James Best
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
Credits
- 2021 · Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists! as Self
- 2013 · The Sweeter Side of Life as Paddy Kerrigan
- 2012 · Return of the Killer Shrews as Thorne Sherman
- 2007 · Moondance Alexander as McClancy
- 2006 · Hot Tamale as Hank Larson
- 2005 · CMT: Inside Fame as
- 2004 · The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made as Thorne Sherman (archive footage)
- 2002 · The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller as Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2000 · The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood as Rosco P. Coltrane
- 1998 · Death Mask as Wilbur Johnson
- 1997 · The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! as Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
- 1996 · E! True Hollywood Story as
- 1989 · B.L. Stryker as
- 1988 · In the Heat of the Night as
- 1983 · The Dukes as Rosco Coltrane (voice)
- 1980 · Enos as
- 1979 · The Dukes of Hazzard as Rosco P. Coltrane
- 1978 · Centennial as
- 1978 · Hooper as Cully
- 1978 · The End as Pacemaker Patient
- 1977 · Rolling Thunder as Texan
- 1976 · Nickelodeon as Jim
- 1976 · The Savage Bees as Pellegrino
- 1976 · Ode to Billy Joe as Dewey Barksdale
- 1975 · The Runaway Barge as Bingo Washington
- 1974 · The Manhunter as
- 1974 · Savages as Sheriff Bert Hamilton
- 1973 · Hawkins as Sheriff John Early
- 1972 · Sounder as Sheriff Charlie Young
- 1972 · The Brain Machine as Rev. Emory Neill
- 1970 · Run, Simon, Run as Henry Burroughs
- 1968 · Lancer as
- 1968 · The Mod Squad as
- 1968 · Firecreek as Drew
- 1967 · The Guns of Will Sonnett as
- 1967 · First to Fight as Sergeant Carnavan
- 1966 · Felony Squad as
- 1966 · The Green Hornet as Yale Barton
- 1966 · Hawk as
- 1966 · Three on a Couch as Dr. Ben Mizer
- 1965 · Honey West as Vince Zale
- 1965 · Shenandoah as Carter, Rebel Soldier
- 1965 · Black Spurs as Ralph Elkins
- 1964 · Daniel Boone as Jethro Wyatt
- 1964 · Flipper as
- 1964 · The Quick Gun as Scotty Wade
- 1963 · Shock Corridor as Stuart
- 1963 · Redigo as
- 1963 · Burke's Law as Tucson, 'The Cowboy'
- 1963 · The Fugitive as Dan Murray
- 1962 · The Gallant Men as
- 1962 · Combat! as Trenton
- 1962 · General Electric True as
- 1962 · The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as Tom Carmody
- 1962 · The Virginian as Curt Westley
- 1962 · Black Gold as Jericho Larkin
- 1961 · Ben Casey as
- 1961 · Whispering Smith as
- 1960 · Surfside 6 as
- 1960 · Stagecoach West as
- 1960 · The Andy Griffith Show as Jim Lindsey
- 1960 · Michael Shayne as
- 1960 · The Barbara Stanwyck Show as Joe
- 1960 · The Mountain Road as Niergaard
- 1960 · Aftermath as Hardy Coulter
- 1960 · Pony Express as Bart Gentry
- 1960 · Overland Trail as
- 1959 · Hawaiian Eye as
- 1959 · Startime as
- 1959 · The Rebel as Ted Evans
- 1959 · The Rebel as Abel Waares
- 1959 · The Twilight Zone as Jeff Myrtlebank
- 1959 · The Twilight Zone as Billy-Ben Turner
- 1959 · Men into Space as
- 1959 · Lock-Up as
- 1959 · The DuPont Show with June Allyson as Jovan Wilanskov
- 1959 · Laramie as
- 1959 · Bonanza as Sheriff Vern Schaler
- 1959 · The Man and the Challenge as
- 1959 · Cast a Long Shadow as Sam Mullen
- 1959 · The Killer Shrews as Thorne Sherman
