Cast & creator
James Best
Best known for Perry Mason, Perry Mason, Bonanza
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).
Also known as: Jewel Franklin Guy, James K. Best, Jimmy Best, Jim Best
78
film credits
92
television credits
164
1950–2021 · acting roles
6.5
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (170)
Showing 170 of 170 credits
Perry Mason
Allan Winford
1957Perry Mason
Martin Potter
1957
Bonanza
Sheriff Vern Schaler
1959
The Andy Griffith Show
Jim Lindsey
1960
The Fugitive
Dan Murray
1963
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
Climax!
Shag
1954
The Rifleman
1958
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Tom Carmody
1962
The Virginian
Curt Westley
1962
The Twilight Zone
Jeff Myrtlebank
1959The Twilight Zone
Billy-Ben Turner
1959
Ben Casey
1961
Daniel Boone
Jethro Wyatt
1964
Rawhide
Willie Cain
1959Rawhide
Brock Quade
1959
Cheyenne
1955
Combat!
Trenton
1962
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Stoner
1958Wanted: Dead or Alive
Luke Perry
1958
Burke's Law
Tucson, 'The Cowboy'
1963
Gunsmoke
Beal
1955Gunsmoke
Charlie Noon
1955
Bat Masterson
Joe Best
1958Bat Masterson
Danny Dakota
1958
Hawaiian Eye
1959
77 Sunset Strip
1958
In the Heat of the Night
1988
The Dukes of Hazzard
Rosco P. Coltrane
1979The Dukes of Hazzard
Director
1979
The Texan
1958
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Norman Frayne
1955Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Hennessy
1955Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Bish Darby
1955
Surfside 6
1960
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967
Bronco
1958
Laramie
1959
The Mod Squad
Clay Lynch
1968
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Jack Milhoan
1957
The Millionaire
Fred Morgan
1955
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
Joe
1960
Felony Squad
1966
The Rebel
Ted Evans
1959The Rebel
Abel Waares
1959
Trackdown
1957
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Jovan Wilanskov
1959
Tombstone Territory
1957
The Gene Autry Show
1950
Lancer
1968
Lock-Up
1959
Honey West
Vince Zale
1965Lux Video Theatre
Clem Wallace
1950
Black Saddle
Ben Travers
1959
Cavalcade of America
1952Cavalcade of America
Harry
1952Cavalcade of America
Slate Morley
1952
The Adventures of Kit Carson
1951
The Green Hornet
Yale Barton
1966
Startime
Duke
1959
Flipper
1964
The Manhunter
1974
Hopalong Cassidy
1952
Men Into Space
1959
Stagecoach West
1960
Centennial
1978
The Gallant Men
1962
Behind Closed Doors
Webb
1958
General Electric True
1962
Frontier
1955
West Point
1956
Forbidden Planet
Crewman (uncredited)
1956
Temple Houston
Gotch
1963
Stories of the Century
1954
Buffalo Bill Jr.
1955
Hawkins
Sheriff John Early
1973
Enos
1980
Hot Tamale
Hank Larson
2006
B.L. Stryker
1989
The Dukes
Rosco Coltrane (voice)
1983
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
Michael Shayne
1960
Redigo
1963
The Man and the Challenge
1959
General Electric Theater
Hardy Coulter
1953
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Whispering Smith
1961
Hawk
1966
The Caine Mutiny
Lt. JG Jorgensen
1954
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Overland Trail
1960
Ride Lonesome
Billy John
1959
Hooper
Cully
1978Hooper
Co-Writer
1978
The Lineup
1954
Winchester '73
Crater
1950
The Left Handed Gun
Tom Folliard
1958Pony Express
Bart Gentry
1960
The Naked and the Dead
Rhidges
1958
Three on a Couch
Dr. Ben Mizer
1966
Shenandoah
Carter, Rebel Soldier
1965
CMT: Inside Fame
2005
Nickelodeon
Jim
1976
The David Niven Show
Boland
1959
Gator
Production Assistant
1976
Rolling Thunder
Texan
1977
The Battle at Apache Pass
Cpl. Hassett
1952
Sounder
Sheriff Charlie Young
1972
Cast a Long Shadow
Sam Mullen
1959
Firecreek
Drew
1968
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
1997
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)
2002
The Raid
Lt. Robinson
1954
Shock Corridor
Stuart
1963
Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!
Self
2021
The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
Rosco P. Coltrane
2000
The Sweeter Side of Life
Paddy Kerrigan
2013
The End
Pacemaker Patient
1978The End
Associate Producer
1978
First to Fight
Sergeant Carnavan
1967
City of Bad Men
Deputy Gig (uncredited)
1953
The Savage Bees
Pellegrino
1977
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
Self (archive footage)
2013
Comanche Territory
Sam
1950
The Quick Gun
Scotty Wade
1964
Top of the World
Col. French's Orderly (uncredited)
1955
Riders to the Stars
Dr. Sidney K. Fuller
1954
The Cimarron Kid
Bitter Creek Dalton
1952
Hot Summer Night
Kermit
1957
Black Spurs
Ralph Elkins
1965
One Way Street
Driver (uncredited)
1950
The Rack
Millard Chilson Cassidy
1956
Francis Goes to West Point
Corporal Ransom
1952
Ode to Billy Joe
Dewey Barksdale
1976
Column South
Primrose
1953
Kansas Raiders
Cole Younger
1950
Verboten!
Sgt. David Brent
1959
Moondance Alexander
McClancy
2007
Apache Drums
Bert Keon
1951
They Rode West
Lt. Finlay (uncredited)
1954
The Brain Machine
Rev. Emory Neill
1972
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Marvin Johnson
1952
Last of the Badmen
Ted Hamilton
1957
Flat Top
Radio Operator
1952
Seminole
Corp. Gerad
1953
Return of the Killer Shrews
Thorne Sherman
2012Return of the Killer Shrews
Writer
2012
I Was a Shoplifter
1950
Skip Taylor
1953
The Yellow Tomahawk
Private Bliss
1954
The Mountain Road
Niergaard
1960
Man on the Prowl
Doug Gerhardt
1957
The Killer Shrews
Thorne Sherman
1959
Target Unknown
Sgt. Ralph Phelps
1951
Come Next Spring
Bill Jackson
1956
Gaby
Jim
1956
Savages
Sheriff Bert Hamilton
1974
Peggy
Frank Addison
1950
Run, Simon, Run
Henry Burroughs
1970
Calling Homicide
Det. Arnie Arnhoff
1956
Return from the Sea
Barr
1954
Death Mask
Wilbur Johnson
1995Death Mask
Writer
1995
Seven Angry Men
Jason Brown
1955
Steel Town
Joe Rakich
1952
Cole Younger, Gunfighter
Kit Caswell
1958
The Runaway Barge
Bingo Washington
1975
Black Gold
Jericho Larkin
1962
Air Cadet
Jerry Connell
1951Aftermath
Hardy Coulter
1960