Although his Hollywood career now dates 60 years, James Best is best known for his role as Sheriff Rosco Coltrane on TV’s long-running The Dukes of Hazzard, a role he reprised for the animated spin-off, The Dukes, the complete collection of which is newly released as a made-on-demand DVD from Warner Archive.

FLICK ATTACK: Man, you’ve done a ton of stuff. Does it bother you that you’re primarily known for Dukes of Hazzard?

BEST: Actually, it’s a two-edged sword. Naturally, I spent a lot of time trying to prove to Hollywood and the world that I was a good actor. But I can go anywhere in the world and they all go, “KEW-KEW-KEW!” It’s good on one hand; on the other, Hollywood cannot see me or do not know that I did a lot of things before Rosco P. Coltrane.

FLICK ATTACK: In a way, though, you did Rosco so well that people couldn’t see past it. In other words, you’re that good of an actor.

BEST: It’s flattering on one hand, and on the other hand, I’m really disappointed that a lot of people didn’t know I had a career before that. That’s why I brought out my book, Best in Hollywood. I wrote my autobiography and you can buy it at my website, JamesBest.com. That book’s been selling very well.

FLICK ATTACK: Let me ask you about the new cartoon collection of The Dukes. Do you have memories of making this?

BEST: Yeah, of course we were shooting The Dukes of Hazzard at that time. They called up and said Hanna-Barbera — I love cartoons, and I had never done any work for cartoons. We went over to the animation studio —  it was very comfortable — and they just gave us scripts and we went into the regular characters as we did on the regular show. I think the cartoons were on for two years, then they took them off for some reason, but now they’re bringing them back, so now there’s a new generation of young people who will be introduced to The Dukes of Hazzard.

FLICK ATTACK: Do you think the animators made you as handsome as you are in real life?

BEST: Ha-ha! Well, when you get old, you get ugly. So don’t get old.

FLICK ATTACK: At least they made you better-looking than the dog and the raccoon.

BEST: Well, cartoons are always less than flattering, perhaps, but they did a pretty good job. I have only seen a couple of them myself, but they’re entertaining, and I’m grateful to be part of something that will be introduced to the younger generation, and they can watch without embarrassment and perhaps be introduced to the live-action version.

FLICK ATTACK: You worked with Samuel Fuller in Shock Corridor. Was he insane?

BEST: Sammy was a genius. Hollywood didn’t really realize that, but his stuff was so strong and so vibrant and so colorful. It wasn’t all smoke and mirrors like it is today. He put in actual stories that he had lived through. I loved working with him.

FLICK ATTACK: What about Jerry Lewis? There’s gotta be a story there.

BEST: Jerry Lewis? That man is a genius. He can absolutely do it all, and has. I never had as much as fun in my life as doing Three on a Couch with him and Janet Leigh. It’s just a ball to work with Jerry Lewis. He’s a total professional. He has great respect for all actors, whether they’re just doing one line or the lead. A lot of people love him or hate him, but the man has raked in a billion dollars for children, so he can’t be all bad. On the other hand, he’s less than what you’d expect at times. I told him once, “Jerry, you’re five different people and I hate three of ’em.” But I loved the other two.

FLICK ATTACK: Was it more fun working with Jimmy Stewart or Catherine Bach’s cutoff shorts?

BEST: Ha-ha! There was mixed emotion! Jimmy Stewart was my icon … and Cathy Bach was my desire. As was 25 million other people who watched the show. No, Cathy’s a sweetheart. We adore her. We were all family. She was more like a sister to all of us.

FLICK ATTACK: And you also worked with Peter Bogdanovich on Nickelodeon.

BEST: Yeah, I didn’t care for him too much, to be honest.

FLICK ATTACK: Was it because he wears ascots?

BEST: No, he ate before the cast did, on a silver tray, and rode up and down in front of everybody on his white horse. Napoleon, you know. As far as I’m concerned, he did one good movie. That Moon thing. Paper Moon. That was a brilliant piece of work.

FLICK ATTACK: And your paths have crossed before with Burt Reynolds.

BEST: Oh, yeah, I worked a lot with Burt.

FLICK ATTACK: Was it true you were an uncredited co-director on a couple of his films?

BEST: Yeah, what happened is I taught motion picture technique for 30 years. Burt sat in on my classes, so he knew I knew what to do with the cameras. I didn’t get credit for my part, but I also helped with rewrites on Gator and with Hooper. I should have gotten credit, I guess, but I was very grateful to work with Burt. I made a lot money with Burt.

FLICK ATTACK: Speaking of Hooper, I have this mental picture of Hal Needham directing with a bottle of beer in his hand. Is that correct at all?

BEST: Ha-ha! I never saw him do that. We’ve been friends for all these years. Hal was a wonderful stuntman. He jumped out of a Piper Cub without a parachute onto a guy on horseback. He said, “I gotta do it again. My mom wanted to see it and she wasn’t here.” His mama came to the set and he did it again!

FLICK ATTACK: That’s crazy.

BEST: He’s crazy!

