James Best

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

162

Gender

Male

Birthday

1926-07-26

Day of death

2015-04-06 (88 years old)

Place of Birth

Powderly, Kentucky, USA

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

  • Bonanza

    Bonanza

  • The Andy Griffith Show

    The Andy Griffith Show

  • The Fugitive

    The Fugitive

  • Perry Mason

    Perry Mason

  • Perry Mason

    Perry Mason

  • Have Gun, Will Travel

    Have Gun, Will Travel

  • The Virginian

    The Virginian

  • The Rifleman

    The Rifleman

  • The Twilight Zone

    The Twilight Zone

  • The Twilight Zone

    The Twilight Zone

  • Cheyenne

    Cheyenne

  • Climax!

    Climax!

  • Rawhide

    Rawhide

  • Rawhide

    Rawhide

  • Daniel Boone

    Daniel Boone

  • The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

    The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

  • Combat!

    Combat!

  • Ben Casey

    Ben Casey

  • Wanted: Dead or Alive

    Wanted: Dead or Alive

  • Wanted: Dead or Alive

    Wanted: Dead or Alive

  • Burke's Law

    Burke's Law

  • The Dukes of Hazzard

    The Dukes of Hazzard

  • Bat Masterson

    Bat Masterson

  • Bat Masterson

    Bat Masterson

  • Felony Squad

    Felony Squad

  • Hawaiian Eye

    Hawaiian Eye

  • 77 Sunset Strip

    77 Sunset Strip

  • In the Heat of the Night

    In the Heat of the Night

  • Gunsmoke

    Gunsmoke

  • Gunsmoke

    Gunsmoke

  • Laramie

    Laramie

  • The Texan

    The Texan

  • Surfside 6

    Surfside 6

  • The Millionaire

    The Millionaire

  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

  • Richard Diamond, Private Detective

    Richard Diamond, Private Detective

  • The Rebel

    The Rebel

  • The Rebel

    The Rebel

  • The Gene Autry Show

    The Gene Autry Show

  • Tombstone Territory

    Tombstone Territory

  • Bronco

    Bronco

  • Trackdown

    Trackdown

  • The Green Hornet

    The Green Hornet

  • Flipper

    Flipper

  • The Guns of Will Sonnett

    The Guns of Will Sonnett

  • The Barbara Stanwyck Show

    The Barbara Stanwyck Show

  • The Mod Squad

    The Mod Squad

  • Honey West

    Honey West

  • Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

  • Lock-Up

    Lock-Up

  • The DuPont Show with June Allyson

    The DuPont Show with June Allyson

  • Black Saddle

    Black Saddle

  • Lancer

    Lancer

  • The Adventures of Kit Carson

    The Adventures of Kit Carson

  • Cavalcade of America

    Cavalcade of America

  • Cavalcade of America

    Cavalcade of America

  • Cavalcade of America

    Cavalcade of America

  • Startime

    Startime

  • Hopalong Cassidy

    Hopalong Cassidy

  • Centennial

    Centennial

  • The Manhunter

    The Manhunter

  • Shock Corridor

    Shock Corridor

  • The Caine Mutiny

    The Caine Mutiny

  • Come Next Spring

    Come Next Spring

  • Behind Closed Doors

    Behind Closed Doors

  • Ode to Billy Joe

    Ode to Billy Joe

  • Calling Homicide

    Calling Homicide

  • Men Into Space

    Men Into Space

  • The Gallant Men

    The Gallant Men

  • Forbidden Planet

    Forbidden Planet

  • Riders to the Stars

    Riders to the Stars

  • Hawkins

    Hawkins

  • Buffalo Bill Jr.

    Buffalo Bill Jr.

  • The Mountain Road

    The Mountain Road

  • Enos

    Enos

  • Frontier

    Frontier

  • Rolling Thunder

    Rolling Thunder

  • The Rack

    The Rack

  • General Electric True

    General Electric True

  • Winchester '73

    Winchester '73

  • First to Fight

    First to Fight

  • The Yellow Tomahawk

    The Yellow Tomahawk

  • Aftermath

    Aftermath

  • West Point

    West Point

  • B.L. Stryker

    B.L. Stryker

  • Stories of the Century

    Stories of the Century

  • The Dukes

    The Dukes

  • The Cimarron Kid

    The Cimarron Kid

  • The Brain Machine

    The Brain Machine

  • Apache Drums

    Apache Drums

  • City of Bad Men

    City of Bad Men

  • Hooper

    Hooper

  • Stagecoach West

    Stagecoach West

  • The Left Handed Gun

    The Left Handed Gun

  • The Raid

    The Raid

  • Hallmark Hall of Fame

    Hallmark Hall of Fame

  • Michael Shayne

    Michael Shayne

  • Firecreek

    Firecreek

  • Redigo

    Redigo

  • The Runaway Barge

    The Runaway Barge

  • One Way Street

    One Way Street

  • The Sweeter Side of Life

    The Sweeter Side of Life

  • Moondance Alexander

    Moondance Alexander

  • The Man and the Challenge

    The Man and the Challenge

  • Kansas Raiders

    Kansas Raiders

  • The Killer Shrews

    The Killer Shrews

  • Ride Lonesome

    Ride Lonesome

  • Return of the Killer Shrews

    Return of the Killer Shrews

  • Shenandoah

    Shenandoah

  • Hot Summer Night

    Hot Summer Night

  • Steel Town

    Steel Town

  • Last of the Badmen

    Last of the Badmen

  • Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

  • Sounder

    Sounder

  • The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood

    The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood

  • Top of the World

    Top of the World

  • Francis Goes to West Point

    Francis Goes to West Point

  • The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!

    The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!

  • Savages

    Savages

  • They Rode West

    They Rode West

  • Three on a Couch

    Three on a Couch

  • Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!

    Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!

  • The End

    The End

  • Nickelodeon

    Nickelodeon

  • Gaby

    Gaby

  • Peggy

    Peggy

  • The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

    The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

  • Black Spurs

    Black Spurs

  • General Electric Theater

    General Electric Theater

  • Seven Angry Men

    Seven Angry Men

  • E! True Hollywood Story

    E! True Hollywood Story

  • Seminole

    Seminole

  • Air Cadet

    Air Cadet

  • The Naked and the Dead

    The Naked and the Dead

  • Return from the Sea

    Return from the Sea

  • Overland Trail

    Overland Trail

  • Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair

    Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair

  • The Lineup

    The Lineup

  • Whispering Smith

    Whispering Smith

  • Run, Simon, Run

    Run, Simon, Run

  • Target Unknown

    Target Unknown

  • Comanche Territory

    Comanche Territory

  • Man on the Prowl

    Man on the Prowl

  • Death Mask

    Death Mask

  • CMT: Inside Fame

    CMT: Inside Fame

  • The David Niven Show

    The David Niven Show

  • The Battle at Apache Pass

    The Battle at Apache Pass

  • Hot Tamale

    Hot Tamale

  • Hawk

    Hawk

  • Column South

    Column South

  • The Quick Gun

    The Quick Gun

  • Cast a Long Shadow

    Cast a Long Shadow

  • Pony Express

    Pony Express

  • Verboten!

    Verboten!

  • I Was a Shoplifter

    I Was a Shoplifter

  • The Savage Bees

    The Savage Bees

  • Cole Younger, Gunfighter

    Cole Younger, Gunfighter

  • Black Gold

    Black Gold

  • Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

    Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

  • Skip Taylor

    Skip Taylor