Is It Cocktail Hour Yet?

Well I lost a bet to my husband about who played the guitar in the dueling banjos scene in Deliverance. I thought it was Jon Voight but, he was right, it was "the guy that died on the boat" - Drew Ballinger (Ronny Cox). Here’s some interesting trivia from Wikipedia about the banjo kid (Billy Redden).

Redden, then sixteen, earned his role in Deliverance during a casting call at Clayton Elementary School. To add authenticity to the film, the filmmakers found Redden to fit the look of the inbred and mentally retarded banjo boy called for by the book (although Redden is neither inbred nor mentally retarded). The scene depicts Redden playing the instrumental Dueling Banjos opposite actor Ronny Cox on guitar. Redden could not play the banjo or even convincingly fake playing, and thus director John Boorman had another child slip his hand through Redden’s sleeve to finger the chord changes. At the end of the dueling banjos scene the script called for Redden to harden his expression towards Drew Ballinger, Cox’s character; however, Redden was unable to fake dislike for Cox. To solve the problem they got Ned Beatty (whom Redden truly disliked) to step towards Redden at the close of the shot. As Beatty approached, Redden hardened his expression and looked away exactly as intended.

The guy "clogging" reminds me of my mom’s family down in Virginia - yes I’ve seen some clogging in my day! Whoever it was playing that banjo - watch them playing those chords - freakin’ art I tell ya!

Tags: Deliverance, dueling banjos, Billy Redden, Ronny Cox. Jon Voight