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Okay. The only thing between you and your best self is a start button. This Cyber Monday, explore the world with Nordic Track. From the peaks of Peru to the streets of Paris, every workout moves you somewhere new with iFit trainers leading the way. The equipment's amazing, smooth, quiet, and those screens make it all feel real.
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Then the space hamster flew his hot air balloon all the way to the bottom of the ocean. Where did that story come from? Book? Dream? Nope, it came from a conversation.
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Come for the Black Friday seasonal savings. Stay for the award-winning reporting. For a limited time, access to the Washington Post is just 99 cents. That's unlimited access to all of the posts for only 99 cents every four weeks. That's a great deal for the first year.
After that, it'll cost $12 every four weeks. You can cancel any time. But don't wait, this Black Friday seasonal offer won't be here for long. Go to Washington Post dot com slash iHeart and grab this deal before it's gone. That's Washington Post dot com slash iHeart.
Bring incredible sound into every corner of your home this holiday with the new WimSound smart speaker. Get high-resolution audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control, and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $2.99. From quiet mornings to lively holiday gatherings, WimSound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. WimSound, beautifully designed, effortlessly connected.
Shop now at Amazon and search WimSound. That's W-I-I-M-S-O-U-N-D. This holiday season, give the gift of incredible sound with Vizio's full soundbar lineup available at Walmart. Transform any living room into a home theater with rich, immersive audio that brings every movie, show, and song to life. Whether you're gifting a loved one or upgrading your own setup, Vizio soundbars deliver powerful, crystal-clear sound that turns ordinary watching into extraordinary experiences.
Stream your favorite holiday playlist with the iHeartRadio app and discover how good your music can truly sound. Head to Walmart.com and find your perfect Vizio soundbar. today. And we continue with our American stories. Born in Kentucky, James Best was orphaned at the age of three.
And eventually adopted. After high school, he joined the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. In July of 1944, and served with the military police in War-Torn, Germany. He founded the James Best Theater Center in Los Angeles, becoming one of the hottest acting coaches in Hollywood, training the likes of Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Glenn Campbell, Quentin Tarantino, and Regis Philbin. Best and his wife actually gave the young Tarantino a place to sleep while he struggled to make it in Hollywood.
Just before landing his role as Roscoe P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazard, Bess taught drama for two years at the University of Mississippi, or Ole Miss, right here where we broadcast, in Oxford, Mississippi. Here's James Best. With his story. Mm.
After the war, there was what they call werewolf gangs in Wiesbahn, Germany. And they were teenagers that had actually been trained by the SS. And actually, a lot of them fought in the war. They'd be like 12-year-old, they'd get on a bicycle with a bazooka and fight the Russians. with tanks.
So they were rough.
Well, we had to clean up the town, being about that.
So I was getting shot at more than most people did in the war, you know, and I was going up to get a cup of coffee and a donut at the PX and A girl walked down the steps and she had a green uniform on with CAT on her shoulder. I said, come and see him at the end. I said, come here, please. And German, she said, I beg your pardon. I said, Are you an American?
And she said yes. And I said, what's going on? I said, what is the CAT? She said, a civilian actress technician. And I said, uh...
What is that? I'm an old country boy. I've never done much about anything. I hadn't ever seen a play. She said, well, we're doing a play at the Wiesbaden Opera House.
I said, oh great. I said. I'll pick you up after the play.
So she said, Well, I won't go out with you unless you come see the play. I said, I don't want to see the play. I'll pick up after it. She said, No, that's not the way it's going to work.
So I go over to see the play. I'm sitting in the audience. Bo Condry boy, the curtain goes up. Uh And I'm like a kid in Disneyland. And I could not believe this.
This was like another world. I go back to stage to pick up the young lady and Harris G.I. is getting dressed out of the, from the, from the show. I said, wait a minute, I'm a sergeant. What are these guys?
What are these? And they said, they're in the show. They tour. They're treated like officers. We tour around the French, British, American zone.
I said, Wait a minute, I'm getting shot at every night, and these guys are traveling around with you pretty girls. I'm in the wrong outfit.
