Fat Harold’s co-owner dies Friday afternoon

The co-owner of iconic North Myrtle Beach nightspot Fat Harold’s Beach Club and one of two men responsible for the shag being named the state dance of South Carolina died at 2 p.m. Friday, his business partner said.

Harold Bessent, 82, died after a long period of declining health, said Harold Worley, who co-founded the club with Bessent in the 1980s.

“He was a real humanitarian,” Worley said. “He never met a stranger.”

Bessent was a quiet, but significant contributor to Camp Kemo, a facility for children with terminal cancer, near Columbia, said Shannon Briggs, the North Myrtle Beach Club’s manager for 18 years.

She said he earned a national award for the millions of dollars he raised for the camp and was a member of the Shriner’s Millionaire Club because of the money he donated to the care of sick children.

Briggs said Bessent had a grandson who died of cancer.

Bessent and his sister, who lives in Chapin, were separated as children, Briggs said, although she wasn’t sure why. She was raised in Conway and he grew up with relatives in Little River.

“He kept the shag alive,” Briggs said of another of Bessent’s passions.

The dance was the centerpiece of Fat Harold’s and was an annual Grand Strand celebration after Bessent co-founded the Society of Stranders in the early 1980s.

If Bessent couldn’t remember your name, Briggs said, you would be called “Bo” if you were a man and “Shug” if a woman.

She said there is an annual Fat Harold’s Day in North Myrtle Beach and Memphis, Tenn., where a friend of Bessent’s owned a club on the famous blues strip of Beale Street.

Bessent appeared in the movie “Shag,” which starred Bridget Fonda, and was filmed at the Spanish Galleon, which Bessent co-owned before selling it to Worley in 1980. Bessent’s authorized biography, “Fat Harold, The Legendary King of Shag,” was published in 2012.

“He lived for the shag,” Briggs said.

Worley said he and Bessent spoke last year about what should happen at the club if Bessent passed away.

Worley said it was Bessent’s wish that the club remain open for its regular hours, only close for the funeral and then reopen afterward for good food and good conversation. Worley confirmed that Bessent’s wish will be fulfilled.

“He wanted Fat Harold’s to go on in the future,” Worley said.

Worley said Bessent is survived by three children and several grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements had not been set by late Friday afternoon.

This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Fat Harold’s co-owner dies Friday afternoon."