James began his acting career shortly after WWII by doing a play titled "My Sister Eileen" on a European tour. He then returned to New York and appeared on the stage in both Summer and Winter stock theater versions of the same play. He then moved on to Broadway performing in the musical "Marinka" for 18 months. He was noticed by an executive of Universal Studios and received a 2 year contract to make movies. The result was the making of 83 motion pictures and over 600 TV appearances.
Best went into a brief retirement in the early '70s and began teaching drama at the University of Mississippi. But after four years he signed with Warner Brothers and began acting in his most memorable role as Roscoe P. Coltrane in "The Dukes of Hazzard." In 1992, Best returned to teaching at the University of Central Florida. James has been an actor, teacher and an accomplished painter during his long and productive career.