So I went to my commanding altar. And through certain circumstances. Uh I had a Pretty good record there and uh And so they transferred my... transferred me into special service and I started acting and I acted with these professional people and learned my craft.
So later on, when I came back to the States, I hitchhiked in New York to be an actor. I had that experience. And so I spent about three years in New York, did a Broadway show, did summer stock, winter stock, and then put under contract with Universal in 1949.
Now I was there for two years.
So that started my career. I've counted over 600 television shows. I'm very fortunate because I got to work back in those days, the golden days, when they used talent instead of reality stars. I really am a little sick coming out of Hollywood. You know, they're doing remakes of things that we did 40 years ago.
Only one thing that's different is that they use four-letter words, every other word, and body parts. And it's funny, I worked with Gene Auter and Hopalong Cassidy and Five Movies, Jimmy Stewart. And I worked with Bogart and Charlie Vest and Susan Hayward, all these wonderful people, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds. It's funny, we didn't have to have Body parts fly. We didn't need four little words to tell the guy we hated him.
We just knocked him on his backside. I'd put a little chocolate syrup on my shirt. Fall off my horse. You knew I was dead. You didn't have to see my spine go fly across the room.
You know, I did K-Mutiny with Bogart. I did Naked the Dead, you know, and Jimmy Stewart was my icon. I did five movies with him. I did Shenandoah, Fire Creek, Mountain Road, Hawkins, Sinnersfella. and so forth.
I was doing Mountain Road. And Mr. Stewart in real life flew 23 combat missions in World War II. And while we were up there, an act of Congress, they made Mr. Stewart a general.
And I'm back there. I'm bored. I bore easy. I like action.
So I called down the room service and I said, Room servants? And I said, yes. He said, Well, this is Mr. Stewart. Yes, this is Mr.
Stewart. Uh let me ask you, uh d do you have any wine? And they said, well, yes, sir, we have. He said, well, I don't. I mean, just any wine, French, the French, have good wine.
He said, yes, we have some very fine French. Send a bottle up to Mr. Best Suite. Make it too.
Well, Mr. Stewart came back and I said, General, he wasn't used to that. He just didn't make General. And he said, where are you? I said, Mr.
Stewart, I use your voice. to get two bottles of very fine French wine. Without hesitation, he said, Well, who's going to pay for that? Yes, God loves him. He loved for me to imitate him.
He'd always pretend like he was upset. but he wasn't at all he wanted me to do it get me in a position where i would have to try to imitate him you know God love him. He was marvelous. I was doing Hooper with Brett Reynolds, and I'd written a script and performed on it. And my agent called and said, I want to send you over on a series.
I said, Syria and it's called Duke Sahel. I said, I don't want to do a gang thing. I really don't. They said, no, no, no, no, this is a good old boy thing, and they're going to shoot it in Tonyers, Georgia. And they said, I said, You're going to shoot in Connecticut, Georgia.
The fishing's good, the people are nice. They're going to shoot the whole series in. They said, Yeah, I said. I'm going over and see about that.
So I go over there and here is the producer and the director and the writers and the Inquisition sitting there in a bunch of chairs and they had one chair sitting out in front. And I sat down on that and he said, I said now where What is it? It's a shirt. And I said, how do you want me to play him? They said, well, we would like for him to be amusing.
He found it funny. And I said, well, I played a lot of heavies, but I did, I starred with Jerry Lewis in a movie called Free on the Couch. I seconded comedy, I did that for Zimmer Stock.
So I thought, what am I going to do? Because I do not want to embarrass the sheriffs in this world. But I have too much respect for the fire department and and sheriffs and and military.
So I said, I'll play him like a 12-year-old who likes hot pursuit.
So, what I did when I said, Let me read the script. I read the script, and when I'm reading it, I did what I used to do with my little girls when they were little and I'd see chasing them and I'd go, coochie! Don't move to get you, you little rascal.
Well, they fell off their chair and they signed me. I was the first one they put under contract. I've just caught the Duke boys going a half mile over the speed limit. With my new radar good. And we shot five episodes down in Congress, Georgia, and then they moved it back to that cesspool called LA.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Look at their face. There goes those Dukes. Oh, they're making a run for it. Get good.
