John Schneider has finally lifted the lid on one lie he told in order to secure his iconic role in Dukes of Hazzard.
For those unaware, the 66-year-old American actor and country music singer played the famous role of Bo Duke at the age of 18 in the American action-comedy television series created by Gy Waldron that aired on CBS from 1979 to 1985.
While conversing with PEOPLE magazine, Schneider said, “I was 18. It’s crazy to look back on that. I started in theater and all this when I was 8.”
“From New York, my mother had moved to Atlanta with IBM, so I was in Atlanta when Dukes happened. But I’d already done all the theater, because there was a lot in Atlanta at that time and had done some commercials and I had an agent.”
“The week I auditioned for Dukes, I also auditioned to replace John Travolta in Welcome Back, Kotter, and I auditioned for a movie called The Great Santini with Robert Duvall. So, I was only 18, but I really had my head to the ground, listening for opportunities to show up. So, when the audition for Dukes came about, they were looking for people 24 to 30 from rural Georgia with racing experience,” he explained.
Schneider was desperate to secure the role, so he told casting directors that he was a 24-year-old from Snellville, Ga, and he “had just come in first place in my class at the Georgia School of High Performance Driving, which did not exist.”
The To Die For star said, “I was actually 18 from Westchester County, N.Y., and I’d only had my driver’s license for about a year and a half.”
“Some people would call that lying, but those of us who act, we call that acting. And it got me in and gave me the opportunity to shine or not in that audition. So it was a good move,” John Schneider stated.
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