John Schneider (screen actor)

John Schneider
John Schneider, December 2007
Born	John Richard Schneider (1960-04-08) April 8, 1960 Mount Kisco, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, singer, screenwriter, film producer, director
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Tawny Little (m. 1983–86) Elly Castle (m. 1993)
Children	3
Musical career
Genres	Country
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Scotti Brothers, MCA Nashville, FaithWorks

John Richard Schneider (born April 8, 1960) is an American actor and country music singer.^[1] He is best known for his portrayal of Beauregard "Bo" Duke in the American television series The Dukes of Hazzard,^[1] Jonathan Kent in the 2001–11 TV series Smallville (an adaptation of Superman),^[1] and James "Jim" Cryer on the television series The Haves and the Have Nots, created by Tyler Perry.

Alongside his acting career, Schneider has been a singer since the early 1980s, releasing nine studio albums and a greatest hits package, as well as eighteen singles. This total includes "I've Been Around Enough to Know", "Country Girls", "What's a Memory Like You", and "You're the Last Thing I Needed Tonight", all of which reached the top of the Billboard country singles charts.

Early life

Schneider was born April 8, 1960, in Mount Kisco, New York, the son of Shirley Conklin and John "Jack" Schneider III, a pilot who had served in the U.S. Air Force.^[2][3] His family included an older brother Robert, an artist living in southern New York. John's life as an entertainer began at the age of eight, when he put on magic shows for his peers and their families. This once got him into trouble, when he had himself chained up and tossed into a swimming pool with the intention of re-creating Harry Houdini's legendary escape act. When he was 14, he and his mother moved to Georgia, where his love for performing continued.

Career

Acting career

Schneider at the 2005 Superman Festival, Metropolis, IL

Schneider (left) with Smallville co-stars Tom Welling and Brian Peterson

He briefly attended the Georgia School of High Performance, hoping to become a race-car driver. His prowess behind the wheel enabled him to land his Dukes of Hazzard role as Bo Duke (from 1979 to 1985), opposite another newcomer Tom Wopat and veteran Western actor James Best, who would all remain best friends, after the series' cancelation, until Best's death. Beginning in 2001, he portrayed Jonathan Kent, the adoptive father of Clark Kent on Smallville, starring in 100 episodes before his character was killed off. Schneider directed some episodes of Smallville, including "Talisman". Some episodes contain references to Schneider's work in The Dukes of Hazzard, e.g. the season five episode "Exposed" is notable for reuniting Schneider with his former Dukes co-star Tom Wopat. Schneider guest starred for the latter half of season five appearing in the episodes "Void" and "Oracle". Schneider returned for the season 10 premiere of Smallville, reprising his role as Jonathan Kent in a recurring role.^[4]

Schneider has appeared in many films and TV series, including five guest spots on Hee Haw and the miniseries 10.5. He had a recurring role on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and made guest appearances on such shows as Diagnosis: Murder, Touched by an Angel, JAG and Walker, Texas Ranger.

In 2009, Schneider made an appearance on CSI in an episode titled "Kill Me If You Can". He appeared in the first season of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, in which his real-life son Chasen Schneider had a recurring role. During the summer of 2008 and early 2009, John portrayed "Marshall Bowman". He declined to continue through the second season and his character was killed off.

In 2010, Schneider appeared in the series Leverage as a corrupt music executive in the season three episode "The Studio Job", and in several episodes of Desperate Housewives as a retired military man and father of Keith Watson (Brian Austin Green), the love interest of Bree Van de Kamp.

In 2011, he starred in the film Doonby, as a drifter who comes into a small town and makes it better. However, a menacing force stalks him. "It's It's a Wonderful Life without the wonderful part," Schneider explains. "'Reach down into the throat of It's a Wonderful Life, pull it inside out and make a movie out of it."^[5]

He returned to the role of Bo Duke in a commercial for Autotrader.com in 2014. Tom Wopat returned as Luke Duke.

Music career

Schneider performing in 2008

During the 1980s, Schneider parlayed his success as Bo Duke with a string of country music hits. His biggest hits include: "It's Now or Never" (#4 country and No. 14 pop, 1981; a remake of the Elvis Presley hit); "I've Been Around Enough to Know" (#1 country, 1984); "Country Girls" (#1 country, 1985); "What's a Memory Like You (Doing in a Love Like This)" and "You're The Last Thing I Needed Tonight" (both No. 1 country, 1986); "At the Sound of the Tone" (#5 country, 1986); and "Love, You Ain't Seen the Last of Me" (#6 country) in 1987.

