1. 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.
28 Facts About James Best
1. 2.
James Best played Captain Thorne Sherman in both films: The Killer Shrews and its spin-off, Return of the Killer Shrews.
3.
James Best was born Jewel Franklin Guy on July 26,1926, in Powderly, Kentucky, to Lark and Lena Guy.
4.
James Best was raised by adoptive parents in Corydon, Indiana.
5.
James Best served in the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, training in 1944 in Biloxi, Mississippi, as a gunner on a B-17 bomber; but by the time he completed his training the war had almost ended, so he was assigned to the army's law enforcement section.
6.
James Best began his contract career in 1949 at Universal Studios, where he met fellow actors Julie Adams, Piper Laurie, Tony Curtis, Mamie Van Doren and Rock Hudson.
7.
James Best starred in the 1959 science fiction cult movie The Killer Shrews, and in its 2012 sequel Return of the Killer Shrews; as army medic Rhidges in the 1958 film adaptation of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead; as escaped POW Carter in the James Stewart movie Shenandoah; as Dr Ben Mizer in the 1966 comedy Three on a Couch; and as the cross-dressing Dewey Barksdale in the 1976 drama Ode to Billy Joe.
8.
James Best guest-starred more than 280 times in various television series.
9.
In 1954, James Best appeared twice on the syndicated Annie Oakley series.
10.
James Best made four appearances on the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days.
11.
In 1960, James Best appeared in the episode "Love on Credit" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson.
12.
James Best made a guest appearance on former costar Anne Francis's series Honey West in the 1965 episode "A Matter of Wife and Death".
13.
James Best appeared during the entire run of the program, from 1979 until the end of the series in 1985.
14.
James Best later revealed that the caricature-like persona of Sheriff Coltrane was developed from a voice he used when playing with his young children.
15.
On set, James Best was particularly close to Sorrell Booke, who played the character of Boss Hogg, who was both the boss and the brother-in-law of Rosco.
16.
James Best appeared in almost every episode of the series, with the exception of 5, throughout the run.
17.
In 1991, James Best appeared in an episode of the NBC crime drama In the Heat of the Night.
18.
James Best later moved to Florida and taught at the University of Central Florida.
19.
James Best developed a reputation as an artist for his paintings of landscapes, scenes from The Dukes of Hazzard in collaboration with Scott Romine, and other subjects.
20.
An acting coach too, James Best taught drama and acting techniques for more than 25 years in Los Angeles.
21.
James Best served as artist-in-residence and taught drama at the University of Mississippi for two years prior to his stint on The Dukes of Hazzard.
22.
James Best was most kind, gracious and patient with his actors.
23.
James Best is in all respects a complete gentleman in his personal life and I found it a genuine pleasure just to be in the presence of such a talented man.
24.
James Best was an accomplished painter, a guitarist, and a black belt in karate; enjoyed writing; and ran his own acting school.
25.
James Best's students included Lindsay Wagner, Roger Miller, Glen Campbell, Quentin Tarantino, and Regis Philbin.
26.
James Best was a born again Christian, when he became one is unknown, but it was sometime during or after The Dukes Of Hazzard.
27.
James Best died on April 6,2015, at the age of 88, in Hickory, North Carolina, from complications of pneumonia.
28.
James Best was amazing in everything he did; he was not just a funny guy.