Jewel Franklin Guy, 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, who was known for his high-pitched, exasperated voice, performed not only in feature films, but also in scores of television series.
His appearances were almost all on Western programs, as well as various country music programs and talk shows. He gained recognition for 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).
