Ben Jones, 1941 – 2026

Actor turned politician Ben Jones, 84, died on Aug. 9. Jones is best known for playing Cooter on The Dukes of Hazzard (Cooter was basically the Goober of Hazzard). Despite his TV fame, most of Jones’s work was onstage, at the Kennedy Center, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and numerous Atlanta-based theaters. Beginning in the 1960s, he was acting on TV and in the movies: The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, Smokey and the Bandit, They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way, Deep in the Heart, and from 1979-85, he had a supporting-role hit with The Dukes of Hazzard. Moving into politics, Jones served in the Georgia House of Representatives (Democrat) from 1989-93. He took up acting again thereafter, appearing in Dallas, Primary Colors, Sliders, As the World Turns, and several Hazzard reunions. In later years Jones and his wife opened three Dukes of Hazzard museums, with attached Cooter’s gift shop. Jones once said that “Politics has its rewards, but show business is a lot more fun.”