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