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James Best, sheriff of ‘Hazzard,’ dies in Hickory at 88
http://www.charlotteobserver.com ^ | april 7, 2015 | mark washburn

Posted on 04/07/2015 3:24:56 AM PDT by lowbridge

James Best, whose prolific career included 83 movies and 600 TV shows but is best remembered for his role as Rosco P. Coltrane, the bumbling sheriff of Hazzard, died Monday night in Hickory.

Best was 88. He died in hospice after a brief illness of complications from pneumonia, said Steve Latshaw, a longtime friend and Hollywood colleague.

Best’s career included roles in such movies as “The Caine Mutiny” with Humphrey Bogart and “Shenandoah” with Jimmy Stewart. After television came to the fore in the 1950s, Best found roles on popular shows like “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Andy Griffith Show.”

But it was in “The Dukes of Hazzard,” a rural comedy that ran on CBS from 1979 to 1985, that Best became a national figure. As Hazzard’s ever-frustrated lawman catching the dickens from a demanding Boss Hogg, he found himself constantly in pursuit – and ever outwitted – by Luke and Bo Duke in their Dodge Charger “General Lee.”

“I acted the part as good as I could,” said Best in a 2009 interview with The Charlotte Obsserer. “Rosco – let’s face it – was a charmer. It was a fun thing.”

Best and his wife Dorothy moved to the Bethlehem community near Hickory in 2006 from Orlando. At their home on Lake Hickory, he did the thing in life he liked the best – fishing, said Latshaw. He also wrote a book about his career as an actor, writer, producer and director, “Best in Hollywood: The Good, The Bad and the Beautiful.”

“Only thing that makes me sad about having so little time left,” Best wrote in the book, “is leaving the people I love and those who love me.

(Excerpt) Read more at charlotteobserver.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: 1; dukesofhazzard; hollywood; jamesbest; obituary
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To: lowbridge

Best had some great guest appearances on The Twilight Zone. “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank” was just a hoot.

RIP.


61 posted on 04/07/2015 11:20:20 AM PDT by DemforBush (Ex-Democrat, and NotforJeb. Just so we're clear.)
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To: RummyChick

She looks decent here. The photo I saw some time ago was horrible. Probably after a drunk nite out and rough group sex and a dog fight or something. She really looked bad.


62 posted on 04/07/2015 3:40:05 PM PDT by RetiredArmy (MARANATHA, MARANATHA, Come quickly LORD Jesus!!! Father send thy Son!! Its Time!)
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To: lowbridge

I understand that in honor of his passing, all confederate flags will be at half-staff today.


63 posted on 04/09/2015 8:28:07 AM PDT by YourAdHere (I just took a big Obama.)
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