Schneider played Bo Duke from ages 18 to 25, making for some formative years and tough moments moving on
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NEED TO KNOW
- John Schneider played Bo Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard for seven seasons, from 1979 to 1985
- Schneider tells PEOPLE what it was like when the hit series came to an end, and he had to figure out his next move at 25
- The entertainer also explains why Dukes fans are some of the most devoted of all the series of that era
John Schneider had a hard time moving on from The Dukes of Hazzard.
After starting his time playing Bo Duke at just 18, the end of the series found the actor six years older and unsure of his next step. Schneider knew early on that he had many different creative passions, already making music by the time Dukes came to an end. In a recent catch-up with PEOPLE, the actor, 66, recalls that period.
“I actually wrote and directed the very last episode. We had heard just before that we weren’t going to be coming back the next year. And there was an amount of relief in there, because as much fun as any show looks like, it’s still 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, 10 months a year,” he tells PEOPLE.
Schneider’s music career was picking up at the time, so at first, he saw the end as “an opportunity to shift careers and give one a bit of a rest.”
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“I will tell you that immediately, when three months came by and normally we’d be back starting another season, I missed it immensely,” Schneider admits. “Right away it was like, ‘Well, shoot, I really miss being able to go wreck a car and have somebody hand me another one.’”
More seriously, Schneider notes, “I missed the people. Tom and Cathy and Denver and Sorrel, all of our cast members of Dukes, were very, very close.”
“I was only 25. So it was kind of like the same thing you feel you can’t wait to graduate from high school, but then after summer, if you don’t go to college and you’re not hanging out with your buddies anymore, there’s quite a bit of sadness in there. I didn’t go to college, so Dukes of Hazzard really was my college,” he explains.
“So when that was over, I felt a little lost,” he adds. “I had the music to lean on, but I felt a little lost at that point. It really took a couple of years before I realized we were ever going to do that show again. And I miss it. I still miss it. I especially miss Denver Pyle, who played my sweet Uncle Jesse. He was a great guy, great character, and a great man.”
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Schneider landed roles in shows like Smallville and The Haves and the Have Nots. He has also enjoyed a successful country music career and appeared on Dancing With the Stars in 2018. While more fans from different works have joined his devotees over the years, it’s the Dukes fans that display the most passion.
“People always ask me in interviews, ‘Why in the world does Dukes of Hazzard still matter today?’ And I have no idea, but it does,” he says. “And I ask [fans], ‘Why in the world? Why did you raise your kids watching this show that’s almost 50 years old?’ They say, ‘Well, I wanted to raise them right. I wanted them to know the difference between right and wrong. And I want one of them to be a NASCAR driver, so I want them to want to go fast.’ ”
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