The Strange Story of ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’s Coy and Vance Duke
Growing up, I was a huge fan of The Dukes of Hazzard — if you’re reading this, you probably were, too. There was a lot to like about the Dukes: car chases, Daisy Duke, and some wonderful comedy by veteran character actors James Best and Sorrell Booke as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane and Boss Hogg. Actors John Schneider and Tom Wopat portrayed Bo and Luke Duke with exuberance and infectious charm, and the show was an immediate hit. It just seemed to have the right mix of action and comedy, and the theme song composed and performed by Waylon Jennings was one of the best ever. And did I mention Daisy Duke?
And if you’re a fan, you probably remember the show’s one incredibly strange season, in which two of the show’s most important elements were tossed out the window.
Everett Collection
Schneider and Wopat played Bo and Luke Duke during seasons one through four. However, when it came time to negotiate contracts for the fifth season, both of them decided to hold out, due to concern was over royalties on the show’s numerous licensing deals. Their images were everywhere, and I personally feel their concern was legitimate: between action figures, the lunchboxes, coloring books, assorted toys, bedspreads, and curtains, Duke-mania was in full swing. John and Tom felt like their contracts needed to be renegotiated to ensure they got a fair cut of that very lucrative merchandising pie.
When negotiations stalled, the producers and CBS decided to do the unthinkable: replace the actors with lookalikes. Seriously, these guys were the spitting images of their cousins. For the first 19 episodes of season five, actors Byron Cherry and Christopher Mayer did their very best to try to make us forget that Bo and Luke ever existed.
There’s a moment in the first episode of season five where Uncle Jesse, played by Denver Pyle, does all sorts of explaining to Daisy. Apparently, Coy and Vance Duke left the farm way back in 1976, before the show started, and now they were back to keep an eye on things while Bo and Luke were gone. From what I understand, actress Catherine Bach wanted to strike as well, but Wopat and Schneider encouraged her to move forward while they played hardball for everyone. That first scene with Uncle Jesse talking to Daisy had to be excruciatingly difficult for both Denver Pyle and Catherine Bach.
Everett Collection
Even though they were gone, Bo and Luke were not forgotten. Referring to Coy and Vance, executive producer Paul Picard told Warren Berry of Newsday back in 1982, “We don’t look upon this as a cast change. They’re additions.”
Despite the valiant efforts by both new actors, no one was buying the idea of The Dukes of Hazzard without Bo and Luke. Ratings plummeted, and fans of the show clamored for the return of the original actors. By the spring of 1983, Coy and Vance were gone. After their time in Hazzard County, both Byron Cherry and Christopher Mayer found ways to stay busy. Byron found work on shows like Murder, She Wrote and In the Heat of the Night, while Christopher found steady work on the daytime soap opera Santa Barbara. Sadly, in 2011, Christopher was found dead in his Los Angeles home. The coroner’s report attributed his untimely passing to natural causes.
With Schneider and Wopat back, The Dukes of Hazzard ran for two more seasons until 1985. The show had lost some of its viewers during the dispute, and the ratings never fully bounced back. Additionally, budget cuts impacted the car stunts and special effects work, and audiences noticed that kind of stuff.
Still, for what it was, The Dukes of Hazzard remained a fun show. It was also really silly and every once in a while, just a little bit stupid. But the actors, all of them, did their very best to deliver an extremely entertaining show week after week.