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Ben Jones (American actor and politician)

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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 (redistricted)
Personal details
BornBenjamin Lewis Jones
(1941-08-30)August 30, 1941
Tarboro, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedAugust 9, 2026(2026-08-09) (aged 84)
Washington, Virginia, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
EducationEast Carolina University (attended)
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (attended)

Benjamin Lewis Jones (August 30, 1941 – August 9, 2026) was an American actor, writer, politician, and businessman 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. Jones also served as the International Chief of Heritage Operations for the Sons of Confederate Veterans from July 2014 to late 2018, having been a member for over 15 years.[citation needed]

Early life and career

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Jones and the General Lee, taken outside his store "Cooter's Place" in Sperryville, Virginia, in 1999

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 productions and at the outdoor drama "Unto These Hills" in Cherokee, North Carolina.[citation needed]

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 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, composing the music and narration. It later served as the basis for "The Dukes of Hazzard", which began production 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 was a member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs[5] and a member of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation.[6] After redistricting 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.[7] 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.[8] As one of the last yellow dog Democrats,[citation needed] Jones later became a political independent.[9]

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.[10][11][12]

Post-congressional life

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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 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 continued to keep "Hazzard Nation" growing through their stores, personal appearances, and concerts. Jones also toured with Cooter's Garage Band, performing southern and country rock and they recorded 11 CD projects, including 2020's "Play Me an Old Song."

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

As a writer, Jones 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 expressed his "maverick" political views on numerous network and cable outlets over the past 40 years.

Support of the Confederate battle flag

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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 association with the flag.[13][14][15][16][17] Though Jones often referred to his civil rights activism in the 1960s, quoted Martin Luther King, cited a lifelong membership in the NAACP (an organization that has been fighting against symbols that glorify the Confederacy[18]), and called for dialogue between both sides of the Confederate battle flag issue, he dismissed any association between the Confederate battle flag and slavery. He also attributed any association between the Confederate battle flag and slavery to a "wave of political correctness" and called it a "cultural cleansing".[19]

Death

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Jones died of a heart attack at his home in Washington, Virginia, on August 9, 2026, aged 84.[20][21]

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 Uncredited
1977 Smokey and the Bandit Trucker with the Redhead Uncredited
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

Book

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  • Redneck Boy in the Promised Land: The Confessions of "Crazy Cooter" (2008) – ISBN 978-0-307-39527-6

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 "Redneck Boy in the Promised Land: The Confessions of 'Crazy Cooter'". PublishersWeekly.com. Publishers Weekly. April 14, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2008.
  2. ↑ "JONES, Ben | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  3. ↑ Barone, Michael; and Ujifusa, Grant. The Almanac of American Politics 1988, p. 296. National Journal, 1987.
  4. ↑ "OurCampaigns". www.ourcampaigns.com. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Committees of the 101st Congress: House Veterans' Affairs Committee". C-SPAN. Retrieved August 10, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Committees of the 102nd Congress: House Public Works and Transportation Committee". C-SPAN. Retrieved August 10, 2026.
  7. ↑ "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.
  8. ↑ "Sept. 7, 1994—Former Rep. Ben Jones (D-Ga.),... – Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. April 18, 1997. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives". January 21, 1997. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Virginia Department of Elections 2002 District 7". Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  11. ↑ Jaime Fuller (June 11, 2014). "The rise and fall of Eric Cantor: A timeline". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  12. ↑ Bill Chappell (June 11, 2014). "The Cooter Effect: Did Ben Jones Help Unseat Eric Cantor?". The Two-Way. NPR. Archived from the original on June 12, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  13. ↑ Derschowitz, Jessica (June 24, 2015). "Dukes of Hazzard actor Ben Jones defends Confederate flag". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on August 29, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  14. ↑ McAfee, Tierney (June 24, 2015). "Dukes of Hazzard Actor Defends Confederate Flag: It Represents 'Courage and Family and Good Times'". People. Archived from the original on August 19, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  15. ↑ Fisher, Luchina (July 1, 2015). "TV Land Pulls 'Dukes of Hazzard' Reruns". ABC News. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  16. ↑ CNN's Ashleigh Banfield Gets Into Shouting Match With Ex-Rep. Ben 'Cooter' Jones Archived June 28, 2015, at the Wayback Machine on YouTube
  17. ↑ Ben Jones tells CNN why the Confederate flag should be on license plates Archived January 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine on YouTube
  18. ↑ "The NAACP on Confederate Symbols". NAACP. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Dukes of Hazzard star Ben Jones defends Confederate flag, attributes backlash to political correctness". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  20. ↑ Rifkin, Glenn (August 10, 2026). "Ben Jones, 'Dukes of Hazzard' Actor and Congressman, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved August 10, 2026.
  21. ↑ Dunn, Jack (August 9, 2026). "Ben Jones, Actor Turned Politician Who Played Cooter Davenport in 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' Dies at 84". Variety. Archived from the original on August 10, 2026. Retrieved August 10, 2026.
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