King Of The Hill star Johnny Hardwick dead at 64

King Of The Hill voice actor and writer, Johnny Hardwick, has unexpectedly passed away at the age of 64.

Hardwick’s Texas home was reportedly visited by police last Tuesday for a welfare check, where it was discovered the actor had passed, though the cause of death is unknown at this point in time.

The actor was best known for his work on the hit animated show King Of The Hill, where he played fan-favourite character Dale Gribble. Dale was the best friend of the main character Hank Hill and appeared in an extraordinary 258 episodes, all of which were voiced by Hardwick.

Dale quickly became a favourite character to many, largely due to his constant conspiracy theories, as well as a running gag that’d see the character in several different jobs over the course of the show.

The character also spawned several popular internet memes, with the most famous being the infamous “pocket sand” self-defence move.

Johnny Hardwick also had a successful stand-up comedy career, even leading to an appearance on The Jon Stewart Show. He also ran a YouTube channel where he performed covers of songs in the character of Dale Gribble.

Co-creator of King of the Hill and voice of Hank Hill, Mike Judge, recently spoke about the devastating loss, saying: "I am deeply saddened by the loss of my friend Johnny Hardwick. He was a great writer, actor and comedian, and he will be deeply missed."

While the King Of The Hill series aired its final episode in 2010, a revival is reportedly on the way, though it’s unclear how far along production is, meaning we don’t know if Hardwick will reprise his role as Dale one more time.

Our condolences go out to Johnny Hardwick’s friends and family.