How tall???

[LukeDuke80]

Hello, my fellow Hazzardites!

I'd like to pose a question to you guys regarding a few Dukes cast members. For the longest time, I've been trying to find out how tall Ben Jones, Rick Hurst and Christopher Mayer are. I've scoured the web to find the answers, but have come up empty, or at least inconclusive.

The Internet Movie Database can sometimes be a good source, but when it comes to celebrities' heights, they tend to grossly exaggerate (case in point, there is NO WAY Mr. T is 6' 1"...he barely had an inch on Sly Stallone, who's around 5' 9 1/2", in Rocky III). Anyway, the IMDB has Ben Jones listed at 6' 3"...the same height as John Schneider?? I'm not sure that's right. Ben is a tall man, no doubt. I've met him several times in person. I don't know if he's THAT tall, though. I tried freeze framing shots of him with other members of the Dukes cast for comparison. Depending on the camera placement, he can sometimes look ALMOST as tall as John, but more often than not he's more on par with Tom Wopat, Jimmie Best, or Denver Pyle.

Tom has stated himself that he is 6' even. This is most likely his height standing in sneakers or shoes without thick heels, as most people don't give their barefoot heights. Let's assume that's true. Considering the Duke boys were almost always wearing cowboy boots, add another inch to that. That would put Tom's "Dukes height" at 6' 1", even with Jimmie and Denver, who were also 6' 1" according to many sources or interviews in which they stated so themselves.

In most scenes with Jimmie, Ben appears to be pretty even with him. But sometimes he can look a little taller than Tom (but if you look at the final shot in the Dukes Reunion when the cast take their bows, he looks to be as much as 3 inches taller than Tom...what's going on??), so until I find some disputing evidence, I'm putting Ben at somewhere between 6' 1" and 6' 2". Any thoughts?

Now, on to the others in question. John Schneider has stated in several interviews that he is "six three and some change." Since we don't know what that "change" is, let's just say he's 6' 3" in sneakers. In cowboy boots he'd be around 6' 4". I'd say that's accurate, since he always looked to be at least 3 inches taller than Tom on the show. I can't find Rick Hurst's height anywhere on the web, but in scenes with John, he looks to be only about a half inch shorter than him (and remember John was wearing boots), so I'm guessing he could be around 6' 3 1/2"? But in the Reunion, Rick looks to be a little TALLER than John. Also, Rick had a lot of scenes with Sonny Shroyer in the first few episodes of the Coy and Vance era, and Sonny is listed at 6' 2 1/2". Rick always looked to be maybe a half inch taller than Sonny, which would put him at 6' 3", which would dispute my previous guess. The numbers just aren't adding up! It's confusing LOL

Lastly, there is also no information for Chris Mayer concerning his height. He looked to be roughly the same height (if not a little taller than) John in their limited scene together in "Welcome Back, Bo 'n' Luke."

What are your guesses, friends? Can anyone help me solve this puzzle? Darn Hollywood and its camera trickery LOL

[TimDuke]

I'm 6'4" maybe a tad over and John and I are almost exactly the same height I got him by maybe 1/2 inch.I know I'm taller than Ben and Sonny.Rick is real close to me as well. Don Pedro is just a tad taller than me like 6'5".

[JadedPhoenixBurning]

You could try sending him a message through FaceBook and ask him. Remember, his CURRENT height may not be the same as his height on Dukes since folks do tend to shrink as they age. Just a thought.