Ben Jones, the actor who played mechanic Cooter Davenport across all seven seasons of “The Dukes of Hazzard” before serving two terms in Congress, died Sunday of a heart attack at his home. He was 84.
Jones’s wife, Alma Viator, announced his death in a Facebook post, writing that she lost the love of her life and that Ben passed from a massive heart attack while resting in his favorite chair, waiting for the Braves game to start against the Yankees. Jones was born August 30, 1941, in Tarboro, North Carolina, and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia, the third of four sons in a family that lived without electricity or indoor plumbing near the docks where his father worked for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
Jones began his career on stage before breaking into film and television in the early 1970s, landing small roles in “Smokey and the Bandit” and the bootlegging comedy “Moonrunners,” which creator Gy Waldron later reworked into “The Dukes of Hazzard.” When Waldron adapted the film for television, Jones came along, joining Tom Wopat, John Schneider, Catherine Bach and Sorrell Booke on the CBS series, which ran from 1979 to 1985. He played the good-natured garage owner in more than 140 episodes, becoming an honorary member of the Duke family and one of the show’s most recognizable faces.
Jones left acting for politics in the late 1980s, winning a Georgia congressional seat in 1988 and serving two terms representing the state’s Fourth District. He later ran again for Congress from Virginia in 2002 and lost to Eric Cantor, a defeat some observers said set the stage for Cantor’s own stunning primary loss twelve years afterward, fueled partly by a pointed letter Jones had written to voters. In a moment of life imitating art, a 1997 television reunion film revealed that Cooter himself had gone on to become a congressman.
Jones later opened “Cooter’s Place,” a chain of “Dukes of Hazzard”-themed museums and shops with locations in Nashville, Pigeon Forge and Luray, Virginia, keeping him connected to fans of the show for decades after it ended. In recent years he also drew controversy for defending the Confederate battle flag, a symbol closely associated with the series, including disputing its ties to slavery.
Tributes poured in from former castmates following news of his death. Wopat, who played Luke Duke, wrote on social media that “Dukes of Hazzard” had lost another integral part of its cast, calling Jones a fine friend and a fierce advocate for the best things the entertainment business has to offer. Jones is survived by Viator, his wife since 1992.