Schneider has recorded 10 albums to date, including works on Scotti Brothers Records and MCA Nashville. His co-star (on The Dukes of Hazzard), Tom Wopat, also enjoyed success on the country music charts. Schneider and Wopat sang several duets on the TV series, sometimes with co-star Catherine Bach. In fact, in the season 7 DVD boxset, the trio performed a remake of the show's theme song "Good Ol' Boys" in a music video as a tribute to their friend Waylon Jennings.

Personal life

Schneider in 2010

Schneider became a born-again Christian while living with Johnny and June Carter Cash for a short time in 1998 and speaking with Johnny about Christianity.^[6] In 1982, he co-founded, with Marie Osmond, the Children's Miracle Network to help suffering children. In 1995, he founded FaithWorks Productions in order to produce family-oriented videos and recordings.

Schneider has become involved in animal advocacy. He read from Karen Dawn's book Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking The Way We Treat Animals at its New York book launch. In a Washington Post article he discussed the effects of the book and the people he met through the event on his life.^[7] He was moved to record a personal video, which is available on YouTube and on the book's website, in which he talks of his shock upon learning about the way animals are treated by human society, and mentions the award winning documentary Earthlings, which is about the human dependence on animals for a variety of resources.^[8]

Schneider was married to former Miss America Tawny Elaine Godin from 1983 to 1986. He married his second wife, Elvira Castle, on July 11, 1993. On December 12, 2014, TMZ.com reported that Castle had filed for divorce.^[9] They have three children, Leah and Chasen, both of whom are Castle's children from her first marriage,^[10] and their daughter Karis.^[11]

On April 6, 2015, Schneider had lost his acting mentor and decades-long friend, James "Jimmie" Best, to pneumonia, just 2 days before Schneider's 55th birthday. Prior to Best's death, Schneider released a statement; "I laughed and learned more from Jimmie in one hour, than from anyone else in a whole year. Give Uncle Jesse my love when you see him dear friend," he also added, "(Best) would say, 'sure thing, which eye?' I'm forever thankful to have cut my teeth in the company of such a fine man."^[12] Then, nearly one year after Jimmie's death, he said of Schneider's favorite episodes, which included most of Best's off-camera personality was: "One that always comes to mind was called The Ghost of General Lee... Someone had taken our car, The General Lee, and Rosco thinks he's caused us to drown. It shows Rosco's real appreciation, in fact love, for the Duke boys and he was terribly hurt when he thought he'd killed them," He also added, "There are a couple of moments in Dukes... that aren't all fun and games and that was one of them. Then I wrote and directed the last episode we did called Opening Night at the Boar's Nest and in that, Rosco does a magic trick and thinks he's made Boss Hogg disappear - and you see the love he has for Boss Hogg." Schneider also said about the laughter; "We drop the veil of shenanigans and laughter and show what those relationships are really like. Those are my two favourites because of those reasons and it's important, I think, to note that both of them centre around the amazing acting ability of James Best, who played Rosco." The last thing that he said about his working relationship with Best; "He was amazing in everything he did; he was not just a funny guy. In fact, I think the comedic timing kind of came to him later on in life because before that he was a very serious actor. I was very fortunate to have grown up working with people like Jimmie Best and Denver Pyle and Sorrell Booke. Incredibly talented men, incredibly talented actors."^[13] Following the cancelation of The Dukes of Hazzard, Schneider had a long association with Best for exactly 30 years, by keeping him in touch or for visiting him, until Best's death. After attending the funeral of Sorrell Booke (who died in 1994, who also played Boss Hogg in the series), he, Best and the rest of the cast were reunited in starring in The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!, in 1997 (where both the cast/show paid tribute to Booke), before he and Best, along with the rest of their surviving cast starred in another Dukes reunion movie, The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood, in 2000 (where once again, both the cast/show paid tribute to Denver Pyle, who died, near the end of 1997). Schneider, along with Wopat and Best were all featured in the 2004 PlayStation 2 game, The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee, which received mixed reviews. Six years later in 2010, both Best and Schneider were reunited together to guest-star in CMT Cribs, which featured the late host George Jones, then in 2012, just a few years before Best would be gone, he and Rick Hurst both teamed up with Best for one last time to co-star in Return of the Killer Shrews, where Best reprised the role he created, over a half-century ago.

Filmography

Television

Film

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Schneider.

• Official website
• John Schneider at the Internet Movie Database
• John Schneider at the Internet Broadway Database