FLICK ATTACK: Who was harder to work with: Flipper or Jan-Michael Vincent?

BEST: Jan-Michael Vincent. He ticked me off, to be honest with you.

FLICK ATTACK: Out of all you’ve done, what’s been your favorite project?

BEST: Well, working with Jimmy Stewart was a heavenly blessing. I’ve really enjoyed my career. The good Lord worked overtime for this ol’ country boy. I had so many wonderful times. You can read all about it my book, Best in Hollywood. You can get it at my website, JamesBest.com. And you can get that cartoon, too! I autographed the first 500 or something like that.

FLICK ATTACK: I’ll be sure to point that out.

BEST: That’d be great. —Rod Lott

Additional questions by Allan Mott.

Buy it at Warner Archive.

Scream queen Tiffany Shepis is the recent star of Dark Reel, Night of the Demons and the new comedy Trade In, in which she plays a lesbian used car saleswoman.

FLICK ATTACK: Correct if I’m wrong, but it looks like in this year and the next, you have about six films coming out … every other Tuesday.

SHEPIS: I think it’s seven, man, to correct you. I’m a pretty lucky girl. They keep me working in this crazy horror genre of mine, and now the genre of used car movies.

FLICK ATTACK: You don’t do many comedies, do you?

SHEPIS: Certainly a lot of my horror movies end up being comedies, not often by choice! I stay very true to my horror roots, but it’s definitely been fun for a change.

FLICK ATTACK: So how does one prepare for a role as a lesbian car saleswoman?

SHEPIS: You become a lesbian car saleswoman. Method all the way! It was easy. Who can’t appreciate a beautiful woman? For the car salesman part, you have to go to all sorts of smarmy routes to get people to buy a car nowadays.

FLICK ATTACK: Do you think you could even sell a runaway Prius?

SHEPIS: You know, I think I might. I was pretty good at my pitches! We actually shot on a working car lot in Tucson, Ariz. I would talk shit to the guys and say, “Aw, I can do this better than you — here, watch, watch, watch.” And I was pretty good! I think I found my niche! I might quit movies and sell cars.

FLICK ATTACK: But that would be our loss.

SHEPIS: And then what would you have to do every other Tuesday?

FLICK ATTACK: Is it true you were engaged to Corey Haim?

SHEPIS: I was very good friends with Corey Haim.

FLICK ATTACK: And this was his last role, right?

SHEPIS: I think so. He was on our set a whole lot. We had no intentions of having him in the movie; he was just kinda there to hang out. At one point, somebody got smart and said, “Hey, why don’t we put him in it?” and I was like, “Ding ding ding, stupid.” So they wrote in a part for him and it turned out to be a really weird, creepy, bizarre dream sequence.

FLICK ATTACK: Obviously, you were good friends with him, but could you even tell him apart from Corey Feldman?

SHEPIS: Yeah, I could!

FLICK ATTACK: How does Trade In compare to Used Cars?

SHEPIS: Oh, totally different ball game, man. We did the best that we could with not a lot of money. There’s about 100 writers on this thing and a lot of people in the pot, and a lot of cool Arizona actors who had a knack for improv. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but I think they got a cool little comedy out of it.

FLICK ATTACK: And you have Ron Jeremy.

SHEPIS: He’s quite the asset to have in your movie. It’s such a strange industry, the horror world, because it crosses over into comic book fans, porn fans and some of the sci-fi fans all the same. It definitely works to have him in your movie.

FLICK ATTACK: With vampires and zombies playing themselves out, what do you think is going to be the next great horror fad? And please say “sexy naked killer robot ghosts.”

SHEPIS: I absolutely think it should be sexy naked killer robot ghosts. That or tentacled sex monsters. Tentacle sex, that’s where it’s at. I don’t know what horror fans want anymore. Some horror fans will go buy every movie that has “Camp” in the title. Others want thinking man’s horror films and want something different and new. And then you have horror fans that don’t want any remakes at all, but get pissed when something’s original!

FLICK ATTACK: What’s it like to stand next to Kane Hodder, and is it scarier to stand next to Julie Strain?

SHEPIS: I certainly think I’d be more scared of Julie. That’s a big woman and certainly looks like she could beat me. But she’s the sweetest lady on the planet. Kane, I met when I was 15. I grew up knowing Kane, so to me, there’s zero scary about him. They’re all pussycats, all these horror guys. You won’t find another fan of the genre more than Kane.

FLICK ATTACK: Name one other Shakespearean adaptation that’s better than Tromeo and Juliet.

SHEPIS: Oh, shit, there’s none! Tromeo and Juliet is in a class of its own, man. My first movie and what a cool first movie to be a part of. I was a big Troma fan and in my opinion, it was their best film since Class of Nuke ‘Em High.

FLICK ATTACK: Have you ever had a moment during shooting when you paused, took a step back and thought, “Wait, that’s just not right. That is fucked-up”?

SHEPIS: Not particularly. I’ve been desensitized working on such weird shit. I mean, I have no problem killing a whore in the woods … but killing a baby isn’t my cup of tea. Even the hardened horror idiot in me has some boundaries. That’s not to say I won’t be killing babies in my next movie. This shit changes every day.

