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

  • Perry Mason

    Perry Mason

  • Perry Mason

    Perry Mason

  • Bonanza

    Bonanza

  • The Andy Griffith Show

    The Andy Griffith Show

  • The Fugitive

    The Fugitive

  • The Twilight Zone

    The Twilight Zone

  • The Twilight Zone

    The Twilight Zone

  • Have Gun, Will Travel

    Have Gun, Will Travel

  • Cheyenne

    Cheyenne

  • The Rifleman

    The Rifleman

  • The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

    The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

  • Combat!

    Combat!

  • The Virginian

    The Virginian

  • The Dukes of Hazzard

    The Dukes of Hazzard

  • Gunsmoke

    Gunsmoke

  • Gunsmoke

    Gunsmoke

  • Daniel Boone

    Daniel Boone

  • Wanted: Dead or Alive

    Wanted: Dead or Alive

  • Wanted: Dead or Alive

    Wanted: Dead or Alive

  • Rawhide

    Rawhide

  • Rawhide

    Rawhide

  • Burke's Law

    Burke's Law

  • Climax!

    Climax!

  • Felony Squad

    Felony Squad

  • The Rebel

    The Rebel

  • The Rebel

    The Rebel

  • Ben Casey

    Ben Casey

  • Hawaiian Eye

    Hawaiian Eye

  • Bat Masterson

    Bat Masterson

  • Bat Masterson

    Bat Masterson

  • In the Heat of the Night

    In the Heat of the Night

  • Laramie

    Laramie

  • The Texan

    The Texan

  • 77 Sunset Strip

    77 Sunset Strip

  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

  • Surfside 6

    Surfside 6

  • Honey West

    Honey West

  • West Point

    West Point

  • The Mod Squad

    The Mod Squad

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

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

  • Flipper

    Flipper

  • The Guns of Will Sonnett

    The Guns of Will Sonnett

  • Lancer

    Lancer

  • Tombstone Territory

    Tombstone Territory

  • The Green Hornet

    The Green Hornet

  • Bronco

    Bronco

  • Trackdown

    Trackdown

  • The Barbara Stanwyck Show

    The Barbara Stanwyck Show

  • Richard Diamond, Private Detective

    Richard Diamond, Private Detective

  • The Millionaire

    The Millionaire

  • Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

  • Cavalcade of America

    Cavalcade of America

  • Cavalcade of America

    Cavalcade of America

  • Cavalcade of America

    Cavalcade of America

  • The Gene Autry Show

    The Gene Autry Show

  • The Manhunter

    The Manhunter

  • Lock-Up

    Lock-Up

  • Shenandoah

    Shenandoah

  • Centennial

    Centennial

  • Cast a Long Shadow

    Cast a Long Shadow

  • Black Saddle

    Black Saddle

  • Winchester '73

    Winchester '73

  • The DuPont Show with June Allyson

    The DuPont Show with June Allyson

  • Kansas Raiders

    Kansas Raiders

  • Seminole

    Seminole

  • Francis Goes to West Point

    Francis Goes to West Point

  • Death Mask

    Death Mask

  • The Raid

    The Raid

  • The Adventures of Kit Carson

    The Adventures of Kit Carson

  • The Battle at Apache Pass

    The Battle at Apache Pass

  • Black Spurs

    Black Spurs

  • Moondance Alexander

    Moondance Alexander

  • The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood

    The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood

  • Sounder

    Sounder

  • Savages

    Savages

  • Hopalong Cassidy

    Hopalong Cassidy

  • B.L. Stryker

    B.L. Stryker

  • General Electric True

    General Electric True

  • The Rack

    The Rack

  • Stagecoach West

    Stagecoach West

  • Target Unknown

    Target Unknown

  • Comanche Territory

    Comanche Territory

  • Gaby

    Gaby

  • Steel Town

    Steel Town

  • Startime

    Startime

  • Hooper

    Hooper

  • Hawkins

    Hawkins

  • Verboten!

    Verboten!

  • Forbidden Planet

    Forbidden Planet

  • Ride Lonesome

    Ride Lonesome

  • The Gallant Men

    The Gallant Men

  • Michael Shayne

    Michael Shayne

  • The End

    The End

  • The Caine Mutiny

    The Caine Mutiny

  • Peggy

    Peggy

  • The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

    The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

  • Air Cadet

    Air Cadet

  • Men Into Space

    Men Into Space

  • Aftermath

    Aftermath

  • Frontier

    Frontier

  • The Sweeter Side of Life

    The Sweeter Side of Life

  • Ode to Billy Joe

    Ode to Billy Joe

  • Redigo

    Redigo

  • Behind Closed Doors

    Behind Closed Doors

  • Firecreek

    Firecreek

  • Buffalo Bill Jr.

    Buffalo Bill Jr.

  • They Rode West

    They Rode West

  • Enos

    Enos

  • The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!

    The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!

  • Column South

    Column South

  • First to Fight

    First to Fight

  • Three on a Couch

    Three on a Couch

  • One Way Street

    One Way Street

  • The Killer Shrews

    The Killer Shrews

  • Riders to the Stars

    Riders to the Stars

  • The Brain Machine

    The Brain Machine

  • The Naked and the Dead

    The Naked and the Dead

  • The Cimarron Kid

    The Cimarron Kid

  • The Left Handed Gun

    The Left Handed Gun

  • Stories of the Century

    Stories of the Century

  • Hallmark Hall of Fame

    Hallmark Hall of Fame

  • Last of the Badmen

    Last of the Badmen

  • Overland Trail

    Overland Trail

  • The Man and the Challenge

    The Man and the Challenge

  • The Runaway Barge

    The Runaway Barge

  • Come Next Spring

    Come Next Spring

  • Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair

    Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair

  • The Yellow Tomahawk

    The Yellow Tomahawk

  • Man on the Prowl

    Man on the Prowl

  • Hot Tamale

    Hot Tamale

  • Nickelodeon

    Nickelodeon

  • Top of the World

    Top of the World

  • Whispering Smith

    Whispering Smith

  • Hot Summer Night

    Hot Summer Night

  • Return from the Sea

    Return from the Sea

  • Return of the Killer Shrews

    Return of the Killer Shrews

  • I Was a Shoplifter

    I Was a Shoplifter

  • Run, Simon, Run

    Run, Simon, Run

  • Rolling Thunder

    Rolling Thunder

  • The Savage Bees

    The Savage Bees

  • Hawk

    Hawk

  • E! True Hollywood Story

    E! True Hollywood Story

  • General Electric Theater

    General Electric Theater

  • The Dukes

    The Dukes

  • Pony Express

    Pony Express

  • The David Niven Show

    The David Niven Show

  • CMT: Inside Fame

    CMT: Inside Fame

  • Shock Corridor

    Shock Corridor

  • The Lineup

    The Lineup

  • Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

  • Seven Angry Men

    Seven Angry Men

  • The Mountain Road

    The Mountain Road

  • The Quick Gun

    The Quick Gun

  • City of Bad Men

    City of Bad Men

  • Calling Homicide

    Calling Homicide

  • Apache Drums

    Apache Drums

  • Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

    Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

  • Black Gold

    Black Gold

  • Cole Younger, Gunfighter

    Cole Younger, Gunfighter

  • Skip Taylor

    Skip Taylor