- 1959 · The David Niven Show as Boland
- 1959 · Verboten! as Sgt. David Brent
- 1959 · Ride Lonesome as Billy John
- 1959 · Black Saddle as Ben Travers
- 1959 · Rawhide as Willie Cain
- 1959 · Rawhide as Brock Quade
- 1958 · 77 Sunset Strip as
- 1958 · Bat Masterson as Joe Best
- 1958 · Bat Masterson as Danny Dakota
- 1958 · Behind Closed Doors as Webb
- 1958 · The Rifleman as
- 1958 · The Texan as
- 1958 · Bronco as
- 1958 · Wanted: Dead or Alive as Stoner
- 1958 · Wanted: Dead or Alive as Luke Perry
- 1958 · The Naked and the Dead as Rhidges
- 1958 · The Left Handed Gun as Tom Folliard
- 1958 · Cole Younger, Gunfighter as Kit Caswell
- 1957 · Man on the Prowl as Doug Gerhardt
- 1957 · Tombstone Territory as
- 1957 · Trackdown as
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Allan Winford
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Martin Potter
- 1957 · Have Gun, Will Travel as
- 1957 · Richard Diamond, Private Detective as Jack Milhoan
- 1957 · Last of the Badmen as Ted Hamilton
- 1957 · Hot Summer Night as Kermit
- 1956 · The Rack as Millard Chilson Cassidy
- 1956 · West Point as
- 1956 · Calling Homicide as Det. Arnie Arnhoff
- 1956 · Gaby as Jim
- 1956 · Forbidden Planet as Crewman (uncredited)
- 1956 · Come Next Spring as Bill Jackson
- 1955 · Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Norman Frayne
- 1955 · Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Hennessy
- 1955 · Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Bish Darby
- 1955 · Frontier as
- 1955 · Cheyenne as
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Beal
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Charlie Noon
- 1955 · Top of the World as Col. French's Orderly (uncredited)
- 1955 · Seven Angry Men as Jason Brown
- 1955 · Buffalo Bill Jr. as
- 1955 · The Millionaire as Fred Morgan
- 1954 · Climax! as Shag
- 1954 · The Lineup as
- 1954 · The Raid as Lt. Robinson
- 1954 · Return from the Sea as Barr
- 1954 · The Caine Mutiny as Lt. JG Jorgensen
- 1954 · The Yellow Tomahawk as Private Bliss
- 1954 · Stories of the Century as
- 1954 · Riders to the Stars as Dr. Sidney K. Fuller
- 1953 · City of Bad Men as Deputy Gig (uncredited)
- 1953 · Column South as Primrose
- 1953 · Seminole as Corp. Gerad
- 1953 · General Electric Theater as Hardy Coulter
- 1952 · Cavalcade of America as
- 1952 · Cavalcade of America as Harry
- 1952 · Cavalcade of America as Slate Morley
- 1952 · Hopalong Cassidy as
- 1952 · Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair as Marvin Johnson
- 1952 · Francis Goes to West Point as Cpl. Ransom
- 1952 · Steel Town as Joe Rakich
- 1952 · The Battle at Apache Pass as Cpl. Hassett
- 1952 · The Cimarron Kid as Bitter Creek Dalton
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as
- 1951 · Schlitz Playhouse of Stars as
- 1951 · The Adventures of Kit Carson as
- 1951 · Apache Drums as Bert Keon
- 1951 · Air Cadet as Jerry Connell
- 1951 · Target Unknown as Sgt. Ralph Phelps
- 1950 · Kansas Raiders as Cole Younger
- 1950 · Lux Video Theatre as Clem Wallace
- 1950 · The Gene Autry Show as
- 1950 · Winchester '73 as Crater
- 1950 · Peggy as Frank Addison
- 1950 · I Was a Shoplifter as
- 1950 · Comanche Territory as Sam
- 1950 · One Way Street as Driver (uncredited)