Ben Jones, born in 1941, became famous as Cooter, the good ‘ol boy mechanic from The Dukes of Hazzard, when that television series first aired in the 1970s. The role of the dirty, crazy, greasy TV wrench monkey was a perfect fit for his real life persona of a high strung live wire. When the show was over, he left acting for other career opportunities, and turned to politics.
“A Likker Drinkin’, Hell Raisin’, Dope Smokin’, Fist-Fighting’, Womanizing’ Jail Bird Wild Man”
The son of a railroad section chief, Jones grew up in a shantytown near Portsmouth, Virginia. A hard partier and frequent drunk who liked chasing Four Roses whiskey with Miller High Life, he spent many a night in local lockups, usually for drunkenness and disturbing the peace. As he put it, he spent decades as a “likker drinkin’, hell raisin’, dope smokin’, fist-fightin’, womanizin’ jailbird wild man”. Car wrecks, arrests, and three failed marriages failed to wean him off the bottle until 1977, when he went on a five week bender. When he finally came to, he checked into a detox clinic, and quit cold turkey. He swears that he has not had a drop of alcohol since 1977.
Jones had attended the University of North Carolina for four years. There, he caught the acting bug after performing in his first student play. He first met Gy Waldron, creator and director of the Dukes of Hazard, in 1975 while auditioning for a role in the movie Moonrunners, about a southern family that runs bootleg liquor. Waldron met with Jones after the movie’s release, and when it was reworked four years later into The Dukes of Hazard, Jones was the first person to audition. The new action comedy TV series’ defied critics predictions that it would flop, and flop miserably at that. Instead, it went on to become a worldwide success, and a cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. As the hit series soared, Jones’ character, Cooter, became a heartland hero.
A Turn to Politics
After The Dukes of Hazzard was finally cancelled, Ben Jones left Cooter behind, and turned to politics. He set his eyes on the US House of Representatives, and ran for Congress as a Democrat from a Georgia district. Predictably, his opponents made an issue of his rough past and claimed that it made him unsuitable for public office. In an effective bit of campaign judo, he Cooter responded: “I awoke naked in a tattoo parlor in Talladega, Alabama. I knew it was time to change my lifestyle. So I went into politics “. After he lost his first Congressional bid in 1986, Cooter ran for a US House Representatives seat in 1988, won, and served two terms in Congress.
His political career was marked by candor and wit, but in 1992, his congressional district disappeared in a reshuffle following the 1990 census, and he lost the subsequent Democrat primary. In 1994, he ran against Newt Gingrich, lost, and left politics. He attempted a comeback in 2002, running for a House of Representatives seat in Virginia, but lost. Since the 1990s, he has run museums across the country dedicated to The Dukes of Hazard, known as “Cooter Museums”. He briefly resurfaced during the Confederate flag controversy, defending that banner, before he faded back into relative obscurity.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
ABC News – TV Land Pulls ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ Reruns
History Halls – After the Fame: George Murphy, From Tinseltown to the US Senate
Indy Week – The Many Lives of Actor, Redneck, and Congressman Ben Jones
