James Best - Career

Career

He began his acting career with an uncredited role in the 1950 film, One Way Street.Best portrayed a variety of characters in a wide spectrum of film genres. Some of his more notable roles include Jason Brown in the 1955 historical drama about the abolitionist John Brown entitled Seven Angry Men and as Kit Caswell in the 1958 western Cole Younger, Gunfighter, based on the infamous outlaw. He was further cast as Private Rhidges in the 1958 film adaptation of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead. He played the outlaw Billy John in Ride Lonesome (1959), Dr. Ben Mizer in the 1966 comedy Three on a Couch, the cross-dressing Dewey Barksdale in the 1976 drama Ode to Billy Joe, and the gunfighter Drew in Firecreek (1968), with James Stewart and Henry Fonda.

Best has guest starred more than 280 times on numerous televisions shows. In 1954, he played the outlaw Dave Ridley, opposite Gloria Winters as the female bandit Little Britches in an episode of the syndicated Stories of the Century, starring and narrated by Jim Davis.

In 1960, Best appeared in the episode "Love on Credit" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. His other appearances include: Wagon Train (three times), The Adventures of Kit Carson (twice as Henry Jordan), the Western anthology series Frontier (twice), Sheriff of Cochise, Pony Express, Behind Closed Doors, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel,Trackdown, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Tombstone Territory, Whispering Smith, The Twilight Zone ("The Grave", "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank," and "Jess-Belle"), Wanted: Dead or Alive, Overland Trail, Bat Masterson, The Rebel (TV series), Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Man and the Challenge, Combat, The Mod Squad), I Spy, Perry Mason, The Incredible Hulk, The Fugitive ("Terror At High Point"), Stagecoach West, and In the Heat of the Night.

Fans of The Andy Griffith Show will remember Best for his portrayal of the young guitar player Jim Lindsey in two episodes.