James Best
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
Perry Mason
1957
Perry Mason
1957
Bonanza
1959
The Andy Griffith Show
1960
The Fugitive
1963
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962
Climax!
1954
The Rifleman
1958
The Virginian
1962
The Twilight Zone
1959
The Twilight Zone
1959
Filmography
Perry Mason
as Allan Winford · 1957
Perry Mason
as Martin Potter · 1957
Bonanza
as Sheriff Vern Schaler · 1959
The Andy Griffith Show
as Jim Lindsey · 1960
The Fugitive
as Dan Murray · 1963
Have Gun, Will Travel
· 1957
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
as Tom Carmody · 1962
Climax!
as Shag · 1954
The Rifleman
· 1958
The Virginian
as Curt Westley · 1962
The Twilight Zone
as Jeff Myrtlebank · 1959
The Twilight Zone
as Billy-Ben Turner · 1959
Daniel Boone
as Jethro Wyatt · 1964
Combat!
as Trenton · 1962
Ben Casey
· 1961
Cheyenne
· 1955
Rawhide
as Willie Cain · 1959
Rawhide
as Brock Quade · 1959
Wanted: Dead or Alive
as Stoner · 1958
Wanted: Dead or Alive
as Luke Perry · 1958
Burke's Law
as Tucson, 'The Cowboy' · 1963
The Dukes of Hazzard
as Rosco P. Coltrane · 1979
Gunsmoke
as Beal · 1955
Gunsmoke
as Charlie Noon · 1955
Hawaiian Eye
· 1959
77 Sunset Strip
· 1958
Bat Masterson
as Joe Best · 1958
Bat Masterson
as Danny Dakota · 1958
In the Heat of the Night
· 1988
Laramie
· 1959
Surfside 6
· 1960
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Norman Frayne · 1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Hennessy · 1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Bish Darby · 1955
The Texan
· 1958
The Mod Squad
as Clay Lynch · 1968
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
as Jack Milhoan · 1957
Bronco
· 1958
The Millionaire
as Fred Morgan · 1955
Felony Squad
· 1966
The Guns of Will Sonnett
· 1967
Trackdown
· 1957
The Rebel
as Ted Evans · 1959
The Rebel
as Abel Waares · 1959
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
as Jovan Wilanskov · 1959
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
as Joe · 1960
Lancer
· 1968
The Gene Autry Show
· 1950
Tombstone Territory
· 1957
Lock-Up
· 1959
Lux Video Theatre
as Clem Wallace · 1950
Honey West
as Vince Zale · 1965
The Green Hornet
as Yale Barton · 1966
Black Saddle
as Ben Travers · 1959
Startime
as Duke · 1959
Flipper
· 1964
Cavalcade of America
· 1952
Cavalcade of America
as Harry · 1952
Cavalcade of America
as Slate Morley · 1952
The Adventures of Kit Carson
· 1951
Stagecoach West
· 1960
The Manhunter
· 1974
Centennial
· 1978
Men Into Space
· 1959
Behind Closed Doors
as Webb · 1958
Hopalong Cassidy
· 1952
General Electric True
· 1962
The Gallant Men
· 1962
Forbidden Planet
as Crewman (uncredited) · 1956
West Point
· 1956
Frontier
· 1955
Hot Tamale
as Hank Larson · 2006
Temple Houston
as Gotch · 1963
Buffalo Bill Jr.
