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James Best

Despite having played some of the orneriest bad guys in films and on television for over four decades, actor James Best was forever ingrained in the minds of audiences as the bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on "The Dukes of Hazzard" (CBS, 1979-1985). A World War II veteran, he fell in love with acting while serving in Europe, and became a Universal contract player in the early 1950s. Scores of small film roles led to steady work in television and films, frequently as villainous cowpokes in "Ride Lonesome" (1959) and "Shenandoah" (1965). The bumbling Rosco P. Coltrane showcased Best's rarely-seen comic side to its fullest, and if it typecast him for the remainder of his career, he did not seem to mind. A respected acting teacher and occasional producer-director, he settled into independent film production and enjoyed the minor immortality afforded by nostalgia and television reruns. James Best died of complications from pneumonia on April 6, 2015. He was 88.