Phil Robertson, ‘Duck Dynasty’ Patriarch, Dies at 79
He founded the duck-call business that became the foundation of his family’s reality television empire.
Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the hit show “Duck Dynasty” and the founder of a duck hunting gear business that became the foundation of his family’s reality television empire, has died. He was 79.
His death was confirmed by his son Jase Robertson in a social media post late Sunday that did not specify a cause.
Jase said on the family’s podcast last year that his father had early-stage Alzheimer’s and other health problems.
Mr. Robertson was one of the stars of “Duck Dynasty,” an A&E series that stars his family — Mr. Robertson and his wife, Kay; their sons; the sons’ wives; an uncle and some grandchildren — and revolves loosely around their duck hunting gear business.
Mr. Robertson was born on April 24, 1946, in Vivian, a rural town in the northwestern corner of Louisiana, as one of seven children.
He attended Louisiana Tech University on a football scholarship and after receiving his bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s in education, spent several years teaching in Louisiana schools.
Unsatisfied with the existing duck calls on the market, Mr. Robertson set out to craft his own. In 1972, he whittled what would become the signature product of his company, Duck Commander, which he founded the following year.
Mr. Robertson was initially opposed to the idea of a television show, his son Willie told The New York Times in 2013. “He said, ‘I’m already as famous as I want to be.’” Willie said. “I explained to him: ‘Phil, this can expand your platform to talk about the things you like to talk about,’” including his Christian faith.
“Duck Dynasty,” which ran over 11 seasons from 2012 to 2017, once ranked among the most popular shows on cable and had as many as 12 million viewers. It is loosely centered on the Duck Commander business, headed by Willie, Mr. Robertson’s third son with his wife, Kay. It drew fans for its idiosyncratic humor, the characters’ offbeat antics and the way the family was able to mine self-deprecating wisdom from the redneck caricature.
The family was also notably one of the first in the reality television industry to openly admit that their show was staged, describing it as “guided reality” in which producers would often sketch out the parameters of a situation and have the family live it. That helped the show solidify the idea that distinguishing between real and fake isn’t really important in reality television.
The show has occasionally courted controversy. In 2013, Mr. Robertson was briefly suspended from the show after an interview surfaced in which he had made statements that were widely seen as offensive to gay people. But the network quickly reinstated him under pressure from fans and after the family issued a statement saying in effect that there would be no show without their patriarch.
Last year, Jase Robertson said on the family’s podcast, “Unashamed with the Robertson Family,” that his father had early-stage Alzheimer’s. “Phil’s not doing well,” Jase said, adding that Mr. Robertson also had a “blood disease causing all kinds of problems.”
Mr. Robertson’s survivors include his wife, his sons Alan, Jase, Jep and Willie, and several grandchildren.
