Duane Jones

Morgan Jones' son on The Walking Dead (2010) was named Duane Jones in his honor.

In an audio interview conducted shortly before his untimely death in 1988, he recalled an occasion during which he met with a group of his theater students at a local cafén near the Old Westbury campus on Long Island, New York, when they were suddenly awestruck at the film then playing on TV. Duane turned around and noticed that the movie playing on the television in the cafén was none other than Night of the Living Dead (1968). His students were amazed to see their professor on screen, because Duane rarely mentioned his movie roles to his students. After this occasion, the word spread that "Night of the Living Dead's" star hero was teaching at Old Westbury college on Long Island.

He never saw any of George A. Romero's other films, including Dawn of the Dead (1978) or Day of the Dead (1985).

Cult figure who will forever be remembered as Ben, the resourceful, yet ill-fated hero of George A. Romero's low-budget zombie film Night of the Living Dead (1968). Jones was a former English professor who directed at the Maguire Theater at the Old Westbury campus of New York State University, and he additionally served as artistic director at the Richard Allen Center in New York City. His casting as the hero of the Romero film was unique, as it was the first occasion that an African-American actor had portrayed the hero in a horror film.