I love it. I love it. It's hot pursuit time, Slash. My name is Jefferson Davis Hall with two G's. And just who might you be?
Uh Uh Bosch, you know who I am? Rushcoat. Fresh copy coal train. Were you uh something wrong with his eyes? Oh, it's his head.
Oh, insanity. No, no, no. No, no. J.D. is suffering from a temporary case of amnesia.
Amnesia. Oh, oh, oh, who is this lovely lady? Oh, that's Lou Luke. That's your wife. Oh, my wife.
Yeah, she's. Oh, precious. That's you in the picture, though, ain't it? You should have shot the other side. My other profile is too much.
You got your arm right around my wife. I love her very dearly. What's going on between the two of you? Wait a minute, boss. Wait a minute.
She's your wife, but she's my sister. Oh, your sister. I see now. Wait a minute. What?
That makes you my brother-in-law. Yeah, you little rascal. Couldn't do it. I had no idea how low I'd really sunk. The comedy team with Sora and I it came about actually At first, uh saw played such a heavy in the uh series.
I think that So I went through the powers of being and said, you know, it should be a nice relationship with Sorrel and I. We can do sort of a modern day Laurel Hardy type of thing. And if Roscoe likes Boss Hogg, then maybe other people will like him too. And it did, it worked very well. And that's why I would go, you know, who's a little fat little buddy and chubby buddy.
And it really became a wonderful relationship. I believe in having fun and I believe in making people laugh. I think there's not enough laughter in this world and if I contribute to that Uh the enjoyment of anything uh I think Perhaps maybe that was my purpose rather than digging coal in Kentucky where My daddy and my offended live when I was a little boy. Cookie at YouTube. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler.
And you've been listening to James Best, the late James Best, who played Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. of the Dukes of Hazard. Here on Our American Stories. Providing a system like a two modern day Robin Hood Woo!
Yeah. The only thing between you and your best self is a start button. This Cyber Monday, explore the world with Nordic Track. From the peaks of Peru to the streets of Paris, every workout moves you somewhere new with iFit trainers leading the way. The equipment's amazing, smooth, quiet, and those screens make it all feel real.
Ready to start your next workout adventure with the number one treadmill brand in the U.S.? Shop NordicTrack.com for Cyber Monday savings. Nordic Track. Train anywhere, explore everywhere. Does it?
Shh! You won't believe what my new friend just told me about dinosaurs! Is your child having conversations you never imagined? Are they learning without realizing it? It's not a tablet.
It's not a toy. It's Miko Mini Plus, the AI-powered companion that turns curiosity into endless learning. Hear the future of playtime. Meet the extraordinary Miko Mini Plus. Only at Costco.
Come for the Black Friday seasonal savings. Stay for the award-winning reporting. For a limited time, access to the Washington Post is just 99 cents. That's unlimited access to all of the posts for only 99 cents every four weeks. That's a great deal for the first year.
After that, it'll cost $12 every four weeks. You can cancel any time. But don't wait, this Black Friday seasonal offer won't be here for long. Go to Washington Post dot com slash iHeart and grab this deal before it's gone. That's Washington Post dot com slash iHeart.
Bring incredible sound into every corner of your home this holiday with the new Wim Sound Smart Speaker. Get high-resolution audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control, and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $2.99. From quiet mornings to lively holiday gatherings, WimSound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. WimSound, beautifully designed, effortlessly connected.
Shop now at Amazon and search Wim Sound. That's W-I-I-M-S-O-U-N-D. This holiday season, give the gift of incredible sound with Vizio's full soundbar lineup available at Walmart. Transform any living room into a home theater with rich, immersive audio that brings every movie, show, and song to life. Whether you're gifting a loved one or upgrading your own setup, Vizio soundbars deliver powerful, crystal-clear sound that turns ordinary watching into extraordinary experiences.
Stream your favorite holiday playlist with the iHeartRadio app and discover how good your music can truly sound. Head to Walmart.com and find your perfect Vizio soundbar. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.
Mm-hmm.
