"As a teacher, he influenced a generation of actors," Ben Jones, who played the role of Cooter Davenport on Dukes of Hazzard, told the Charlotte Observer in a statement. "That creative energy and zest for life were there until the end."

His final film was 2013's The Sweeter Side of Life, a Hallmark TV movie written by his daughter, Janeen Damian, and her husband Michael. They are among those surviving the star, along with his wife Dorothy Collier, his other daughter JoJami Best Tyler and her husband, and his son Gary Allen Best and his wife. He has three grandchildren.

Private funeral arrangements are being made, and the family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made the Humane Society.

—Reporting by Lindsay Good

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