Ben Jones, best known for playing the affable but mischievous mechanic Cooter Davenport on The Dukes of Hazzard, has died aged 84, writes Deadline.
Jones died on 10 August after suffering a massive heart attack, according to his wife, Alma Vitor.
She said he was “resting in his favourite chair waiting for the Braves to come on and whoop the Yankees”.
Jones played Cooter across all seven seasons of the original The Dukes of Hazzard, which ran from 1979 to 1985.
He also reprised the role in the 1997 television reunion film and the 2000 television movie Hazzard in Hollywood.
Cooter was the owner of the local garage in Hazzard County and an “honorary Duke” who often helped cousins Bo and Luke Duke.
Though remembered as a friendly good ol’ boy, the character had a more rebellious streak during the show’s first season.
Jones’ career later took a dramatic turn into politics.
He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild’s Georgia branch and chairman of the Georgia Film Commission before being elected to Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District in 1988.
He was re-elected in 1990.
During his time in Congress, Jones served as Democratic whip and was a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Public Works and Transportation.
He later challenged Newt Gingrich in a different district in 1994 but lost.
Tom Wopat, who played Luke Duke, paid tribute to his former 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.”
In a statement shared on social media, Vitor described Jones as the love of her life and said he had lived “the most amazing rich full life”.
“He loved and was loved by so many. He will be missed. I loved him so so much,” she wrote.
Jones is survived by his wife and leaves behind a legacy spanning television, politics and the entertainment industry.
