Acting
James Best
EN, NL, DE cinema · 74 credits
Born
26 July 1926
Died
6 April 2015 (aged 88)
Birthplace
Powderly, Kentucky, USA
Also known as Jewel Franklin Guy · James K. Best · Jimmy Best · Jim 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
Filmography
The Sweeter Side of Life
as Paddy Kerrigan
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
as Self (archive footage)
Return of the Killer Shrews
as Thorne Sherman, Writer
Moondance Alexander
as McClancy
Hot Tamale
as Hank Larson
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
as Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
as Rosco P. Coltrane
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
as Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
Death Mask
as Wilbur Johnson, Writer
Hooper
as Cully, Co-Writer
The End
as Pacemaker Patient, Associate Producer
Rolling Thunder
as Texan
The Savage Bees
as Pellegrino
Nickelodeon
as Jim
Ode to Billy Joe
as Dewey Barksdale
Gator
Production Assistant
The Runaway Barge
as Bingo Washington
Savages
as Sheriff Bert Hamilton
The Brain Machine
as Rev. Emory Neill
Sounder
as Sheriff Charlie Young
Run, Simon, Run
as Henry Burroughs
Firecreek
as Drew
First to Fight
as Sergeant Carnavan
Three on a Couch
as Dr. Ben Mizer
Shenandoah
as Carter, Rebel Soldier
Black Spurs
as Ralph Elkins
The Quick Gun
as Scotty Wade
Shock Corridor
as Stuart
Black Gold
as Jericho Larkin
The Mountain Road
as Niergaard
Aftermath
1960
Aftermath
as Hardy Coulter
Ride Lonesome
as Billy John
The Killer Shrews
as Thorne Sherman
Verboten!
as Sgt. David Brent
Cast a Long Shadow
as Sam Mullen
The Left Handed Gun
as Tom Folliard
The Naked and the Dead
as Rhidges
Cole Younger, Gunfighter
as Kit Caswell
Hot Summer Night
as Kermit
Man on the Prowl
as Doug Gerhardt
Last of the Badmen
as Ted Hamilton
Calling Homicide
as Det. Arnie Arnhoff
The Rack
as Millard Chilson Cassidy
Gaby
as Jim
Come Next Spring
as Bill Jackson
Forbidden Planet
as Crewman (uncredited)
Top of the World
as Col. French's Orderly (uncredited)
Seven Angry Men
as Jason Brown
The Raid
as Lt. Robinson
The Yellow Tomahawk
as Private Bliss
The Caine Mutiny
as Lt. JG Jorgensen
Riders to the Stars
as Dr. Sidney K. Fuller
They Rode West
as Lt. Finlay (uncredited)
Seminole
as Corp. Gerad
City of Bad Men
as Deputy Gig (uncredited)
Column South
as Primrose
The Cimarron Kid
as Bitter Creek Dalton
The Battle at Apache Pass
as Cpl. Hassett
Francis Goes to West Point
as Corporal Ransom
Steel Town
as Joe Rakich
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
as Marvin Johnson
Flat Top
as Radio Operator
Apache Drums
as Bert Keon
Target Unknown
as Sgt. Ralph Phelps
Air Cadet
as Jerry Connell
Winchester '73
as Crater
Kansas Raiders
as Cole Younger
One Way Street
as Driver (uncredited)
Peggy
as Frank Addison