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James Best
James Best

James Best

ActingBorn July 26, 1926Died April 6, 2015 (age 88)Powderly, Kentucky, USA

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).

Filmography

2013Movie
2013
The Sweeter Side of Life

as Paddy Kerrigan

Movie
2012Movie
2007Movie
2006
Hot Tamale

as Hank Larson

Movie
2002
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

as Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)

Movie
2000Movie
1998
Death Mask

as Wilbur Johnson

Movie
1997
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!

as Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane

Movie
1983
The Dukes

as Rosco Coltrane (voice)

TV
1980TV
1979
The Dukes of Hazzard

as Rosco P. Coltrane

TV
1978
Hooper

as Cully

Movie
1978
The End

as Pacemaker Patient

Movie
1977Movie
1976Movie
1976
The Savage Bees

as Pellegrino

Movie
1976
Ode to Billy Joe

as Dewey Barksdale

Movie
1975
The Runaway Barge

as Bingo Washington

Movie
1974
Savages

as Sheriff Bert Hamilton

Movie
1973
Hawkins

as Sheriff John Early

TV
1972
Sounder

as Sheriff Charlie Young

Movie
1972
The Brain Machine

as Rev. Emory Neill

Movie
1970
Run, Simon, Run

as Henry Burroughs

Movie
1968TV
1968
The Mod Squad

as Clay Lynch

TV
1968
Firecreek

as Drew

Movie
1967
First to Fight

as Sergeant Carnavan

Movie
1966
The Green Hornet

as Yale Barton

TV
1966TV
1966
Three on a Couch

as Dr. Ben Mizer

Movie
1965
Honey West

as Vince Zale

TV
1965
Shenandoah

as Carter, Rebel Soldier

Movie
1965
Black Spurs

as Ralph Elkins

Movie
1964
Daniel Boone

as Jethro Wyatt

TV
1964TV
1964
The Quick Gun

as Scotty Wade

Movie
1963Movie
1963TV
1963
Burke's Law

as Tucson, 'The Cowboy'

TV
1963TV
1963
The Fugitive

as Dan Murray

TV
1962
Combat!

as Trenton

TV
1962TV
1962
The Virginian

as Curt Westley

TV
1962
Black Gold

as Jericho Larkin

Movie
1961TV
1960TV
1960
The Mountain Road

as Niergaard

Movie
1960
Aftermath

as Hardy Coulter

Movie
1960
Pony Express

as Bart Gentry

TV
1959
Startime

as Duke

TV
1959
The Rebel

as Ted Evans

TV
1959
The Rebel

as Abel Waares

TV
1959
The Twilight Zone

as Jeff Myrtlebank

TV
1959
The Twilight Zone

as Billy-Ben Turner

TV
1959TV
1959TV
1959TV
1959
Bonanza

as Sheriff Vern Schaler

TV
1959
Cast a Long Shadow

as Sam Mullen

Movie
1959
The Killer Shrews

as Thorne Sherman

Movie
1959TV
1959
Verboten!

as Sgt. David Brent

Movie
1959
Ride Lonesome

as Billy John

Movie
1959
Black Saddle

as Ben Travers

TV
1959
Rawhide

as Willie Cain

TV
1959
Rawhide

as Brock Quade

TV
1958
Bat Masterson

as Joe Best

TV
1958
Bat Masterson

as Danny Dakota

TV
1958TV
1958TV
1958TV
1958TV
1958TV
1958Movie
1958
The Left Handed Gun

as Tom Folliard

Movie
1958Movie
1957
Man on the Prowl

as Doug Gerhardt

Movie
1957TV
1957
Perry Mason

as Allan Winford

TV
1957
Perry Mason

as Martin Potter

TV
1957
Last of the Badmen

as Ted Hamilton

Movie
1957Movie
1956
The Rack

as Millard Chilson Cassidy

Movie
1956
Calling Homicide

as Det. Arnie Arnhoff

Movie
1956
Gaby

as Jim

Movie
1956
Forbidden Planet

as Crewman (uncredited)

Movie
1956
Come Next Spring

as Bill Jackson

Movie
1955TV
1955TV
1955TV
1955TV
1955TV
1955
Gunsmoke

as Beal

TV
1955
Gunsmoke

as Charlie Noon

TV
1955
Top of the World

as Col. French's Orderly (uncredited)

Movie
1955
Seven Angry Men

as Jason Brown

Movie
1955
The Millionaire

as Fred Morgan

TV
1954
They Rode West

as Lt. Finlay (uncredited)

Movie
1954
Climax!

as Shag

TV
1954
The Raid

as Lt. Robinson

Movie
1954Movie
1954
The Caine Mutiny

as Lt. JG Jorgensen

Movie
1954
The Yellow Tomahawk

as Private Bliss

Movie
1954
Riders to the Stars

as Dr. Sidney K. Fuller

Movie
1953Movie
1953
City of Bad Men

as Deputy Gig (uncredited)

Movie
1953
Column South

as Primrose

Movie
1953
Seminole

as Corp. Gerad

Movie
1953
General Electric Theater

as Hardy Coulter

TV
1952
Flat Top

as Radio Operator

Movie
1952TV
1952
Cavalcade of America

as Slate Morley

TV
1952Movie
1952
Francis Goes to West Point

as Corporal Ransom

Movie
1952Movie
1952
Steel Town

as Joe Rakich

Movie
1952
The Cimarron Kid

as Bitter Creek Dalton

Movie
1951
Apache Drums

as Bert Keon

Movie
1951
Air Cadet

as Jerry Connell

Movie
1951
Target Unknown

as Sgt. Ralph Phelps

Movie
1950
Kansas Raiders

as Cole Younger

Movie
1950
Lux Video Theatre

as Clem Wallace

TV
1950Movie
1950
Peggy

as Frank Addison

Movie
1950Movie
1950
One Way Street

as Driver (uncredited)

Movie

Personal Info

DepartmentActing
BirthdayJuly 26, 1926
Day of DeathApril 6, 2015
Place of BirthPowderly, Kentucky, USA
Popularity0.8