Ben Jones (American actor and politician)

Benjamin Lewis Jones 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.

Overview§

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.

Early life and career§

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. 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 several odd jobs to save money for college. 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 in 1960. At Chapel Hill, Jones spent summers with the railroad on a work train that contracted to several railroads throughout the South. While at UNC, he started 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 in 1962. During the 1960s, Jones was deeply involved in the civil rights movement. He was arrested during sit-ins, and was attacked on two occasions by the KKK.

Acting§

Jones appeared in over 100 theatrical productions, including stints at the Kennedy Center, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and many 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 many television and radio commercials and started 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§

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 started production in 1978 around 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§

In 1986, he ran for Congress in Georgia's Fourth Congressional District against incumbent Pat Swindall. Although considered a long shot at best, Jones gained over 47% of the vote in defeat. He sought a rematch in 1988, after Swindall had been indicted for perjury. Jones won by a 20-point margin and was re-elected in 1990. In the 101st and 102nd Congresses, he was a member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and a member of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. 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. 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. As one of the last yellow dog Democrats, Jones later became a political independent. 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.

Post-congressional life§

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, also 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. They built a "Dukes of Hazzard" museum and theme store in Sperryville, Virginia, called "Cooter's" in 1999. 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 made "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. In it he wrote, "I got sober the day before I died." As a writer, Jones published fiction and poetry, also 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 many 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 association with the flag. 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 since been fighting against symbols that glorify the Confederacy), 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".

Death§

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