Daisy Duke

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Daisy Mae Duke is a fictional character, played by Catherine Bach, from the American television series The Dukes of Hazzard. She was the cousin of Bo and Luke Duke, the main protagonists of the show, who were themselves cousins to each other. Daisy would frequently become involved in the Dukes' car chases, using one of her many cars. Daisy also worked as a server at the Boar's Nest, the local bar owned by Boss Hogg.

Her first car was a yellow 1971 Plymouth Road Runner with a black stripe along the sides and over the roof. Although the car was intended to be a Plymouth Road Runner, some early episodes used a 1974 Dodge Charger with a matching "Road Runner stripe" painted behind the rear window. The car met its demise when the brakes failed while Bo and Luke were driving it in the second season episode "The Runaway", sending it over a cliff. After losing that car, she received her trademark white 1980 Jeep CJ-7 "Golden Eagle" with a golden eagle emblem on the hood, which she named The Dixie.

Despite her appearance as a naive (and provocatively dressed) Southern belle, Daisy was a very outgoing person who could more than hold her own when the chips were down. In addition to fending off intoxicated would-be suitors at The Boar's Nest, she frequently found herself caught up in the ongoing war between Boss Hogg and her family, the Duke clan. Her job at Boss's restaurant gave her the opportunity to eavesdrop on private conversations between Boss and his stooges (usually Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane), often discovering important information that she could pass on to Uncle Jesse and the Duke boys. Her continued employment at the Boars' Nest in spite of her obvious loyalty to her family was seen on the TV show as both a sign of her status and popularity in Hazzard County, and a corresponding lack of intelligence on Boss Hogg's part.

Daisy never found a long-lasting beau of her own over the course of the series.

[edit] As a sex symbol

Daisy Duke was both the main female protagonist and the sex symbol on The Dukes of Hazzard. She frequently wore revealing clothing such as bikinis and tank tops. She appeared numerous times wearing cut off jean shorts, Daisy Dukes, a name that later became accepted vernacular for a type of women's cut-off shorts.

The network censors believed that Daisy's famous cut-off shorts alone would be too revealing. The shorts were so short, that the only way the producers could get them on air was for Catherine Bach to wear flesh tone tights with them, to ensure that the shorts didn't reveal more of her than intended. In spite of that, the official Daisy Duke poster reportedly outsold those featuring the era's other sex symbols, Farrah Fawcett and Raquel Welch.

[edit] In the 2005 film

In the 2005 feature film The Dukes of Hazzard, Daisy Duke was portrayed by Jessica Simpson. Fans and film critics alike panned Simpson's performance, with many saying that her portrayal had little in common the character Catherine Bach created, and that she was merely cast because of her celebrity status.

Daisy's costume was slightly modified for the film to make her more overtly sexual: her Daisy Dukes were shorter than they were on the series, and her shirts showed much more cleavage than Bach ever did. Another major difference in her appearance was that Simpson's hair remained blonde, whereas Bach was a brunette.

[edit] Trivia

• Daisy's original car, the yellow Plymouth Roadrunner, occasionally changed into a Plymouth Satellite in some episodes.
• The version of Jeep seen at the end of "The Runaway" is different from the regular version, the most noticeable difference being that it has doors, whereas the regular version didn't. Due to the episodes being broadcast in a different order to that in which they were produced, the Plymouth reappeared several times after it had supposedly been wrecked!
• Catherine Bach made many of Daisy's costumes herself, especially the early ones, including the memorable red bikini in the first episode, immortalized during the show's opening credits.

The Dukes of Hazzard

Characters: Bo Duke | Luke Duke | Daisy Duke | Uncle Jesse | Cooter Davenport | Boss Hogg Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane | Enos Strate | Cletus Hogg Minor characters: Lulu Coltrane Hogg | Hughie Hogg | Abraham Lincoln Hogg Television: The Dukes of Hazzard | List of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes | Enos The Dukes (animated series) | The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (reunion movie) Film: Moonrunners (1975) | The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) | The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007) Other: The General Lee | Hazzard County | Boar's Nest | Daisy Dukes | Jerry Rushing The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee (video game)