A product of a broken home, John poured himself into
acting at a young age and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, with his mom, when he
was in his teens.He continued
acting in community theatre and lucked out by landing a small role in 1977's
Smokey and the Bandit.He shot to fame a couple of years
later as Bo on The Dukes of Hazzard.The show ran for six years.His success led to an opportunity to pursue another ambition,
music.In 1981, he launched his
recording career by re-making Elvis's "It's Now Or Never",
reaching #4 and #14 on Billboard's country and pop charts,
respectively.Other hits
followed: " I've
Been Around Enough To Know", "What's a Memory Like You
(Doing in a Love Like This)" and "You're The Last Thing I
Needed Tonight" all went to #1 on the country chart: " At the Sound of the Tone"
and "Love, You Ain't Seen the Last of
Me" went to #5 and #6, respectively, on same.Television work kept pouring in, as
well:John made regular
appearances on Dr. Quinn, Medicine
Woman, and guest appearances on Diagnosis:Murder, JAG, Touched By An Angel,
and Walker, Texas Ranger.Modern audiences know him as Superboy's surrogate father on Smallville.His greatest legacy, however, may be
his co-founding of Children's Miracle Network, in 1982, with Marie
Osmond.To date, it has managed
to raise almost two billion dollars for children's hospitals.
