Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane

Rosco Purvis Coltrane is a fictional bumbling and corrupt sheriff character in the American TV series The Dukes of Hazzard along with the movie Moonrunners and the movies that followed. He is the right-hand man of Hazzard County's corrupt county commissioner, Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg ("Boss Hogg").

The role of Rosco in the television series was played by James Best, who had appeared in numerous films and TV series before landing the role. He appeared in all but five episodes. He was accompanied on the show by his character's pet/police dog (beginning season 3) basset hound named Flash.

Rosco's name is sometimes spelled with an E, which is incorrect; James Best confirmed it was spelled without an E on his website. The initial "P." was added at the start of the second season and it stands for Purvis.

In the early episodes, the character of Rosco was a serious one. He is depicted as a more hard-nosed, focused, and aggressive sheriff, and actually shot a criminal (not fatally) in an early episode ("Mary Kaye's Baby", the third episode broadcast). He was a little more willing accomplice to Boss Hogg's schemes, fueled by a sense of bitterness and resentment along with money, and also appeared to have the ingenuity to arrange such schemes himself (in the pilot episode, "One Armed Bandits", for example, he seems to be the key organizer behind slot machines being illegally imported into the county), whereas he would soon become a bumbling accomplice, sometimes somewhat unwillingly, with Boss Hogg the brains behind the various scams.

Also in "One Armed Bandits", it was explained that Rosco had served Hazzard County for 20 years as "a fairly honest lawman" but became embittered after watching his pension get wiped out following a failed bond referendum, and with just a few months left in office have to run for re-election instead of retiring. This notion was explored again in a couple of other early episodes, most notably a scene where Deputy Enos asks him why he turned so corrupt, in the fourth broadcast episode, "Repo Men". It wasn't until creator Gy Waldron realized that he had found an audience with children that the character was toned down to the more comedic and more bumbling persona for which he is best known; something that James Best himself had large input on, insisting that, while Rosco technically was corrupt, he was driven mostly by playful childlike naivety, he never wanted children viewing to feel afraid to go up to a lawman in the street or when in need.

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