James Best
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- July 26, 1926
- Died
- April 6, 2015 (aged 88)
- Birthplace
- Powderly, Kentucky, USA
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia James Best (born Jewel Franklin Guy; July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015) was an American television, film, character, voice, and stage actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician, whose career spanned seven decades of television. He appeared as a guest on various country music and talk shows. One of the busiest actors in Hollywood, who began his contract career with Universal Studios in 1949, where he met unfamiliar actors Julie Adams, Piper Laurie, Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson. Best's long career began in films in 1950. He appeared primarily in Westerns, playing opposite Audie Murphy in Kansas Raiders (1950), The Cimarron Kid (1952) and The Quick Gun (1964), Raymond Massey in Seven Angry Men (1955), George Montgomery in Last of the Badman (1957), Frank Lovejoy in Cole Younger Gunfighter (1958), and Randolph Scott in Ride Lonesome (1959). He also starred in the science fiction cult movie, The Killer Shrews (1959) and its sequel, Return of the Killer Shrews (2012). He is most known for playing bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the action/comedy Dukes of Hazzard, a role that he revised in The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (1997) as his character was now "boss" of Hazzard County as well as sheriff, and again in The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood (2000).
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!
Movie · as Self
The Sweeter Side of Life
Movie · as Paddy Kerrigan
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Return of the Killer Shrews
Movie · as Thorne Sherman
Moondance Alexander
Movie · as McClancy
Hot Tamale
Movie · as Hank Larson
CMT: Inside Fame
TV · 1 ep
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Movie · as Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
Movie · as Rosco P. Coltrane
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
Movie · as Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
E! True Hollywood Story
TV · 1 ep
Death Mask
Movie · as Wilbur Johnson
B.L. Stryker
TV · 1 ep
In the Heat of the Night
TV · 1 ep
The Dukes
TV · as Rosco Coltrane (voice) · 20 eps
Enos
TV · 1 ep
The Dukes of Hazzard
TV · as Rosco P. Coltrane · 147 eps
Hooper
Movie · as Cully
The End
Movie · as Pacemaker Patient
Centennial
TV · 1 ep
Rolling Thunder
Movie · as Texan
The Savage Bees
Movie · as Pellegrino
Nickelodeon
Movie · as Jim
Ode to Billy Joe
Movie · as Dewey Barksdale
The Runaway Barge
Movie · as Bingo Washington
Savages
Movie · as Sheriff Bert Hamilton
The Manhunter
TV · 1 ep
Hawkins
TV · as Sheriff John Early · 1 ep
The Brain Machine
Movie · as Rev. Emory Neill
Sounder
Movie · as Sheriff Charlie Young
Run, Simon, Run
Movie · as Henry Burroughs
Firecreek
Movie · as Drew
Lancer
TV · 1 ep
The Mod Squad
TV · as Clay Lynch · 1 ep
First to Fight
Movie · as Sergeant Carnavan
The Guns of Will Sonnett
TV · 2 eps
Three on a Couch
Movie · as Dr. Ben Mizer
Felony Squad
TV · 2 eps
Hawk
TV · 1 ep
The Green Hornet
TV · as Yale Barton · 1 ep
Shenandoah
Movie · as Carter, Rebel Soldier
Black Spurs
Movie · as Ralph Elkins
Honey West
TV · as Vince Zale · 1 ep
The Quick Gun
Movie · as Scotty Wade
Flipper
TV · 1 ep
Daniel Boone
TV · as Jethro Wyatt · 1 ep
Shock Corridor
Movie · as Stuart
Burke's Law
TV · as Tucson, 'The Cowboy' · 1 ep
Redigo
TV · 1 ep
The Fugitive
TV · as Dan Murray · 1 ep
Temple Houston
TV · as Gotch · 1 ep
Black Gold
Movie · as Jericho Larkin
The Gallant Men
TV · 1 ep
Combat!
TV · as Trenton · 1 ep
The Virginian
TV · as Curt Westley · 1 ep
General Electric True
TV · 1 ep
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
TV · as Tom Carmody · 1 ep
Ben Casey
TV · 2 eps
Whispering Smith
TV · 1 ep
The Mountain Road
Movie · as Niergaard
Aftermath
Movie · as Hardy Coulter
The Andy Griffith Show
TV · as Jim Lindsey · 2 eps
Surfside 6
TV · 1 ep
Stagecoach West
TV · 3 eps
Overland Trail
TV · 1 ep
Pony Express
TV · as Bart Gentry · 1 ep
Michael Shayne
TV · 1 ep
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
TV · as Joe · 1 ep
Ride Lonesome
Movie · as Billy John
The Killer Shrews
Movie · as Thorne Sherman
Verboten!
