James Best passes at 88

The sad news has been released that James Best (born Jewel Franklin Guy) passed yesterday at the age of 88. He was best known for his portrayal of Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane of Hazard County in the popular TV show of the late 70s “The Dukes of Hazard”. What you might not have known about him is that he was a veteran, like most of the folks of his generation;

While ideas for future creative works percolated, Jimmie, fresh out of high school in 1944, enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps with dreams of being a pilot. But the Air Corps at that point needed gunners and radio operators more than pilots, so Jimmie trained for those duties instead. Once most of the enemy’s aircraft were out of commission and there was less need for him to be fighting in the sky, Jimmie was transferred to the military police to help handle dangerous problems on the ground in Germany. Many of Jimmie’s experiences as an MP contending with the Werwolf resistance in Germany during the war were incorporated into Samuel Fuller’s acclaimed 1959 film Verboten! in which Jimmie starred as Sergeant David Brent.

It was during his real wartime on the ground in Germany that Sergeant Best became enlightened about how servicemen who entertained the troops as part of Special Services were given better food and living quarters and, most important, got to travel and socialize with the pretty actressesin those units. And he noticed that the folks in Special Services also generally didn’t have people shooting at them.

Jimmie used his stellar record with the military police as leverage to join the military theatrical company. His first role was playing a drunk in director Arthur Penn’s production in Germany of My Sister Eileen. Jimmie’s show business career was now officially locked and loaded.

Category: Blue Skies