John was born in 1960. The reason for the confusion is because back in 1978 when John auditioned for the part of Bo Duke, he was only 18 and they wanted someone older. Therefore, John lied and said he was 24. John mentions this in the commentary to "One Armed Bandits" episode in season 1 of the DOH dvd sets. If he was 18 in '78 then he had to have been born in 1960. The difference between 24 and 18 is 6. The number of years between 1954 and 1960 is also 6. Therefore you can easily see where the confusion comes from and why both years have been listed as his birth year. Thank you, I understand clearly.