Ben Jones, ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ Actor, Dies at 84
Ben Jones, who played the good ol’ boy mechanic Cooter Davenport in “The Dukes of Hazzard” television series and later parlayed his fame into two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, died Sunday at his home in Washington, Virginia. He was 84.
Jones suffered a massive heart attack while waiting to watch his beloved Atlanta Braves play baseball, his wife of more than three decades, Alma Viator, announced on social media. Rappahannock County Sheriff Connie Compton confirmed his death, according to AP News.
“I lost the love of my life today,” Viator wrote in a Facebook post. “Ben passed from a massive heart attack. He was home resting in his favorite chair waiting for the Braves to come on and whoop the Yankees.”
From Railroad Shack to Hollywood
Born Benjamin Lewis Jones on August 30, 1941, in Tarboro, North Carolina, Jones grew up in a railroad “section house” without indoor plumbing or electricity, the son of a railroad section foreman. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1959 and attended East Carolina College before being accepted into the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill based on his promise as a writer.
At Chapel Hill, Jones discovered acting with the Carolina Playmakers in 1962. During the 1960s, he was deeply involved in the civil rights movement, was arrested during sit-ins, and was attacked on two occasions by the Ku Klux Klan, according to Wikipedia.
After relocating to Atlanta in 1969, Jones performed with the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Children’s Theatre, Theatre of the Stars, and the Winter Playhouse. He appeared in over 100 theatrical productions, including stints at the Kennedy Center and the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and toured for two years with Eva Marie Saint in national productions of “Summer and Smoke” and “Desire Under the Elms.”
His first credited screen role came in the 1972 film “Together for Days,” followed by appearances in “Moonrunners” (1975), which served as the basis for “The Dukes of Hazzard,” and uncredited roles in “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” (1976) and “Smokey and the Bandit” (1977).
Cooter Davenport and ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’
Jones was cast as Cooter Davenport, the sidekick mechanic who owned “Cooter’s Garage” in the town square of the fictional Hazzard County, Georgia, in “The Dukes of Hazzard.” The show aired on CBS from 1979 to 1985, and Jones appeared in all seven seasons and 141 episodes, according to Variety.
The series followed cousins Bo and Luke Duke, played by John Schneider and Tom Wopat, who were on probation for running moonshine and constantly trying to clear their names while fighting the corrupt Boss Hogg. The Duke boys drove a modified 1969 Dodge Charger called the General Lee, and Cooter was often on the CB radio saying, “Breaker one, Breaker one. I might be crazy but I ain’t dumb. Crazy Cooter coming at you.”
The show was a massive ratings success, with the first three seasons ranking in the top 10 most viewed television shows in the U.S. In the days before cable and the internet, it commonly attracted 40 million viewers weekly.
“It was like being in a Beatles movie,” Jones said of the show’s impact. “Our lives changed.”
Jones also credited the series with pulling him out of a self-destructive, alcoholic lifestyle that led to the failure of several marriages. In his 2007 memoir, “Redneck Boy in the Promised Land: The Confessions of ‘Crazy Cooter,’” he wrote, “I got sober the day before I died.”
From Hazzard County to Capitol Hill
After “The Dukes of Hazzard” wrapped, Jones turned to politics. He first ran for Congress in 1986 against incumbent Republican Pat Swindall in Georgia’s 4th Congressional District, receiving over 47% of the vote in defeat. In 1988, after Swindall was indicted on perjury charges, Jones won by a 20-point margin and was re-elected in 1990, serving from January 1989 to January 1993.
During his time in Congress, Jones served as a Democratic whip and was a member of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, as reported by NBC News.
Known as a Democrat who could buck his party, Jones was liberal on social issues and conservative on economics. After redistricting took his seat, he ran against Newt Gingrich in 1994 and lost. In the course of that race, Jones filed ethics charges against Gingrich for using tax-deductible donations to fund a partisan college course, leading to a House reprimand and Gingrich’s decision to leave the body.
Jones later ran as the Democratic nominee for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District in 2002, losing to Republican Eric Cantor. He was described as one of the last “yellow dog Democrats” and later became a political independent.
Cooter’s Place and Later Life
After moving to Virginia in the late 1990s, Jones and Viator opened “Cooter’s” country stores and museums dedicated to “The Dukes of Hazzard” in Sperryville and Luray, Virginia, as well as Nashville and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The stores sold T-shirts, key chains, insulated tumblers, and Dukes of Hazzard memorabilia, including one of the 300 or so General Lee cars used in the TV series.
Jones also toured with Cooter’s Garage Band, performing southern and country rock, and recorded 11 CD projects, including 2020’s “Play Me an Old Song.” He produced a “Dukes” reunion festival in Nashville in 2006 that drew over 100,000 fans.
His film and television credits after Congress included “Primary Colors” (1998), “Joe Gould’s Secret” (2000), “Meet Joe Black,” and the TV reunion movies “The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!” (1997) and “The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood” (2000). He also voiced Cooter in two “Dukes of Hazzard” video games.
Tributes and Legacy
Tom Wopat, who played Luke Duke, paid tribute to his co-star on Instagram.
“The Dukes of Hazzard lost another integral part of their cast today,” Wopat wrote. “Ben Jones was a fine friend and a fierce advocate of all the best things we can offer in the entertainment business. He will be sorely missed.”
Wopat added: “Denver Pyle frequently said to Ben, ‘I’m not your Uncle Jesse!’ But I feel like we lost a Duke cousin today.”
Jones was a complex figure who embodied contradictions. He was a civil rights activist who was arrested during sit-ins and attacked by the KKK, yet he also defended the Confederate flag that adorned the General Lee. In 2015, after Warner Bros. stopped manufacturing merchandise featuring the flag symbol following the Charleston church shooting, Jones wrote an essay in The New York Times defending his position, calling the flag’s symbolism a matter of “heritage, not hate.” He served as International Chief of Heritage Operations for the Sons of Confederate Veterans from 2014 to 2018.
Jones always embraced his role as Cooter, telling the Richmond Times-Dispatch at a 2001 car show: “The show reflects the values of the heartland of America. The good guys always win.”
He was 84 years old at the time of his death, just weeks shy of his 85th birthday. His wife remembered him simply: “Ben had the most amazing rich full life. He loved and was loved by so many. He will be missed. I loved him so so much.”
Jones is survived by his wife, Alma Viator. His death marks the latest loss for the “Dukes of Hazzard” family, following the passing of Rick Hurst, who played Deputy Cletus Hogg, in 2025.