John Schneider

BIRTH DATE:

April 8.

BIRTHPLACE:

Mt. Kisco, NY.

HEIGHT:

6'2".

WEIGHT:

190 lbs.

EYES:

Blue.

HAIR:

Blond.

FAVORITE COLOR:

Black.

FAVORITE FOODS:

Chinese, fish.

CURRENT HOME (as of 1996):

San Antonio, Texas.

HOBBIES:

Writing music; tennis; reading, especially horror stories; camping; cars; raising dogs such as his two Pekes, Toby and Tuffy, and his German pointer, Bronco.

EARLY YEARS:

At different times, worked as gas station attendant, waiter, bus boy, fashion model, club singer; appeared in school stage presentations of "Fiddler on the Roof," "Annie Get Your Gun," "The Curious Savage," "The Pajama Game," "The Odd Couple," and "Harvey."

TV APPEARENCES:

"John Schneider--Back Home", "Dream House", "The Acadamy Awards Telecast", "Heaven Help Us", "Jenny Jones", "Texas", "Prime Time Country", "Mike and Maty", "The Marilu Henner Show", "Touched By An Angel", "Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman", and many more. People Magazine said that he may be hosting a syndicated matchmaking show called "All You Need is Love" soon.

MOVIES:

Smokey and the Bandit (w/ Burt Reynolds), Eddie Macon's Run, Night Of The Twister, Happy Endings, The Farm, Cocaine Wars, Ministry of Vengeance.

STAGE:

Professional appearances in "The Wizard of Oz," "Our Town," "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To The Forum," "The Boys in the Band," "As You Like It", "The Steam Truck Players", and "Music Man".

OTHER PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS:

Directing; producing. He once trained at the Georgia School of High Performance Driving. John now heads Faithworks Productions, Inc., a film production company that puts out quality family films. He is also co-founder of the Children's Miracle Foundation, an organization which has raised over a billion dollars for needy childred over the past decade. Furthermore, he has done musicals, TV movies, and other miscellaneous appearances...

Now it was time to talk to John. He still loves the outdoors as much as ever--you can tell that he dreams of clean air and clear skies.

"If I retire--though I don't know when that would ever be the case--I'll probably retreat to a cabin in the mountains somewhere and just relax," he told me, his feet resting on the desk in front of him. "Yeah, I'm just liable to do that."

John always seems relaxed. Even in the midst of the hustle and bustle of filming, he is calmly aware of everything that goes on around him. During our interview, he was able to take care of talking to a sudden intruder without even missing a beat in our own conversation.

When I asked John what he had been doing with his spare time, he just laughed, adding that he hasn't had much spare time lately! He's been keeping a whirlwind schedule with personal appearances all over the country, TV specials, an upcoming movie, and a whole range of other interests and activities.

"Although I don't have much time to relax," John went on to say, "one way I have of letting off steam is buying cars. I sure do love cars!" That may not be necessary to mention if you've noticed the expression on John's face when he's driving the General Lee!

When John had met me for the interview and we were walking toward his dressing room, I noticed his yellow Ferrari parked in front, quite spectacular and very expensive. John has several other foreign sports cars also, each in a different color.

"It's true that I can afford such toys now," John went on happily. "But in spite of the fancy things I can now buy, I still also enjoy alot of simple things in life."

This is the kind of person John is--he finds his fun in a lot of different ways. He'll probably always enjoy his success. Nor is he afraid to get dirty, to roll up his sleeves, and do manual work. He'd like to remain the same kid he was a few years ago when he was singing with a barbershop quartet at Atlanta's Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park.

John's a lively, active personality. And he's full of dreams--most of which are coming true very quickly.

"One of my dreams was opening up my own automobile repair shop. I've done that now. It's called the John Schnieder Celebrity Machines, and it is located in Burbank, near the studio. I couldn't be happier about it."

What satisfaction does he get from it?

"I don't go and work on the cars myself; I wouldn't know how. All I do know about cars is how to drive them, keep them filled with gas, change a tire, and clean them. But to walk up to a customer in my repair shop and ask how his or her car is running, and to have the person say, 'Great, Just great. You did a wonderful job here.' Wow, *that's* satisfying, it really is."

The repair shop is an old, converted gas station. John and a friend bought it and turned it into what it is now.

"The man's a genius," John said of his friend. "He can make a 12-cylinder Ferrari engine purr.

John would especially like to be a good example for young people with weight problems. And in that area, he speaks from personal experience.

"As a youngster, I was very overweight," he remarked. "I loved to eat more than anybody I knew. Instead of eating one or two cookies, I would gobble up a whole box."

A lot of the fan mail John receives is filled with questions about dieting, especially from youngsters who are concerned about their weight.

"I do the best I can for these people," John added seriously. "Weight problems can affect a person's self-esteem for years to come."

Another dream is still in the future.

"Actually, I'm happy doing just what I'm doing now, but given a chance, I would be eager to turn to directing, maybe a movie, in time. That would be interesting. And Tom and I hope to do some directing before the end of next season."

He smiled as he added, "If we did get a chance to do any directing, I don't know that we would be better at it than anybody else but we do think we have some pretty good ideas so we'd like to give it a try. At least we'd both give it our best."

John cares about his fans.

"I work so much I don't get to see them one-on-one very much," he admitted. It was obvious that he regretted this--that he genuinely wanted to stay close to them.

"Everybody is somebody. They're all worthwhile. Everyone can be a star in his or her profession. If you have a dream to be a doctor or a lawyer and you work at it and go to schooland acheive your goal, then that's just as wonderful as getting a break in the movie business. There aren't stars just in Hollywood, they're all over the country!"

Curious about how this star had risen, I asked John about his start in "Hazzard."

"Late in 1978," he responded with his usual enthusiasm, "I showed up for an open audition in Atlanta. They wanted to find what they called the perfect Bo Duke. Though I was born in Westchester County, New York, and moved to Atlanta when I was a teenager, I walked into the casting session as though I'd just fallen off a turnip truck: unwashed, unshaven, and talking very loudly in a thick southern drawl. It worked! And here I am.

"I hope 'Hazzard' goes on forever," John added, "but I have to be able to do other things, too. Unless I can do the music and the movies, I could end up doing car shows for the rest of my life.

"I hope to hold on to my 'Hazzard' fans, but also to expand my horizons. 'Dream House,' my 1981 TV movie, was a big step, I think. People, especially the critics, tend to put boundaries around what an entertainer can do, but I'm not going to fall into that trap. I want to keep growing in my carrer.

"At the same time, I don't believe in giant steps; I prefer a slow but steady growth. I have to be careful that I don't play someone people won't recognize, or appear in something kids shouldn't see.

"I've grown up with a good ammount of self-confidence. Older folks used to tell me, 'If anyone can do what he wants with his life, it's you.' Sure, I'm very ambitious. I wouldn't be here if that weren't true. But I want to get ahead by growing in many directions."

--by Roger Elwood