles area and appearing on Tom Paxton's television series...
.