Saturday, November 19, 1983

JEAN HOWARD HOUGHTON

Los Angeles CA -- BY JEAN HOWARD HOUGHTON LOS ANGELES Dukes of Hazzard fans recognize James Best as the hapless Sheriff Rosco Coltrane, but Best is known in Hollywood circles as the founder of the James Best Theatre Centre.

Jimmy's Workshop, as it is affectionately called by his students, specializes in teaching motion picture technique - an area neglected, ironically, by most acting teachers and workshops in the movie and television mecca.

Best, a character actor who learned his craft in numerous roles from Humphrey Bogart movies to the television series Twilight Zone, says he "gained much practical experience in those early years. The one thing I'm very disciplined about is the craft of the dramatic art." "There's an introduction class", Best says, "which anyone joining the Theatre Centre must attend first, no matter how famous or experienced they are. In this class the students learn all the terminology that is used on the set, because even if they can act, if they don't know the technical stuff it really can get in the way." Some of Best's students have graduated to successful film and TV careers, including Philece Sampler (Renee Dumond in the soap-opera Days Of Our Lives), Robert Woods (Bo Buchanan in One Life To Live, and who recently won a Daytime Emmy as best actor), Jennilee Harrison (of Three's Company), Lindsay Wagner (of Bionic Woman fame) and Jeannie Wilson (Janet Fowler) of Simon & Simon.

Best has a full-time teaching staff at the Centre but says, "naturally, I still come to teach whenever I'm in town and can get away from Dukes in time. Unfortunately, that isn't too often with my crazy work schedule." Best is especially interested in the progress of two former students, his daughters Janeen and JoJami.

The younger, 20-year-old Janeen, gave up a dance career with the New York City Ballet and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. While studying at her father's workshop for a year and a half, she was a regular dancer on Solid Gold for two seasons. Since leaving Solid Gold, she's had a steady stream of dancing and acting jobs, including a large guest-star role on Dukes of Hazzard. "Dad is a very good and very strict teacher," says Janeen. "I remember when I'd only been studying acting for six months and I wanted to appear in one of the scenes at the next showcase presentation, he said 'You're not ready yet. You've got to study some more.' So my career is not all through Dad's help as is the general opinion. Sure, it helps to get your foot in the door, but then you're on your own." JoJami, 22, also has a showbiz background: studying and performing with the Mississippi Ballet Theatre for 10 years, and making her dramatic debut at 3 when she appeared with her father in the live production of The Rainmaker in Croydon, Indiana.

But JoJami, who's also had a guest star role on Dukes of Hazzard, says acting is not for her. "I've given it up, decided this was not for me. I much prefer the production and distribution side of the TV and movie business." Now, after attending business school for six months and getting on-the- job training by putting on fashion shows in New York and setting up a health club in Santa Monica, JoJami is handling her father's business. That includes forming a James Best production company, organizing an off- Broadway production of one of the three plays or the musical that Best has written, and acting as agent for her father's paintings: Best is also a talented artist.

Only three years ago, Best's paintings sold for $200. They now fetch a price of $1,000 and are in such demand that some of them are lithographed in limited editions which sell for $100 each.

Best started painting about 15 years ago, and has had a few exhibitions since then, always with the same result. His first exhibition was organized by Burt Reynolds, in Savannah, Ga.: the entire show sold out in two-and-a-half hours. His latest exhibition was in Inverness, Fla., in the summer of '82, and the paintings only took two hours to sell in that show. Some of the people who have his paintings on their wall include Burt Reynolds (who has bought eight over the years), Jerry Lewis, Denver Pyle, Sally Fields, Tammy Wynette and Lucie Arnaz. "I find that painting is very rewarding, creatively," Best says, deftly adding a touch of blue here, a touch of green there, on the current canvas in his studio/garage. "But I don't get married to my paintings, so it is never a great wrench when I have to part with one." A dozen of Best's canvases will be featured in an upcoming episode of Dukes of Hazzard, supposedly painted by Hazzard County's resident starving artist. The episode, which recently finished shooting and will be aired sometime this season, gave Best a chance to exercise yet another artistic muscle: he was the director.