Highest rated as cast or director
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).
Acted in 149
2010s
- 2013
- 2012
Return of the Killer Shrews
Thorne Sherman
2000s
- 2007
- 2006
- 2005
CMT: Inside Fame
TV
- 2002
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2000
The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
Rosco P. Coltrane
1990s
- 1997
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
- 1996
E! True Hollywood Story
TV
- 1995
Death Mask
Wilbur Johnson
1980s
- 1989
B.L. Stryker
TV
- 1988
- 1983
The Dukes
Rosco Coltrane (voice) · 20 episodes
- 1980
Enos
TV
1970s
- 1979
- 1978
- 1977
- 1976
Nickelodeon
Jim
- 1975
The Runaway Barge
Bingo Washington
- 1974
Savages
Sheriff Bert Hamilton
- 1973
Hawkins
Sheriff John Early · 1 episode
- 1972
The Brain Machine
Rev. Emory Neill
- 1970
Run, Simon, Run
Henry Burroughs
1960s
- 1968
- 1967
First to Fight
Sergeant Carnavan
- 1966
Hawk
TV
- 1965
Black Spurs
Ralph Elkins
- 1964
The Quick Gun
Scotty Wade
- 1963
Redigo
TV
Temple Houston
Gotch · 1 episode
- 1962
General Electric True
TV
Black Gold
Jericho Larkin
- 1961
Whispering Smith
TV
- 1960
Michael Shayne
TV
The Mountain Road
Niergaard
1950s
- 1959
The Man and the Challenge
TV
The David Niven Show
Boland · 1 episode
Verboten!
Sgt. David Brent
- 1958
The Naked and the Dead
Rhidges
Cole Younger, Gunfighter
Kit Caswell
- 1957
Man on the Prowl
Doug Gerhardt
Last of the Badmen
Ted Hamilton
Hot Summer Night
Kermit
- 1956
The Rack
Millard Chilson Cassidy
Calling Homicide
Det. Arnie Arnhoff
Gaby
Jim
Come Next Spring
Bill Jackson
- 1955
Top of the World
Col. French's Orderly (uncredited)
Seven Angry Men
Jason Brown
Buffalo Bill Jr.
TV
- 1954
They Rode West
Lt. Finlay (uncredited)
The Lineup
TV
The Raid
Lt. Robinson
Return from the Sea
Barr
The Yellow Tomahawk
Private Bliss
Riders to the Stars
Dr. Sidney K. Fuller
- 1953
Column South
Primrose
General Electric Theater
Hardy Coulter · 1 episode
- 1952
Flat Top
Radio Operator
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Marvin Johnson
Francis Goes to West Point
Corporal Ransom
The Battle at Apache Pass
Cpl. Hassett
Steel Town
Joe Rakich
- 1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV
Apache Drums
Bert Keon
Target Unknown
Sgt. Ralph Phelps
- 1950
Peggy
Frank Addison
Comanche Territory
Sam
One Way Street
Driver (uncredited)
Wrote 3
Produced 2
1970s
- 1978
- 1976
Directed 1
1970s
- 1979
Appearances2
2010s
- 2013
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
Self (archive footage)