David Akeman

 David Akeman, better known as Stringbean (or String Bean), (June 17, 1916 – November 10, 1973)

He was a singer-songwriter, musician, comedian, actor and semi-professional baseball player, best known for his role as a main cast member on the hit television show, Hee Haw, and as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Akeman was well-known for his "old-fashioned" banjo picking style, careful mix of comedy and music, and his memorable stage wardrobe (which consisted of a long nightshirt tucked into a pair of short blue jeans belted around his knees—an early form of sagging— giving him the comical appearance of a very tall man with stubby legs). The costume had many antecedents, including Slim Miller, a onetime stage comedian said to be Akeman's inspiration. Akeman kept his audience with his traditional playing and his mixture of comedy and song. He scored country-chart hits with "Chewing Gum" and "I Wonder Where Wanda Went". Between 1962 and 1971, he recorded seven albums.

Akeman and his wife were murdered by burglars in their rural Tennessee home in 1973. On Saturday night, November 10th, Akeman and his wife returned home after he performed at the Grand Ole Opry. Both were shot dead shortly after their arrival. The killers had waited for hours. Their corpses were discovered the following morning by their neighbor. A police investigation resulted in the convictions of cousins John A. Brown and Marvin Douglas Brown, both 23 years old. They had ransacked the cabin, and killed Stringbean when he arrived. David and his wife Estelle Akeman are buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. During the remaining production of Hee Haw, his trademark scarecrow was left as a memorial.