John Schneider, Just The Good ‘Ol Boy

I recently had the opportunity to meet and interview John Schneider at The Hollywood Show. John Schneider played “Bo Duke” in the hit series “The Dukes of Hazzard.” He co-starred with Tom Wopat as “Luke” and Catherine Bach as “Daisy Duke.” I remember I was an 11-year-old tween when I started to watch the show faithfully. I bought Tiger Beat and other teen-oriented magazines, and I even put a photo of “Bo Duke” in my Trapper Keeper binder.

The Dukes of Hazzard TV show ran in the late ’70s until mid-’80s and was a very entertaining show for young and old alike. It chronicles the adventures of the cousins – “Bo” (John Schneider) and “Luke” (Tom Wopat) and “Daisy Duke” (Catherine Bach) in their ’69 orange Dodge Charger, The General Lee. The villain in the show was “Boss Hogg” (Sorrell Booke), the greedy commissioner of Hazzard county. “Boss Hogg” wore an all-white suit with a white cowboy hat and regularly smoked cigars. He was always trying to pin crimes on the cousins and send them to jail because the Dukes constantly thwarted his scams against the people of Hazzard.

Fast forward 16 years, Schneider was cast in the highly acclaimed WB television series, Smallville. The series was positively well-received when it began broadcasting in 2001. According to Wikipedia and Gateworld, by the end of its run, it had become the longest-running North American science fiction series, surpassing Stargate SG-1.

Upon meeting the talented actor last Saturday (Jan. 4), I was impressed at how friendly and down-to-earth he was. Clad in a black suit, Schneider still looks great in his natural curly locks.

John Schneider is a multi-talented artist. He is a country singer, Broadway actor, and a filmmaker. His most recent familiar role is as “Jonathan Kent”, the adoptive father of Clark Kent (Superman) on the popular series Smallville. He also appeared in many TV hits like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Touched by an Angel, JAG and Walker, Texas Ranger and the recent ones such as Desperate Housewives, The Secret Life of an American Teenager, Nip/Tuck and Hot in Cleveland.

On this short but sweet interview he discusses his new show at The Oprah Winfrey Network and the best part of playing a dad in Smallville.

Ruchel: Have you been keeping in touch with some of your co-stars from The Dukes of Hazzard?
JS: I have, yes. In fact, I’m going to see Tom Wopat next week in New York.

Ruchel: Do you have a project together?
JS: No. I’m going to be in New York promoting the second season of “The Haves and The Have Nots” which is in the Oprah Winfrey Network. It’s a huge show, every Tuesday nights, 9:00/8:00 pm central and Tom lives in New York so I’ll see him there.

Ruchel: What was the best part of playing a dad (Jonathan Kent) in Smallville?
JS: Wow. Being a huge fan of The Rifle Man, Bonanza, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, and Little House on the Prairie – dad’s play a very important part in my viewing habits as a child and I do believe that television…I don’t know so much about now, but television on those days you really did learn how to behave from different television shows. Just because you are a parental age does not mean you no longer need to learn from your heroes on television. So for me, the greatest part of playing a dad (Jonathan Kent) in Smallville was that I believe he is the best dad to ever been on television not because I participated in that. It was written that well and I forever will be the man who raise the boy who became Superman.

Ruchel: Would you consider a reality show?
JS: No. I’m more of a storyteller. I’m a structure freak beginning middle end storyteller.

Ruchel: Any words for the fans?
JS: Just thank you for keeping me around all this time. I’m really a 7-year-old who wanted to be a filmmaker since 1967. Now I am and I realized because of you.

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