Ringside Report puts the Spotlight on Catherine Bach

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By Geoffrey Huchel

Back in the early 1980s, actress Catherine Bach revved young boys’ motors just as fast as the General Lee as Daisy Duke on the hit series THE DUKES OF HAZZARD (1979), with her natural beauty, smoldering sex appeal and those famous cut-off denim shorts. Decades later those shorts would become a fashion trend and would be called what we all know them as “Daisy Dukes”.

Catherine Bachman was born on March 1, 1954 in Warren, Ohio and grew up on a ranch in South Dakota. She graduated from Stevens High School in Rapid City, South Dakota and briefly studied drama as a major at UCLA. Before finding success on THE DUKES OF HAZZARD, Bach began her career with an appearance in the Burt Lancaster murder mystery, THE MIDNIGHT MAN (1974), as murdered coed Natalie Claiburn. She followed with her next role, Melody, in the 1974 film THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT. She appeared in the feature film HUSTLE (1975), as Peggy, starring Burt Reynolds, Catherine Deneuve, and Eileen Brennan. She costarred in the TV movie MURDER IN THE PEYTON PLACE (1977), featuring Dorothy Malone, Ed Nelson, Mia Farrow, Marj Dusay, Stella Stevens and Linda Gray.

Her next project would catapult her to stardom. That project was the television series THE DUKES OF HAZZARD. After she arrived at the audition, she was hired on the spot as the female lead, despite not fitting the look the producers were initially searching for. Bach was cast opposite the series’ two male leads, Tom Wopat and John Schneider, as Daisy’s cousins Bo and Luke Duke. THE DUKES OF HAZZARD ran for seven seasons with 146 episodes. During her time on DUKES, Bach made appearances on several tV series and films including WHITE WATER REBELS (1983), THE LOVE BOAT (1977), CANNONBALL RUN II (1984), and the animated THE DUKES (1983).

After the series ended in 1985, Bach continued to act, but chose low-profile roles. From 1992-1994 Bach starred as Margo Dutton in the adventure series AFRICAN SKIES, with Robert Mitchum. She returned to her role as Daisy Duke to appear in THE DUKES OF HAZZARD: REUNION, a 1997 TV movie and its follow-up THE DUKES OF HAZZARD: HAZZARD IN HOLLYWOOD (2000), reuniting with Wopat and Schneider.

Bach appeared on the hit comedy series MONK (2002), and the feature film romantic comedy YOU AGAIN (2010), with Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver. In recent years Bach starred in the drama CHAPMAN (2013), the drama THE BREAKUP GIRL (2015), the TV series HAWAII FIVE-O (2010), and the family film MY BEST FRIEND (2016). Bach joined the cast of the long-running soap opera THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS (1973), as Anita Lawson. She’s played the role from 2012 -present.

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