John Schneider (television actor)

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John Schneider (right) as Bo Duke with Tom Wopat as Luke Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard

John Richard Schneider (born April 8, 1960 in Mount Kisco, New York) is an American actor who shot to fame during the 1980s as Bo Duke in the American television series The Dukes of Hazzard. He is also a country music singer. He was recently known to television audiences as Jonathan Kent, the adoptive father of Clark Kent on the hit show Smallville, starring in 100 episodes before his character was killed off. Both of John's parents are from a German background.

Schneider appeared in the miniseries 10.5. He had a recurring role on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and guest-starred on such shows as Diagnosis Murder, Touched by an Angel, JAG and Walker, Texas Ranger. He also appeared in the off-Broadway play The Civil War as a Confederate soldier.

Schneider is a born-again Christian. 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.

Country music career

During the 1980s, Schneider parlayed his success as Bo Duke with a string of country music hits. His biggest hits included "It's Now or Never" (1981, a remake of the Elvis Presley hit); "I've Been Around Enough to Know" (1984); "Country Girls" (1985); and "What's a Memory Like You (Doing in a Love Like This)" and "You're The Last Thing I Needed Tonight" (both 1986).

His co-star, 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.

Trivia

Schneider is co-founder of the Children's Miracle Network with Marie Osmond.
Schneider is a graduate of North Springs High School in Atlanta, Georgia. [link]
He was once married to former Miss America Tawny Elaine Godin.
Schneider and Dukes co-star Tom Wopat reunited in the November 3, 2005 Smallville episode "Exposed."
Schneider's Smallville character, Jonathan Kent, dies of a heart attack in the 100th episode "Reckoning", first aired January 26, 2006. He appears in a home movie the following episode and later in the April 6, 2006 episode "Void" as a spirit. Schneider has said that what he misses most is working with fellow actor Tom Welling (Clark Kent).
He has said that the most confusing season (to him) of Smallville was the 4th, stating "Our strongest show in the 4th season was weaker than our weakest show this [fifth] season."
Many articles state that John Schneider was born in 1954. The mistake branches from a lie that he told when he auditioned for his role on The Dukes of Hazzard, in which he said he was 24, while he was actually 18, because the creators were looking for actors aged between 24 to 30.
He is mentioned in South Park's episode 505 Terrence and Phillip: Behind the Blow, saying that there made for TV episode was shown instead of the very popular "John Schneider Variety Hour", an obvious joke of it being put on instead of South Park.

External links

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