James Best
Acting
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).
TV Shows(79)
CMT: Inside Fame
2005
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
B.L. Stryker
1989
In the Heat of the Night
1988
The Dukes
Rosco Coltrane (voice)
1983
Enos
1980
The Dukes of Hazzard
Rosco P. Coltrane
1979
Centennial
1978
The Manhunter
1974
Hawkins
Sheriff John Early
1973
Lancer
1968
The Mod Squad
Clay Lynch
1968
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967
Felony Squad
1966
The Green Hornet
Yale Barton
1966
Hawk
1966
Honey West
Vince Zale
1965
Daniel Boone
Jethro Wyatt
1964
Flipper
1964
Redigo
1963
Burke's Law
Tucson, 'The Cowboy'
1963
The Fugitive
Dan Murray
1963
The Gallant Men
1962
Combat!
Trenton
1962
General Electric True
1962
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Tom Carmody
1962
The Virginian
Curt Westley
1962
Ben Casey
1961
Whispering Smith
1961
Surfside 6
1960
Stagecoach West
1960
The Andy Griffith Show
Jim Lindsey
1960
Michael Shayne
1960
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
Joe
1960
Pony Express
Bart Gentry
1960
Overland Trail
1960
Hawaiian Eye
1959
Startime
Duke
1959
The Rebel
Ted Evans
1959
The Twilight Zone
Jeff Myrtlebank
1959
Men Into Space
1959
Lock-Up
1959
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Jovan Wilanskov
1959
Laramie
1959
The Man and the Challenge
1959
Bonanza
Sheriff Vern Schaler
1959
The David Niven Show
Boland
1959
Black Saddle
Ben Travers
1959
Rawhide
Willie Cain
1959
77 Sunset Strip
1958
Bat Masterson
Joe Best
1958
Behind Closed Doors
Webb
1958
The Rifleman
1958
The Texan
1958
Bronco
1958
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Stoner
1958
Tombstone Territory
1957
Trackdown
1957
Perry Mason
Allan Winford
1957
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Jack Milhoan
1957
West Point
1956
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Norman Frayne
1955
Frontier
1955
Cheyenne
1955
Gunsmoke
Beal
1955
Buffalo Bill Jr.
1955
The Millionaire
Fred Morgan
1955
Climax!
Shag
1954
The Lineup
1954
Stories of the Century
1954
General Electric Theater
Hardy Coulter
1953
Cavalcade of America
1952
Hopalong Cassidy
1952
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
The Adventures of Kit Carson
1951
Lux Video Theatre
Clem Wallace
1950
The Gene Autry Show
1950
Movies(73)
Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!
Self
2021
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
Self (archive footage)
2013
The Sweeter Side of Life
Paddy Kerrigan
2013
Return of the Killer Shrews
Thorne Sherman
2012
Moondance Alexander
McClancy
2007
Hot Tamale
Hank Larson
2006
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)
2002
The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
Rosco P. Coltrane
2000
Death Mask
Wilbur Johnson
1998
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
1997
Hooper
Cully
1978
The End
Pacemaker Patient
1978
Rolling Thunder
Texan
1977
Nickelodeon
Jim
1976
The Savage Bees
Pellegrino
1976
Ode to Billy Joe
Dewey Barksdale
1976
The Runaway Barge
Bingo Washington
1975
Savages
Sheriff Bert Hamilton
1974
Sounder
Sheriff Charlie Young
1972
The Brain Machine
Rev. Emory Neill
1972
Run, Simon, Run
Henry Burroughs
1970
Firecreek
Drew
1968
First to Fight
Sergeant Carnavan
1967
Three on a Couch
Dr. Ben Mizer
1966
Shenandoah
Carter, Rebel Soldier
1965
Black Spurs
Ralph Elkins
1965
The Quick Gun
Scotty Wade
1964
Shock Corridor
Stuart
1963
Black Gold
Jericho Larkin
1962
The Mountain Road
Niergaard
1960
Aftermath
Hardy Coulter
1960
Cast a Long Shadow
Sam Mullen
1959
The Killer Shrews
Thorne Sherman
1959
Verboten!
Sgt. David Brent
1959
Ride Lonesome
Billy John
1959
The Naked and the Dead
Rhidges
1958
The Left Handed Gun
Tom Folliard
1958
Cole Younger, Gunfighter
Kit Caswell
1958
Man on the Prowl
Doug Gerhardt
1957
Last of the Badmen
Ted Hamilton
1957
Hot Summer Night
Kermit
1957
The Rack
Millard Chilson Cassidy
1956
Calling Homicide
Det. Arnie Arnhoff
1956
Gaby
Jim
1956
Forbidden Planet
Crewman (uncredited)
1956
Come Next Spring
Bill Jackson
1956
Top of the World
Col. French's Orderly (uncredited)
1955
Seven Angry Men
Jason Brown
1955
They Rode West
Lt. Finlay (uncredited)
1954
The Raid
Lt. Robinson
1954
Return from the Sea
Barr
1954
The Caine Mutiny
Lt. JG Jorgensen
1954
The Yellow Tomahawk
Private Bliss
1954
Riders to the Stars
Dr. Sidney K. Fuller
1954
Skip Taylor
1953
City of Bad Men
Deputy Gig (uncredited)
1953
Column South
Primrose
1953
Seminole
Corp. Gerad
1953
Flat Top
Radio Operator
1952
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Marvin Johnson
1952
Francis Goes to West Point
Corporal Ransom
1952
The Battle at Apache Pass
Cpl. Hassett
1952
Steel Town
Joe Rakich
1952
The Cimarron Kid
Bitter Creek Dalton
1952
Apache Drums
Bert Keon
1951
Air Cadet
Jerry Connell
1951
Target Unknown
Sgt. Ralph Phelps
1951
Kansas Raiders
Cole Younger
1950
Winchester '73
Crater
1950
Peggy
Frank Addison
1950
I Was a Shoplifter
1950
Comanche Territory
Sam
1950
One Way Street
Driver (uncredited)
1950