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).
Hot Tamale
(Hank Larson)
Firecreek
(Drew)
Run, Simon, Run
(Henry Burroughs)
Shenandoah
(Carter, Rebel Soldier)
Rolling Thunder
(Texan)
Shock Corridor
(Stuart)
Death Mask
(Wilbur Johnson)
Ride Lonesome
(Billy John)
Moondance Alexander
(McClancy)
Winchester '73
(Crater)
The Left Handed Gun
(Tom Folliard)
The Cimarron Kid
(Bitter Creek Dalton)
The Killer Shrews
(Thorne Sherman)
The Naked and the Dead
(Rhidges)
Hooper
(Cully)
Seminole
(Corp. Gerad)
Calling Homicide
(Det. Arnie Arnhoff)
The Rack
(Millard Chilson Cassidy)
Apache Drums
(Bert Keon)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
(Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited))
Verboten!
(Sgt. David Brent)
The Brain Machine
(Rev. Emory Neill)
Comanche Territory
(Sam)
Hot Summer Night
(Kermit)
Kansas Raiders
(Cole Younger)
The Mountain Road
(Niergaard)
The Quick Gun
(Scotty Wade)
Gaby
(Jim)
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
(Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane)
The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
(Rosco P. Coltrane)
Man on the Prowl
(Doug Gerhardt)
Cole Younger, Gunfighter
(Kit Caswell)
I Was a Shoplifter
Return of the Killer Shrews
(Thorne Sherman)
One Way Street
(Driver (uncredited))
Nickelodeon
(Jim)
Savages
(Sheriff Bert Hamilton)
Cast a Long Shadow
(Sam Mullen)
Top of the World
(Col. French's Orderly (uncredited))
The Sweeter Side of Life
(Paddy Kerrigan)
The End
(Pacemaker Patient)
Black Gold
(Jericho Larkin)
Target Unknown
(Sgt. Ralph Phelps)
City of Bad Men
(Deputy Gig (uncredited))
Ode to Billy Joe
(Dewey Barksdale)
Come Next Spring
(Bill Jackson)
Last of the Badmen
(Ted Hamilton)
Three on a Couch
(Dr. Ben Mizer)
Air Cadet
(Jerry Connell)
Sounder
(Sheriff Charlie Young)
The Battle at Apache Pass
(Cpl. Hassett)
Aftermath
(Hardy Coulter)
Forbidden Planet
(Crewman (uncredited))
The Raid
(Lt. Robinson)
First to Fight
(Sergeant Carnavan)
The Runaway Barge
(Bingo Washington)
Black Spurs
(Ralph Elkins)
The Yellow Tomahawk
(Private Bliss)
Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!
(Self)
The Caine Mutiny
(Lt. JG Jorgensen)
Return from the Sea
(Barr)
The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made
(Thorne Sherman (archive footage))
Francis Goes to West Point
(Cpl. Ransom)
Peggy
(Frank Addison)
Seven Angry Men
(Jason Brown)
Column South
(Primrose)
Steel Town
(Joe Rakich)
Riders to the Stars
(Dr. Sidney K. Fuller)
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
(Marvin Johnson)
The Savage Bees
(Pellegrino)
Skip Taylor
The Andy Griffith Show
(Jim Lindsey)
In the Heat of the Night
The Gallant Men
77 Sunset Strip
Burke's Law
(Tucson, 'The Cowboy')
Cheyenne
Trackdown
E! True Hollywood Story
The Twilight Zone
(Jeff Myrtlebank)
Hawkins
(Sheriff John Early)
Flipper
Surfside 6
The Mod Squad
Gunsmoke
(Beal)
Perry Mason
(Allan Winford)
Combat!
(Trenton)
General Electric Theater
(Hardy Coulter)
Hawaiian Eye
Centennial
Hallmark Hall of Fame
The Twilight Zone
(Billy-Ben Turner)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(Norman Frayne)
Redigo
The Man and the Challenge
Felony Squad
Rawhide
(Willie Cain)
Have Gun, Will Travel
The Dukes
(Rosco Coltrane (voice))
Daniel Boone
(Jethro Wyatt)
The Fugitive
(Dan Murray)
The Millionaire
(Fred Morgan)
The Virginian
(Curt Westley)
Lancer
West Point
Lux Video Theatre
(Clem Wallace)
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
The Gene Autry Show
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
(Jack Milhoan)
Climax!
(Shag)
Men into Space
Enos
Bronco
The Lineup
Black Saddle
(Ben Travers)
Lock-Up
Wanted: Dead or Alive
(Stoner)
The Rifleman
The Rebel
(Ted Evans)
Bat Masterson
(Joe Best)
Ben Casey
Laramie
The Guns of Will Sonnett
The Texan
Stagecoach West
Buffalo Bill Jr.
The Manhunter
Cavalcade of America
Honey West
(Vince Zale)
Tombstone Territory
General Electric True
The David Niven Show
(Boland)
Overland Trail
Stories of the Century
CMT: Inside Fame
Frontier
The Adventures of Kit Carson
Pony Express
(Bart Gentry)
Whispering Smith
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
(Jovan Wilanskov)
Hopalong Cassidy
Startime
Michael Shayne
Hawk
Behind Closed Doors
(Webb)
The Green Hornet
(Yale Barton)
B.L. Stryker
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
(Joe)
The Dukes of Hazzard
(Rosco P. Coltrane)
Rawhide
(Brock Quade)
Gunsmoke
(Charlie Noon)
Cavalcade of America
(Harry)
Cavalcade of America
(Slate Morley)
Wanted: Dead or Alive
(Luke Perry)
The Rebel
(Abel Waares)
Perry Mason
(Martin Potter)
Bat Masterson
(Danny Dakota)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(Hennessy)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(Bish Darby)
Bonanza
(Sheriff Vern Schaler)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
(Tom Carmody)