· 1955
Hawkins
as Sheriff John Early · 1973
B.L. Stryker
· 1989
Enos
· 1980
Stories of the Century
· 1954
The Dukes
as Rosco Coltrane (voice) · 1983
Hallmark Hall of Fame
· 1951
Redigo
· 1963
The Man and the Challenge
· 1959
Michael Shayne
· 1960
Hawk
· 1966
General Electric Theater
as Hardy Coulter · 1953
E! True Hollywood Story
· 1996
The Lineup
· 1954
The Caine Mutiny
as Lt. JG Jorgensen · 1954
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
· 1951
Overland Trail
· 1960
Winchester '73
as Crater · 1950
Whispering Smith
· 1961
Hooper
as Cully · 1978
Ride Lonesome
as Billy John · 1959
The Left Handed Gun
as Tom Folliard · 1958
CMT: Inside Fame
· 2005
Rolling Thunder
as Texan · 1977
Pony Express
as Bart Gentry · 1960
The Naked and the Dead
as Rhidges · 1958
Nickelodeon
as Jim · 1976
Shenandoah
as Carter, Rebel Soldier · 1965
The David Niven Show
as Boland · 1959
The Battle at Apache Pass
as Cpl. Hassett · 1952
Firecreek
as Drew · 1968
Three on a Couch
as Dr. Ben Mizer · 1966
City of Bad Men
as Deputy Gig (uncredited) · 1953
Cast a Long Shadow
as Sam Mullen · 1959
Shock Corridor
as Stuart · 1963
Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!
as Self · 2021
Sounder
as Sheriff Charlie Young · 1972
The Raid
as Lt. Robinson · 1954
The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
as Rosco P. Coltrane · 2000
The Sweeter Side of Life
as Paddy Kerrigan · 2013
Verboten!
as Sgt. David Brent · 1959
The Cimarron Kid
as Bitter Creek Dalton · 1952
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
as Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited) · 2002
Francis Goes to West Point
as Corporal Ransom · 1952
The End
as Pacemaker Patient · 1978
The Quick Gun
as Scotty Wade · 1964
The Rack
as Millard Chilson Cassidy · 1956
First to Fight
as Sergeant Carnavan · 1967
Apache Drums
as Bert Keon · 1951
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
as Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane · 1997
Black Spurs
as Ralph Elkins · 1965
Comanche Territory
as Sam · 1950
Riders to the Stars
as Dr. Sidney K. Fuller · 1954
One Way Street
as Driver (uncredited) · 1950
Hot Summer Night
as Kermit · 1957
Ode to Billy Joe
as Dewey Barksdale · 1976
They Rode West
as Lt. Finlay (uncredited) · 1954
Column South
as Primrose · 1953
I Was a Shoplifter
· 1950
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
as Self (archive footage) · 2013
Top of the World
as Col. French's Orderly (uncredited) · 1955
Moondance Alexander
as McClancy · 2007
The Brain Machine
as Rev. Emory Neill · 1972
Kansas Raiders
as Cole Younger · 1950
Skip Taylor
· 1953
The Savage Bees
as Pellegrino · 1977
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
as Marvin Johnson · 1952
Man on the Prowl
as Doug Gerhardt · 1957
The Mountain Road
as Niergaard · 1960
The Yellow Tomahawk
as Private Bliss · 1954
Return from the Sea
as Barr · 1954
Seminole
as Corp. Gerad · 1953
Peggy
as Frank Addison · 1950
Flat Top
as Radio Operator · 1952
Return of the Killer Shrews
as Thorne Sherman · 2012
The Killer Shrews
as Thorne Sherman · 1959
Last of the Badmen
as Ted Hamilton · 1957
Come Next Spring
as Bill Jackson · 1956
Target Unknown
as Sgt. Ralph Phelps · 1951
Calling Homicide
as Det. Arnie Arnhoff · 1956
Run, Simon, Run
as Henry Burroughs · 1970
Seven Angry Men
as Jason Brown · 1955
Gaby
as Jim · 1956
Air Cadet
as Jerry Connell · 1951
Savages
as Sheriff Bert Hamilton · 1974
Cole Younger, Gunfighter
as Kit Caswell · 1958
The Runaway Barge
as Bingo Washington · 1975
Steel Town
as Joe Rakich · 1952
Death Mask
as Wilbur Johnson · 1995
Black Gold
as Jericho Larkin · 1962
Aftermath
as Hardy Coulter · 1960