Hip Pocket co-creator found dead | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Douglas Balentine, the former Fort Worth composer, musician and actor who helped create Hip Pocket Theatre, was found dead last week in the Davis Mountains. He was 57.

"Doug was a great hiker," said his father, Bob Balentine of Fort Worth. "He had been hiking in the mountains and was sitting in his van, probably trying to get warm. He apparently dozed off with the motor running. A park ranger found him Thursday."

The funeral will be at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Cailloux Theater in Kerrville. A memorial service in Fort Worth will be announced in the near future, said Hip Pocket producer Diane Simons, who founded the theater during the early 1970s with Balentine and writer/director Johnny Simons.

-- Perry Stewart, Special to the Star-Telegram