"Big Bad John" music legend, TV star AND sausage magnate JIMMY DEAN dead at 81.
His wife, Donna Meade Dean, confirmed his passing at their Henrico County, Va., home yesterday.
Raised in extreme poverty in Plainview, Tex., Dean who was born in 1928, rose to the heights of music super-stardom in the 1950s and used his entrepreneurial skills to make his own brand of sausages which he pitched on TV.
His TV show The Jimmy Dean Show was broadcast nationally on CBS and ABC, introducing Jim Henson’s Muppets to the world.
After the cross over success of "Big Bad John" Dean headlined top tier venues Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
He was also the first country star to play the Las Vegas strip.
Jimmy was the very first guest host on The Tonight Show, and acted in television series and movies.
Arguably his most famous role was of the Howard Hughes-like tycoon Willard Whyte in the Sean Connery 007 flick Diamonds Are Forever.
In the late 1960s he and his brother entered the hog business which became the Jimmy Dean brand of sausages. By the 1990s his wealth was estimated at $75 million.
As The ENQUIRER reported last year, a flaming inferno engulfed Dean’s home and precious little was saved from his priceless collection save his Grammy and a Muppet head given him by a grateful Henson.
He was recently elected to the Country Hall of Fame and his wife told AP he had been looking forward to the induction this coming October.
Dean had said in an interview he picked out a plot near his beloved estate where he wanted to be buried.
"It’s the sweetest piece of property in the world," Jimmy had said.
"It sure is peaceful here."
