'Dukes of Hazzard' Star Ben Jones Dies at 84

Ben Jones, the actor who gave life to Cooter Davenport on 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' died at 84, closing another chapter in the story of American television's communal golden age. His was a career that began with a single beloved role and expanded outward into politics and public life, a reminder that the people who shape our shared cultural memories are themselves shaped by forces larger than any one character. As the figures of 1980s television pass into history, they carry with them something irreplaceable — the texture of an era when a nation still gathered around the same screen.