1926-07-26 Powderly, Kentucky, USA
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).
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Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists! | Self | 2021-02-13 |
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The Sweeter Side of Life | Paddy Kerrigan | 2013-07-11 |
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Return of the Killer Shrews | Thorne Sherman | 2012-11-15 |
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Moondance Alexander | McClancy | 2007-04-22 |
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Hot Tamale | Hank Larson | 2006-04-23 |
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The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made | Thorne Sherman (archive footage) | 2004-07-13 |
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The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller | Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited) | 2002-07-02 |
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The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood | Rosco P. Coltrane | 2000-06-05 |
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Death Mask | Wilbur Johnson | 1998-01-01 |
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The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! | Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane | 1997-04-25 |
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Hooper | Cully | 1978-07-28 |
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The End | Pacemaker Patient | 1978-05-10 |
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Rolling Thunder | Texan | 1977-11-02 |
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The Savage Bees | Pellegrino | 1976-11-22 |
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Ode to Billy Joe | Dewey Barksdale | 1976-06-04 |
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Nickelodeon | Jim | 1976-12-21 |
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The Runaway Barge | Bingo Washington | 1975-03-24 |
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Savages | Sheriff Bert Hamilton | 1974-09-11 |
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Sounder | Sheriff Charlie Young | 1972-09-24 |
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The Brain Machine | Rev. Emory Neill | 1972-01-01 |
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Run, Simon, Run | Henry Burroughs | 1970-12-01 |
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Firecreek | Drew | 1968-01-24 |
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First to Fight | Sergeant Carnavan | 1967-01-25 |
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Three on a Couch | Dr. Ben Mizer | 1966-03-01 |
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Black Spurs | Ralph Elkins | 1965-05-28 |
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Shenandoah | Carter, Rebel Soldier | 1965-06-03 |
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The Quick Gun | Scotty Wade | 1964-04-01 |
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Shock Corridor | Stuart | 1963-09-25 |
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Black Gold | Jericho Larkin | 1962-07-21 |
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The Mountain Road | Niergaard | 1960-06-15 |
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Aftermath | Hardy Coulter | 1960-04-17 |
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Verboten! | Sgt. David Brent | 1959-03-25 |
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Cast a Long Shadow | Sam Mullen | 1959-08-24 |
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Ride Lonesome | Billy John | 1959-02-01 |
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The Killer Shrews | Thorne Sherman | 1959-06-25 |
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The Left Handed Gun | Tom Folliard | 1958-04-30 |
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Cole Younger, Gunfighter | Kit Caswell | 1958-03-30 |
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The Naked and the Dead | Rhidges | 1958-08-06 |
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Last of the Badmen | Ted Hamilton | 1957-02-17 |
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Man on the Prowl | Doug Gerhardt | 1957-12-01 |
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Hot Summer Night | Kermit | 1957-02-15 |
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The Rack | Millard Chilson Cassidy | 1956-11-02 |
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Gaby | Jim | 1956-05-09 |
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Forbidden Planet | Crewman (uncredited) | 1956-03-23 |
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Come Next Spring | Bill Jackson | 1956-03-09 |
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Calling Homicide | Det. Arnie Arnhoff | 1956-09-30 |
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Seven Angry Men | Jason Brown | 1955-03-27 |
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Top of the World | Col. French's Orderly (uncredited) | 1955-05-01 |
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They Rode West | Lt. Finlay (uncredited) | 1954-12-04 |
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The Raid | Lt. Robinson | 1954-08-04 |
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The Yellow Tomahawk | Private Bliss | 1954-05-01 |
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The Caine Mutiny | Lt. JG Jorgensen | 1954-06-24 |
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Riders to the Stars | Dr. Sidney K. Fuller | 1954-01-14 |
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Return from the Sea | Barr | 1954-07-28 |
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Column South | Primrose | 1953-05-20 |
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Skip Taylor | 1953-12-16 | |
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City of Bad Men | Deputy Gig (uncredited) | 1953-09-11 |
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Seminole | Corp. Gerad | 1953-03-20 |
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The Battle at Apache Pass | Cpl. Hassett | 1952-05-09 |
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Steel Town | Joe Rakich | 1952-05-09 |
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Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair | Marvin Johnson | 1952-07-11 |
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Francis Goes to West Point | Cpl. Ransom | 1952-07-01 |
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The Cimarron Kid | Bitter Creek Dalton | 1952-01-13 |
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Air Cadet | Jerry Connell | 1951-03-14 |
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Apache Drums | Bert Keon | 1951-04-01 |
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Target Unknown | Sgt. Ralph Phelps | 1951-02-08 |
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Comanche Territory | Sam | 1950-05-01 |
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Kansas Raiders | Cole Younger | 1950-11-15 |
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One Way Street | Driver (uncredited) | 1950-04-01 |
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I Was a Shoplifter | 1950-05-13 | |
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Winchester '73 | Crater | 1950-07-12 |
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Peggy | Frank Addison | 1950-07-01 |