Movie · as Sgt. David Brent
Cast a Long Shadow
Movie · as Sam Mullen
The Twilight Zone
TV · as Jeff Myrtlebank, Billy-Ben Turner · 1 ep
Hawaiian Eye
TV · 1 ep
The Man and the Challenge
TV · 1 ep
Rawhide
TV · as Willie Cain, Brock Quade · 1 ep
Men Into Space
TV · 1 ep
Black Saddle
TV · as Ben Travers · 1 ep
Lock-Up
TV · 1 ep
The Rebel
TV · as Ted Evans, Abel Waares · 1 ep
Laramie
TV · 3 eps
The David Niven Show
TV · as Boland · 1 ep
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
TV · as Jovan Wilanskov · 1 ep
Bonanza
TV · as Sheriff Vern Schaler · 1 ep
Startime
TV · as Duke · 1 ep
The Left Handed Gun
Movie · as Tom Folliard
The Naked and the Dead
Movie · as Rhidges
Cole Younger, Gunfighter
Movie · as Kit Caswell
77 Sunset Strip
TV · as Babe Mackie
Bronco
TV · 1 ep
Wanted: Dead or Alive
TV · as Stoner, Luke Perry · 1 ep
The Rifleman
TV · 1 ep
Bat Masterson
TV · as Joe Best, Danny Dakota · 1 ep
The Texan
TV · 1 ep
Behind Closed Doors
TV · as Webb · 1 ep
Hot Summer Night
Movie · as Kermit
Man on the Prowl
Movie · as Doug Gerhardt
Last of the Badmen
Movie · as Ted Hamilton
Trackdown
TV · 3 eps
Perry Mason
TV · as Allan Winford, Martin Potter · 1 ep
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV · 3 eps
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
TV · as Jack Milhoan · 1 ep
Tombstone Territory
TV · 1 ep
Calling Homicide
Movie · as Det. Arnie Arnhoff
The Rack
Movie · as Millard Chilson Cassidy
Gaby
Movie · as Jim
Come Next Spring
Movie · as Bill Jackson
Forbidden Planet
Movie · as Crewman (uncredited)
West Point
TV · 1 ep
Top of the World
Movie · as Col. French's Orderly (uncredited)
Seven Angry Men
Movie · as Jason Brown
Cheyenne
TV · 1 ep
Gunsmoke
TV · as Beal, Charlie Noon · 1 ep
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV · as Norman Frayne, Hennessy, Bish Darby · 1 ep
The Millionaire
TV · as Fred Morgan · 1 ep
Buffalo Bill Jr.
TV · 1 ep
Frontier
TV · 2 eps
The Raid
Movie · as Lt. Robinson
The Yellow Tomahawk
Movie · as Private Bliss
The Caine Mutiny
Movie · as Lt. JG Jorgensen
Return from the Sea
Movie · as Barr
Riders to the Stars
Movie · as Dr. Sidney K. Fuller
They Rode West
Movie · as Lt. Finlay (uncredited)
Climax!
TV · as Shag · 1 ep
The Lineup
TV · 1 ep
Stories of the Century
TV · 1 ep
Seminole
Movie · as Corp. Gerad
City of Bad Men
Movie · as Deputy Gig (uncredited)
Column South
Movie · as Primrose
Skip Taylor
Movie
General Electric Theater
TV · as Hardy Coulter · 1 ep
The Cimarron Kid
Movie · as Bitter Creek Dalton
The Battle at Apache Pass
Movie · as Cpl. Hassett
Francis Goes to West Point
Movie · as Corporal Ransom
Steel Town
Movie · as Joe Rakich
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Movie · as Marvin Johnson
Flat Top
Movie · as Radio Operator
Cavalcade of America
TV · as Harry, Slate Morley · 1 ep
Hopalong Cassidy
TV · 1 ep
Apache Drums
Movie · as Bert Keon
Target Unknown
Movie · as Sgt. Ralph Phelps
Air Cadet
Movie · as Jerry Connell
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV · 1 ep
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV · 1 ep
The Adventures of Kit Carson
TV · 2 eps
Winchester '73
Movie · as Crater
Comanche Territory
Movie · as Sam
Kansas Raiders
Movie · as Cole Younger
I Was a Shoplifter
Movie
One Way Street
Movie · as Driver (uncredited)
Peggy
Movie · as Frank Addison
Lux Video Theatre
TV · as Clem Wallace · 1 ep
The Gene Autry Show
TV · 2 eps