James Best
Acting
Born: July 26, 1926 · Powderly, Kentucky, USA
Died: April 6, 2015 (aged 88)
Highest Rated
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
Forbidden Planet
1956
The Twilight Zone
1959
Bonanza
1959
Winchester '73
1950
The Caine Mutiny
1954
The Dukes of Hazzard
1979
Shock Corridor
1963
Rolling Thunder
1977
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
The Andy Griffith Show
1960
Ride Lonesome
1959
Shenandoah
1965
Photos (3)
Movies (70)
Forbidden Planet
Crewman (uncredited)
Winchester '73
Crater
Hot Tamale
Hank Larson
The Caine Mutiny
Lt. JG Jorgensen
Nickelodeon
Jim
Shenandoah
Carter, Rebel Soldier
Ride Lonesome
Billy John
Hooper
Cully
The Left Handed Gun
Tom Folliard
Firecreek
Drew
Seminole
Corp. Gerad
The Cimarron Kid
Bitter Creek Dalton
Rolling Thunder
Texan
The Killer Shrews
Thorne Sherman
Come Next Spring
Bill Jackson
The Rack
Millard Chilson Cassidy
They Rode West
Lt. Finlay (uncredited)
Column South
Primrose
The Battle at Apache Pass
Cpl. Hassett
The Quick Gun
Scotty Wade
Shock Corridor
Stuart
Apache Drums
Bert Keon
Sounder
Sheriff Charlie Young
The Naked and the Dead
Rhidges
Three on a Couch
Dr. Ben Mizer
Comanche Territory
Sam
Return from the Sea
Barr
Air Cadet
Jerry Connell
The Mountain Road
Niergaard
City of Bad Men
Deputy Gig (uncredited)
Verboten!
Sgt. David Brent
The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
Rosco P. Coltrane
Flat Top
Radio Operator
Peggy
Frank Addison
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Marvin Johnson
Cast a Long Shadow
Sam Mullen
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
The Savage Bees
Pellegrino
Last of the Badmen
Ted Hamilton
Moondance Alexander
McClancy
First to Fight
Sergeant Carnavan
One Way Street
Driver (uncredited)
Steel Town
Joe Rakich
The End
Pacemaker Patient
The Sweeter Side of Life
Paddy Kerrigan
The Yellow Tomahawk
Private Bliss
Return of the Killer Shrews
Thorne Sherman
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)
Riders to the Stars
Dr. Sidney K. Fuller
Kansas Raiders
Cole Younger
Run, Simon, Run
Henry Burroughs
Hot Summer Night
Kermit
Top of the World
Col. French's Orderly (uncredited)
I Was a Shoplifter
1950
The Raid
Lt. Robinson
Ode to Billy Joe
Dewey Barksdale
Death Mask
Wilbur Johnson
Skip Taylor
1953
Gaby
Jim
Francis Goes to West Point
Corporal Ransom
Black Spurs
Ralph Elkins
Cole Younger, Gunfighter
Kit Caswell
Seven Angry Men
Jason Brown
Calling Homicide
Det. Arnie Arnhoff
Man on the Prowl
Doug Gerhardt
Savages
Sheriff Bert Hamilton
Black Gold
Jericho Larkin
The Brain Machine
Rev. Emory Neill
The Runaway Barge
Bingo Washington
Target Unknown
Sgt. Ralph Phelps
TV Shows (90)
Perry Mason
Allan Winford · 1 eps
Perry Mason
Martin Potter · 1 eps
Bonanza
Sheriff Vern Schaler · 1 eps
The Andy Griffith Show
Jim Lindsey · 2 eps
The Fugitive
Dan Murray · 1 eps
The Virginian
Curt Westley · 1 eps
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Tom Carmody · 1 eps
The Twilight Zone
Jeff Myrtlebank · 1 eps
The Twilight Zone
Billy-Ben Turner · 2 eps
The Rifleman
1 eps
Have Gun, Will Travel
3 eps
Climax!
Shag · 1 eps
Cheyenne
1 eps
Combat!
Trenton · 1 eps
Rawhide
Willie Cain · 1 eps
Rawhide
Brock Quade · 1 eps
Daniel Boone
Jethro Wyatt · 1 eps
Ben Casey
2 eps
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Stoner · 1 eps
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Luke Perry · 1 eps
The Dukes of Hazzard
Rosco P. Coltrane · 147 eps
Burke's Law
Tucson, 'The Cowboy' · 1 eps
77 Sunset Strip
1 eps
Gunsmoke
Beal · 1 eps
Gunsmoke
Charlie Noon · 1 eps
In the Heat of the Night
1 eps
Hawaiian Eye
1 eps
Bat Masterson
Joe Best · 1 eps
Bat Masterson
Danny Dakota · 1 eps
Laramie
3 eps
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Norman Frayne · 1 eps
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Hennessy · 1 eps
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Bish Darby · 1 eps
Felony Squad
2 eps
Surfside 6
1 eps
The Rebel
Ted Evans · 1 eps
The Rebel
Abel Waares · 1 eps
The Texan
1 eps
Trackdown
3 eps
The Mod Squad
Clay Lynch · 1 eps
Lancer
1 eps
Bronco
1 eps
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Jack Milhoan · 1 eps
The Millionaire
Fred Morgan · 1 eps
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
Joe · 1 eps
The Guns of Will Sonnett
2 eps
Black Saddle
Ben Travers · 1 eps
Tombstone Territory
1 eps
Flipper
1 eps
The Green Hornet
Yale Barton · 1 eps
Startime
Duke · 1 eps
The Gene Autry Show
2 eps
Lock-Up
1 eps
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Jovan Wilanskov · 1 eps
Honey West
Vince Zale · 1 eps
The Adventures of Kit Carson
2 eps
Lux Video Theatre
Clem Wallace · 1 eps
Centennial
1 eps
Cavalcade of America
1 eps
Cavalcade of America
Harry · 1 eps
Cavalcade of America
Slate Morley · 1 eps
The Manhunter
1 eps
Stagecoach West
3 eps
Enos
1 eps
Hopalong Cassidy
1 eps
Hawkins
Sheriff John Early · 1 eps
Men Into Space
1 eps
Buffalo Bill Jr.
1 eps
General Electric True
1 eps
Temple Houston
Gotch · 1 eps
West Point
1 eps
The Gallant Men
1 eps
Behind Closed Doors
Webb · 1 eps
Stories of the Century
1 eps
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1 eps
Frontier
2 eps
The Dukes
Rosco Coltrane (voice) · 20 eps
B.L. Stryker
1 eps
Hawk
1 eps
E! True Hollywood Story
1 eps
Michael Shayne
1 eps
Redigo
1 eps
The Man and the Challenge
1 eps
Whispering Smith
1 eps
Overland Trail
1 eps
General Electric Theater
Hardy Coulter · 1 eps
The Lineup
1 eps
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1 eps
The David Niven Show
Boland · 1 eps
CMT: Inside Fame
1 eps
