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James Best | |
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 Best in 1964 | |
| Born | Jewel Franklin Guy July 26, 1926 Greenville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | April 6, 2015 (aged 88) Hickory, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1949-2013 |
| Television | The Dukes of Hazzard |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Don and Phil Everly (cousins) Michael Damian (son-in-law) |
Jewel Franklin Guy (July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015), known professionally as James Best, was an American television, film, stage, and voice actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician. During a career that spanned more than 60 years, Best was known for his high-pitched, exasperated voice, who performed not only in feature films, but also in scores of television series, his appearances were almost all on Western programs, as well as appearing on various country music programs and talk shows. He played Captain Thorne Sherman in both films: The Killer Shrews (1959) and its spin-off, Return of the Killer Shrews (2012). Television audiences, however, perhaps most closely associate Best with his starring role as the bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the action-comedy series The Dukes of Hazzard, which originally aired on CBS between 1979 and 1985. He reprised the role in 1997 and 2000 for the made-for-television movies The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! and The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood (2000).