Tom Wopat
I’ve recently started watching the Netflix series Longmire which stars ruggedly handsome Robert Taylor and La Bamba star Lou Diamond Phillips. The show ran from 2012-2017. Tom Wopat showed up in the last couple of seasons as Sheriff Jim Wilkins.
Tom Wopat was born on September 8, 1951 in Wisconsin. I think he’s known to most as Luke Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard, but he’s done a lot of other stuff. Neither he nor his Dukes partner John Schneider seemed to have been typecast. That’s probably because they have talent. In addition to his role of Luke Duke, Tom Wopat has also done Broadway, movies, and sitcoms. He is also a singer and has recorded twelve albums. It seems like he can do it all. Oh yeah, he’s also a pretty handsome guy.
Trivia
- Tom Wopat grew up on a farm just like Luke Duke.
- Tom has six brothers and one sister.
- He made his television debut on the soap opera One Life To Live.
- Wopat beat out Dennis Quaid for the role of Luke Duke. “Dennis Quaid is here!” (I LOVE ELLEN!)
- He was on an episode of Smallville with John Schneider. Bo & Luke together again!
- He milked cows for eight years when he was a kid. Teats.
Random TV Credits
- All My Children
- Cybill (starring Cybill Shepherd)
- Home Improvement (he chased Jill around)
- A Peaceable Kingdom
- Medium (I loved this show!)
- Christmas Comes to Willow Creek
- Fantasy Island
- Heirloom
Random Musical Credits
- City of Angels
- Guys and Dolls
- Chicago
- 42nd Street
- Olympus on My Mind
- Catch Me If You Can
- Glengarry, Glen Ross
NOTE: I’ve played most of these musicals (I’m a trumpet player). I can’t believe someone else did Olympus on My Mind. I wrote a trumpet part for that show. It was one of my favorite shows to play. Super fun!
Bad Boy
Tom Wopat made headlines last year when he was arrested for feeling up girls and having cocaine. He was starring in a production of 42nd Street at the time. It sounds like he was a bit touchy feely with other castmates, but he was finally reported to the police when he stuck his hand down someone’s pants. Yep, that’ll do it. Wopat was also spoken to several times about being intoxicated at the rehearsals. He sounds like a mess to me. When he was arrested, the police found cocaine in his car. He was sentenced to one year of probation on July 20, 2018.
This wasn’t his first time being in trouble with the law. He’s been busted in a Wisconsin airport with weed before. He was arrested in 2006 for drunk driving. He hit a bunch of orange traffic cones and almost struck a police car. Oopsies! That’s why Bo always got to drive the General Lee.
FYI, Bo Duke has also been in trouble with the law. Click here to read my blog about John Schneider in jail.
I think Tom Wopat really is a good ole boy (with some problems). He appears to be not only talented, but also hard working. I like hard working people. Talent and good looks only get you so far. IMDB doesn’t have him doing anything in 2018. Maybe he’s spent this year dealing with other things that hopefully will keep him out of jail. I wish him the best.