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Ben Jones (American actor and politician)

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Benjamin Lewis Jones (born August 30, 1941) is an American actor, politician, playwright, and essayist, best known for his role as Cooter Davenport in The Dukes of Hazzard. Jones also served for four years in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1989, to January 3, 1993.

Ben Jones
Jones in 1989
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 4th district
In office
January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1993
Preceded byPat Swindall
Succeeded byDon Johnson (Redistricting)
Personal details
Born
Ben Lewis Jones

(1941-08-30) August 30, 1941 (age 83)
Tarboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
ProfessionActor
Jones and the General Lee, taken outside his store "Cooter's Place" in Sperryville, Virginia in 1999

Early life and career

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Jones was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, near McNair's Railroad Crossing, on August 30, 1941. His father was Hubert C. "Buck" Jones, a railroad section foreman and his mother was Ila Virginia Stephens, the daughter of a railroad section foreman. Within two weeks of his birth, his family moved to Portsmouth, Virginia. The Joneses lived in a "section house", a railroad company shack without indoor plumbing and electricity.[1] That house was next to the Pinners Point Railyard that led to the shipping piers there. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1959 and worked at a number of odd jobs to save money for college. In 1960 he entered East Carolina College (now East Carolina University) and in 1961 he was accepted into the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, based upon his promise as a writer.[2][1]

At Chapel Hill, Jones spent summers with the railroad on a work train that contracted to various railroads throughout the South. In 1962, while at UNC, he began acting with the Carolina Playmakers and was soon earning money at it in "summer stock" and at the outdoor drama "Unto These Hills" in Cherokee, North Carolina.

During the 1960s Jones was deeply involved in the Civil rights movement.[1] He was arrested during sit-ins, and was attacked on two occasions by the KKK.

Career

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Acting

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Jones has appeared in over 100 theatrical productions, including stints at the Kennedy Center, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and numerous regional theaters. He relocated to Atlanta in 1969 and acted there with the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Children's Theatre, The Theatre of the Stars, and The Winter Playhouse. He also toured for two years with Eva Marie Saint in national productions of Summer and Smoke and Desire Under the Elms. In Atlanta he appeared in numerous television and radio commercials and began landing supporting roles in films, including Smokey and The Bandit (with Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed), The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (with James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor) and with Tim Conway in They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way.

The Dukes of Hazzard

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In the mid-1970s, he had a supporting part in an independent film called The Moonrunners, written and directed by Atlantan Gy Waldron and featuring country star Waylon Jennings doing the music and narration. That film was the basis for "The Dukes of Hazzard," which began filming in 1978 about two miles from Jones's then residence in Covington, Georgia. Jones was cast in the role of "Cooter" Davenport, the sidekick mechanic of cousins Bo and Luke Duke. The show immediately rose to the top of the Nielsen ratings. In the days before cable, satellite dishes and the internet, "The Dukes" commonly attracted 40 million viewers weekly on CBS-TV.

Jones continued to live in Georgia and commuted to Los Angeles for the continued filming of "The Dukes." He served as president of the Georgia Branch of the Screen Actors Guild and was appointed chairman of the Georgia Film Commission.

United States Congress

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In 1986, he ran for Congress in Georgia's Fourth Congressional District against incumbent Pat Swindall. Although considered a long shot at best, Jones received over 47% of the vote in defeat.[3] He sought a rematch in 1988, after Swindall had been indicted for perjury. Jones won by a 20-point margin[4] and was re-elected in 1990.

In the 101st and 102nd Congresses, he served as a Democratic whip, was a member of the Committee on Veteran's Affairs and a member of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. After re-districting took his seat, he ran against Newt Gingrich in 1994. He was defeated, but in the course of that race he filed ethics charges against Gingrich alleging that Gingrich had used tax-exempt groups for political purposes.[5] Gingrich was ultimately reprimanded by the House of Representatives and ordered to reimburse the House an amount of $300,000 for the cost of the investigation.[6] One of the last Yellow dog Democrats, Jones is now a political independent.[7]

After moving to Virginia, Jones was the Democratic nominee to challenge Republican incumbent Eric Cantor for Virginia's 7th Congressional District seat in 2002. Jones lost to Cantor.[8][9][10]

Post-congress

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After serving in Congress, Jones returned to show business and was cast in the role of Arlen Sporkin in director Mike Nichols' "Primary Colors" with John Travolta and Emma Thompson. He also appeared in Meet Joe Black and Joe Gould's Secret, in addition to reprising his role of "Cooter" in two "Dukes of Hazzard" reunion specials.

In 1998, Jones and his wife Alma Viator bought a colonial log cabin and farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia, adjoining the Shenandoah National Park. In 1999, they created a "Dukes of Hazzard" museum and theme store in Sperryville, Virginia, called "Cooter's". It was an immediate success. They now have three such franchises in Pigeon Forge and Nashville, Tennessee, and in Luray, Virginia. Jones and Viator have also produced "Dukes" reunion festivals over the years, including one in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006 which drew over 100,000 fans from all over the world, which The Tennessean called the largest gathering ever for a "fan" event there. They have continued to keep "Hazzard Nation" growing through their stores, personal appearances and concerts. Jones also tours with Cooter's Garage Band, performing Southern Country/Rock and has recorded 11 CD projects, including 2020's "Play Me an Old Song."

In 2007, Random House published Jones' memoir, Redneck Boy in the Promised Land, a humorous but unsparing account of Jones' adventurous life and his battle with alcoholism.[1] In it he wrote, "I got sober the day before I died."

