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Acting

James Best

Career: Active from 1952 to 2013, with a break from 1984 to 1994, busiest in 1959 with 4 main titles.

Leading roles: 14
top three billing

Average score: 59/100

Highest rated: Shock Corridor
84/100

What stands out

Compared with the average well-known movie, over 95 of their titles. Select a trait to filter titles.

James Best Catalog average

Rarely in their work

Contemporary Realism
3.8, average 5.4
Psychological
4.3, average 5.5
Cringe Humor
1.0, average 2.2
Uncanny
1.4, average 2.5

Main genres

Select a genre to see those titles.

Recurring tags

Classic Western 3
Car Chases 3
Rural Setting 2
Moral Ambiguity 2
Action 2
Coming-of-Age 2
Character Study 2

Works often with

People in at least two of their main titles.

Movies and TV shows

150

Type

Role

Score

Decade

Genre

Group by

2010s

2 titles · average score 39

The Sweeter Side of Life

50

as Paddy Kerrigan

Return of the Killer Shrews

29

as Thorne Sherman

2000s

5 titles · average score 53

Moondance Alexander

47

as McClancy

Hot Tamale

46

as Hank Larson

CMT: Inside Fame

TV show

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

as Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)

The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood

67

as Rosco P. Coltrane

1990s

3 titles · average score 48

The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!

58

as Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane

E! True Hollywood Story

48

TV show

Death Mask

39

as Wilbur Johnson

1980s

4 titles · average score 53

B.L. Stryker

41

TV show

In the Heat of the Night

60

TV show

The Dukes

50

TV show · as Rosco Coltrane (voice)

Enos

63

TV show

1970s

16 titles · average score 60

The Dukes of Hazzard

75

TV show · as Rosco P. Coltrane

Hooper

65

as Cully

Centennial

80

TV show

The End

56

as Pacemaker Patient

Rolling Thunder

72

as Texan

The Savage Bees

44

as Pellegrino

Ode to Billy Joe

56

as Dewey Barksdale

Gator

44

Production Assistant

Savages

66

as Sheriff Bert Hamilton

Sounder

80

as Sheriff Charlie Young

The Brain Machine

30

as Rev. Emory Neill

Run, Simon, Run

58

as Henry Burroughs

1960s

37 titles · average score 66

First to Fight

68

as Sergeant Carnavan

Three on a Couch

58

as Dr. Ben Mizer

The Quick Gun

55

as Scotty Wade

Daniel Boone

47

TV show · as Jethro Wyatt

Shock Corridor

84

as Stuart

The Fugitive

84

TV show · as Dan Murray

Black Gold

as Jericho Larkin

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

54

TV show · as Tom Carmody

The Virginian

70

TV show · as Curt Westley

Combat!

82

TV show · as Trenton

The Mountain Road

64

as Niergaard

The Andy Griffith Show

81

TV show · as Jim Lindsey

1950s

83 titles · average score 65

The Killer Shrews

38

as Thorne Sherman

Verboten!

64

as Sgt. David Brent

Ride Lonesome

80

as Billy John

The Twilight Zone

91

TV show · as Jeff Myrtlebank / Billy-Ben Turner

Bonanza

73

TV show · as Sheriff Vern Schaler

The Left Handed Gun

71

as Tom Folliard

Cole Younger, Gunfighter

52

as Kit Caswell

Last of the Badmen

as Ted Hamilton

Perry Mason

82

TV show · as Martin Potter / Allan Winford

Man on the Prowl

as Doug Gerhardt

The Cimarron Kid

59

as Bitter Creek Dalton

Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair

69

as Marvin Johnson