Catherine Bach only schedules two to three Comic Con appearances a year, but the “Dukes of Hazzard” star says she enjoys the ones she goes to.
“I meet some really nice people, and I get to go around and see the countryside and people who were part of the whole ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ culture and part of my life in a way,” Bach said. “It’s time for us to talk. I always tell the truth, how’s that? A lot of people like that. It’s just a light event; it’s a nice break.”
Bach, best known for inhabiting the short, short denim cutoffs of her character Daisy Duke, will be among the celebrities appearing next weekend at the eighth annual ICT Comic Con and Science Fiction Expo at Century II.
In a phone interview from her California home, Bach recalled getting cast as Daisy Duke, when producers were publicly seeking a “Dolly Parton-type” for the role.
Bach said she was beginning to think her future might be behind the scenes, after writing a one-act play and a TV-movie script that she also produced.
“I hadn’t worked for two years. My agency had fired me because I was ‘too exotic’ and not what people were looking for, so they just let me go,” said Bach, who believed that being half-Mexican was the reason for the misperception.
While celebrating her TV-movie with a friend in Beverly Hills, Bach mentioned that she was wanted for an interview on the Warner Bros. lot in Hollywood for the role of Daisy Duke but was hesitant to go.
“Every blonde in town has gone for it,” she said. “I just don’t think it’s going to be happening.”
Her friend finally convinced her to take the interview, saying “You never know who you’re going to meet on the way in and the way out of that interview.”
Then a 21-year-old newlywed, Bach not only got the role but made friends with “a tall blonde kid, slouched in a chair twiddling his thumbs,” who eventually became her co-star, John Schneider. She gave him a tour of LA the afternoon after each were interviewed for the roles.
“The Dukes of Hazzard,” which ran from 1979 to 1985, made southern-fried sex symbols of Bach, Schneider and co-star Tom Wopat. By its third season, it had risen to the most-watched show in the country.
“It was just so much fun to shoot ‘Dukes of Hazzard,’” Bach said. “It was so much fun to be a part of everything and learn all the camera techniques. You never know if you’re going to love doing a series, and you wonder if it’s going to be everything you thought it was. It was just fantastic.”
After seven years as Daisy Duke, Bach said she never felt typecast in later roles.
“I did enough work before to realize in my mind I wasn’t the character. But it was a part of me, because I played it for seven years on television. Of course, people typecast you, but that’s better than never casting you, so you never have anything to fight against,” she said. Maybe it bothered my agents, but it didn’t bother me.”
Bach continued to work, including seven years on the soap “The Young and the Restless,” and was proud of a show she starred in for two seasons called “African Skies” with Robert Mitchum in the early 1990s, filmed in South Africa right after apartheid.
Now 70 and finishing writing a book, Bach was busy earlier this week pet-sitting for her daughter’s three dogs and the two of her own, with a menagerie of various size and temperaments in the canines.
“I’ve never been so busy walking dogs and taking care of them,” she said with a laugh.
While Bach has no evident credits in comic book or sci-fi themed movies or TV, ICT Comic Con director Richard Cathey said she was a logical choice as a celebrity guest, since “Dukes” followed “The Incredible Hulk” on CBS’ Friday night schedule in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, and “Hulk” star Lou Ferrigno was making a return appearance.
“He’s coming back at his request,” Cathey said of Ferrigno, who appeared in Wichita in 2022. “He had a great time in Wichita, so that’s a testament to our fans and our vendors and our community that he wanted to come back.
“How can we say no to the Hulk?” he added. “He’s so engaging with the fans and so enthusiastic about everything.”
Joining Bach and Ferrigno are Austrian actress-model Sybil Danning, whose 50-plus movie credits include two films with Ferrigno, “Hercules” and “The Seven Magnificent Gladiators,” both in 1983. Cathey said that to his knowledge it’s the first Comic Con where Ferrigno and Danning are appearing together.
“Sybil doesn’t do very many shows,” Cathey said of the actress, who has recently completed writing her own comic book. “She’s very much into fandom and can converse about anything, really.”
Coincidentally, Cathey said, the three are good friends with each other.
The fourth celebrity is Sgt. Slaughter, both a WWE superstar and the voice in the animated “G.I. Joe” series.
“I’m really excited about the energy our celebrities are going to bring this year,” Cathey said, adding Q&A sessions with each will be Saturday afternoon.
New this year, Cathey said, are photo backgrounds for the celebrity pictures that include a wrestling ring, the Hulk, Hercules and the Dukes’ signature General Lee. Photos will be printed out immediately and ready to sign, he added.
The General Lee, that orange Dodge Charger from “Dukes,” is one of three replica automobiles – along with the Batmobile and KITT, the talking car from “Knight Rider,” that will be in the Century II exhibition hall.
Last year’s Comic Con drew nearly 4,000 people over age 12, he said. Children 12 and younger have always been admitted free.
The two-day event will include a cosplay contest and nearly 100 vendors with comic books, figurines, action figures and games.
“If it’s pop culture, it’s going to be there,” Cathey said. “Our show’s kind of a love letter to popular culture with movies and popular shows.”
ICT COMIC CON AND SCIENCE FICTION EXPO
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1
Where: Century II exhibition hall, 225 W. Douglas
Tickets: In advance, $75 for weekend VIP tickets; $25 for weekend pass; $13.50 for adults 18 and older; $10 for youth 13-17, at selectaseat.com/comic . More information at ICTComicCon.com .
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