As a writer, Jones has published fiction and poetry, in addition to political commentary in outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, and many others. He has expressed his "maverick" political views on numerous network and cable outlets over the past 40 years.

Support of the Confederate Battle Flag

In 2015, Jones announced his support of the Confederate battle flag, which can be seen on the exterior top of The Dukes of Hazzard signature car, the General Lee. His defense of the flag served as his response to Warner Bros.' decision to no longer manufacture any merchandise that features the flag, such as the General Lee, and the discontinuation of reruns of the show due to Dylann Roof's infamous reputation associated with the flag.[11][12][13][14][15] Though Jones often refers to his Civil Rights activism in the 1960s, quotes Martin Luther King, cites a lifelong membership in the NAACP (an organization that has been fighting against symbols that glorify the Confederacy[16]), and calls for a dialog between both sides of the Confederate battle flag issue, he dismisses any association between the Confederate battle flag and slavery. He also attributes any association between the Confederate battle flag and slavery to a "wave of political correctness" and calls it a "cultural cleansing."[17]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1972 Together for Days Douglas
1972 The Bagel Report Man with Women's Panties Fetish
1975 Moonrunners Fred
1976 The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings Plantation Foreman
1977 Smokey and the Bandit Trucker with the redhead
1977 The Lincoln Conspiracy Samuel Arnold
1978 They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way Lugs
1983 Deep in the Heart Chuck
1984 On the Line Texas Lawyer
1988 Dakota Mr. Dakota
1996 Jack Mechanic (part cut from film)
1998 Primary Colors Arlen Sporken
2000 Joe Gould's Secret Southern Man at the Party
2021 Unbreakable Ben Jones

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1976 Movin' On Thief Episode: "Living It Up!"
1977 Nashville 99 Calvin Bonner Episode: "Joldy"
1978 The Magical World of Disney Sgt. Bingham Episode: "The Million Dollar Dixie Deliverance"
1979–1985 The Dukes of Hazzard Cooter / Jeeter 141 episodes
1983 Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince Various roles 4 episodes
1987 CBS Summer Playhouse Emory Episode: "Travelin' Man"
1997 The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! Rep. Cooter Davenport Television film
1998 Sliders Sgt. Lou Dawson Episode: "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"
1999 As the World Turns Judge Manning Episode dated January 19, 1999
2000 The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood Cooter Davenport Television film
2005 Surface Grocery Clerk Episode #1.3

Discography

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Year Album Label Role
1999 Cooter's Place Briar Patch Ben Jones
2001 End of the Line Ben Jones Ben Jones & Cooter's Garage Band
2012 Southern to the Bone Cooter's Place
2014 One for the Younguns Ben Jones
2017 Southern Accents
2018 If Not For You Ben Jones
2020 Play Me An Old Song Ben Jones & Cooter's Garage Band
2021 The Hazzard & Southern Railroad Ben Jones
Christmas at Cooter's
2022 Good Ol' Buckaroos Ben "Buster" Jones with Cooter's Wild West Band
Deep River Ben Jones & Cooter's Garage Band
2023 Soft Southern Nights
2024 Rockabilly Road Ben Jones

Video Games

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Year Title Role
1999 The Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home Cooter Davenport
2000 The Dukes of Hazzard II: Daisy Dukes It Out
2004 The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Redneck Boy in the Promised Land: The Confessions of 'Crazy Cooter' by Ben Jones". PublishersWeekly.com. Publishers Weekly. ISBN 978-0-307-39527-6. Retrieved June 3, 2008.
  2. ^ "JONES, Ben | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  3. ^ Barone, Michael; and Ujifusa, Grant. The Almanac of American Politics 1988', p. 296. National Journal, 1987.
  4. ^ "Our Campaigns - GA District 4 - 1988".
  5. ^ "Washingtonpost.com: Ethics Committee Drops Last of 84 Ethics Charges Against Gingrich". washingtonpost.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  6. ^ "Sept. 7, 1994--Former Rep. Ben Jones (D-Ga.),... - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. April 18, 1997.
  7. ^ "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives". January 21, 1997.
  8. ^ "Virginia Department of Elections 2002 District 7". Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  9. ^ Jaime Fuller (June 11, 2014). "The rise and fall of Eric Cantor: A timeline". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  10. ^ Bill Chappell (June 11, 2014). "The Cooter Effect: Did Ben Jones Help Unseat Eric Cantor?". The Two-Way. NPR. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  11. ^ Derschowitz, Jessica (June 24, 2015). "Dukes of Hazzard actor Ben Jones defends Confederate flag". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  12. ^ McAfee, Tierney (June 24, 2015). "Dukes of Hazzard Actor Defends Confederate Flag: It Represents 'Courage and Family and Good Times'". People. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  13. ^ Fisher, Luchina (July 1, 2015). "TV Land Pulls 'Dukes of Hazzard' Reruns". ABC News. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  14. ^ CNN's Ashleigh Banfield Gets Into Shouting Match With Ex-Rep. Ben 'Cooter' Jones on YouTube
  15. ^ Ben Jones tells CNN why the Confederate flag should be on license plates on YouTube
  16. ^ "The NAACP on Confederate Symbols". NAACP.
  17. ^ "Dukes of Hazzard star Ben Jones defends Confederate flag, attributes backlash to political correctness". New York Daily News.
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U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by United States Representative for the 4th Congressional District of Georgia
January 3, 1989 – January 2, 1993 		Succeeded by
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byas Former US Representative Order of precedence of the United States
as Former US Representative 		Succeeded byas Former US Representative
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