FLICK ATTACK: Since you work on multiple projects all the time, have you ever accidentally done nudity on a movie that didn’t call for it?

SHEPIS: No, but that’d be a very lucky production! They’d be, “Whoa, we’re not paying you for that!” I’d be like, “Oh, sure you are!” No, but I have been confused talking to directors on the phone. I read a lot of scripts on the plane and then I’ll get a call about getting through a script and scheduling. “Oh, yeah, that thing was awesome! I can’t wait to be involved! That scene is going to be awesome!” and they’re like, “What scene? What are you talking about?” And I’m like, “Oh, shit, now how do I back off and tell them their movie was crappy and I’m not going to do it?” So I’ve had those! Fortunately, not too many of them. You gotta remember, I’m still just a stupid actor. We fuck up a lot.

FLICK ATTACK: Do you have a favorite among all your projects?

SHEPIS: You know, I’ve got two current favorites. My all-time favorite was always The Hazing. I get possessed by Brad Dourif. I loved that movie. It was very much like a Night of the Demons — huge fan of the original, huge fan of the remake — like a fun, ’80s throwback popcorn movie you see with your friends and have a good time. Really big fan of The Frankenstein Syndrome, which is not out yet. It’s obviously close to me. I produced it, I starred in it, it’s very different than my other stuff. And another one coming out Feb. 15: Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula.

FLICK ATTACK: Love the title.

SHEPIS: Love the title, love the movie. And if I do say so myself, I’m pretty fucking phenomenal in it. —Rod Lott

Additional questions by Allan Mott.

Buy it at Amazon.

Horror film icon Adrienne Barbeau starred in Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death, Silk Degrees and Burial of the Rats.

FLICK ATTACK: Last February, I won a bottle of J&B at a screening of your ex-husband’s remake of The Thing for knowing you played the voice of the chess computer that beats Kurt Russell. Is this impressive, sad or a little of both?

BARBEAU: I think it’s impressive. Might tend to categorize you, though. Maybe you shouldn’t go public with your knowledge.

FLICK ATTACK: Speaking of John Carpenter, the two of you first worked together on the 1978 TV movie Someone’s Watching Me. How different do you think that movie would have been if he had been able to cast you in the lead instead of Lauren Hutton? And did anyone advise you against taking the then-controversial role of an out-of-the-closet lesbian?

BARBEAU: Well, I was shorter than Lauren, that’s one difference. As for playing one of the first lesbian women on television, I don’t think anyone noticed. It didn’t seem controversial at all, certainly no one ever commented on it. Probably because we dealt with it in such a matter-of-fact way.

FLICK ATTACK: You mention in your memoir that, despite earning a Tony nomination for originating the role of Rizzo on Broadway, you’ve never seen the film adaptation of Grease. Considering its ubiquity and annoying tendency to be “rediscovered” every five years or so, this strikes me as being a lot harder than it sounds. Has there ever been an instance where you’ve had to take deliberate action to avoid seeing it or have you somehow organically managed to remain blissfully untouched by it? And would you ever consider watching Grease II? It’s pretty awesome and Maxwell Caul — er, I mean, Michelle Pfeiffer is really dreamy in it.

BARBEAU: I did see part of Grease II on television once. I don’t remember it at all, except for thinking Michelle Pfeiffer was absolutely beautiful and should have a great career ahead of her. And as for never seeing Grease, I think the answer is organically managed to remain blissfully oblivious. That, and changing channels a couple of times on purpose.

FLICK ATTACK: There’s a terrible fire, and both The Love Boat and Fantasy Island are in equal amounts of danger. You guest-starred on both, but only have enough time to save one. What do you do?

BARBEAU: I’ve got to go with Fantasy Island. I mean, where else could I get the opportunity to play a 200-lb. woman opposite Tim Thomerson? Or get rescued by Ricardo Montalban? Besides, I got seasick on The Love Boat and couldn’t wait to disembark.

FLICK ATTACK: You finally got to play the “Kurt Russell” part in the cult horror/comedy The Convent. How fun was it being an action-movie badass?

BARBEAU: I loved it. As soon as Mike Mendez described the role as “a female Snake Plissken,” I said “yes.” Now if only the motorcycle really worked.

FLICK ATTACK: In a review for the 1987 slasher movie Open House, I suggested it was a film “so poorly made, you can even tell that the catering sucked.” Since you were one of the stars, I thought you might let me know if this critical analysis was correct or if I’m just a huge asshole.

BARBEAU: I’ll have to go with your judgment, since I never saw the film. And I’m damned if I can remember the food.

FLICK ATTACK: About your time spent working on The Cannonball Run, you wrote, “My character was simply the crux of a running tit joke: stupid male becomes blithering idiot when faced with exposed mammaries,” and, “All the talent I needed was attached to my breastbone.” Have I already mentioned how much I loved your memoir?

BARBEAU: Wanna be friends on Facebook? —Allan Mott