James Best, who is best known for playing Sheriff Rosco Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard TV series, has died. He was 88.
The Kentucky-born actor died April 6 in Hickory, N.C. from complications of pneumonia.
Best had worked as an actor in Hollywood since the 1950s but didn’t gain fame until his role in Hazzard in 1979. He reprised his role as Coltrane in a string of TV movies and in the short-lived animated version of the show The Dukes.
He most recently appeared in the 2013 TV movie The Sweeter Side of Life and was set to star in Old Soldiers.
“The only thing that makes me sad about having so little time left is leaving the people I love and those who love me,” wrote Best in his 2009 autobiography Best in Hollywood: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful, according to the actor’s website. “There are also films and other projects that I want to get done, and there are always fish that need catching.”
