08/10/2026
Actor and politician Ben Jones aka "Cooter" died today. I never met the man face-to-face -- but we spoke on the phone and shared lots of emails over the years. He was a good friend of the late Ralph Dennis, and was very helpful to me in meeting the author's other surviving friends and tracking down his lost manuscripts. Ben also kindly wrote an introduction to one of The Hardman Novels that we republished. Ben's affection for Ralph, was still palpable. He lamented he wasn't able to help Ralph overcome his demons...in the same way that he'd overcome his own. For years, Ben tried to sell "Gunnerson," TV series that he & Ralph created, and that he would star in, but Ben was too typecast as "Cooter" to get it going. The last time we exchanged emails it was on July 4, 2023, when I let Ben know I'd finally tracked down Ralph's long-lost manuscript "Wind Sprints" and sent him a copy. Ben wrote: "Hey Lee,
Happy Fourth of July!
I think Ralph started that manuscript in Chapel Hill and continued to work on it after his move to Atlanta in 1970, as I recall. He stayed with me for a few weeks until he found that apartment on Brookridge, where he lived in the early 70's, a nice little
space above a garage in a neighborhood called Druid Hills. Then, when he sold the first Hardman, it went unmentioned for a few years.
I'm still rummaging around for the "Gunnarson" pieces we worked in the late 70's and into the 80's, when I was commuting from Atlanta to L.A. for the "Dukes"...
All is well in the Blue Ridge. And I hope all is well with you and yours,
Ben Jones"
Actor Ben Jones, best known for playing trusty mechanic Cooter Davenport in the hit TV comedy “The Dukes of Hazzard,” has died at age 84.
