Rod Brasfield, born Rodney Leon Brasfield in Smithfield on August 22, 1910, came from a theatrical family and rose from working as an errand boy in Bisbee’s Dramatic Shows tent repertory company to becoming a dramatic actor, straight man, and eventually a featured comedian in his own right. After a year in the Army Air Corps during World War II, he returned to Bisbee's, where Grand Ole Opry emcee George C. Hay saw him in 1941 and invited him to join the broadcast. From 1947 to 1958 he was the Grand Ole Opry's top male comedian, known as the Opry’s “hapless rube” figure with a funny hat, baggy pants, and monologues as “The Hohenwald Flash,” and he became a beloved comic partner of Minnie Pearl as well as a foil for Red Foley, Hank Williams, and June Carter. He and Minnie Pearl shared top Opry billing for the rest of his career, he toured U.S. military bases in England and Germany with Opry stars in 1949, and his routines with Foley were featured on the national NBC radio broadcasts. He also appeared prominently on Al Gannaway’s television Country Show and in 1957 played Andy Griffith’s sidekick in Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd. A heart condition worsened by alcohol caused his sudden death on September 12, 1958, at age forty-eight, and he was buried in Smithville. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame posthumously in 1987.
