{"id":35941,"date":"2026-08-10T06:12:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T01:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=35941"},"modified":"2026-08-10T06:12:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T01:12:44","slug":"cooter-on-dukes-of-hazzard-georgia-congressman-was-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=35941","title":{"rendered":"Cooter On &#8216;Dukes Of Hazzard,&#8217; Georgia Congressman Was 84"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/ben-jones\/\" id=\"auto-tag_ben-jones\" data-tag=\"ben-jones\">Ben Jones<\/a>, known to millions as the affable \u2014 if mischievous \u2014 mechanic Cooter on <em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/the-dukes-of-hazzard\/\" id=\"auto-tag_the-dukes-of-hazzard\" data-tag=\"the-dukes-of-hazzard\">The Dukes of Hazzard<\/a><\/em>, died today at the age of 84. His wife, Alma Vitor, said that Jones had died of a massive heart attack while \u201cresting in his favorite chair waiting for the Braves to come on and whoop the Yankees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jones played \u201cCrazy\u201d Cooter Davenport on all seven seasons of the original show from 1979-1985 as well as in the made for TV \u201cReunion\u201d movie in 1997 and the 2000 one-off <em>Hazzard in Hollywood<\/em>. While many may remember Cooter as a gregarious good \u2018ol boy, the character had a wild, rebellious side in the first season of the show. Often called an \u201chonorary Duke,\u201d he owned the local garage which just happened to be across the street from the Sheriff\u2019s station, allowing him to keep an eye on the comings and going for the Duke cousins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jones\u2019 second act was an auspicious one. After serving as president of SAG\u2019s Georgia Branch and as chairman of the Georgia Film Commission, Jones won the race for Georgia\u2019s Fourth Congressional District\u00a0in 1988. He was re-elected in 1990. While on Capitol Hill, Jones was Democratic whip, a member of the Committee on Veteran\u2019s Affairs and a member of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. In 1994, he ran against Newt Gingrich in another district and lost.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DEADLINE RELATED VIDEO:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Luke Duke himself, Tom Wopat, wrote on Instagram today, \u2018The Dukes of Hazzard lost another integral part of their cast today. 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.\u2019<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram\"\/>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is the full text of Alma Vitor\u2019s statement on social media:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>I lost the love of my life today. 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. 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.<\/em><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"401\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1237029752\" srcset=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png 3014w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=150,59 150w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=300,117 300w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=1024,401 1024w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=1536,601 1536w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=2048,802 2048w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=255,100 255w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=60,23 60w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=352,138 352w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=110,43 110w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=285,112 285w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=320,125 320w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=640,251 640w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=800,313 800w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-4.56.14-PM.png?resize=1280,501 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ben Jones, known to millions as the affable \u2014 if mischievous \u2014 mechanic Cooter on The Dukes of Hazzard, died today at the age of 84. His wife, Alma Vitor, said that Jones had died of a massive heart attack while \u201cresting in his favorite chair waiting for the Braves to come on and whoop&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ben-jones.png?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}