Dabney Coleman
Highest Rated: 94% WarGames (1983)
Lowest Rated: 0% Hot to Trot (1988)
Birthday: Jan 3, 1932
Birthplace: Austin, Texas, USA
A prolific character actor whose trademark was villainous egotists and endearing curmudgeons, Dabney Coleman was a recognizable film star during the 1980s, though he was ever-present on television throughout the entirety of his five-decade career. Among Coleman's most memorable film roles was the misogynist corporate boss of empowered Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda in "9 to 5" (1980), and the egomaniacal soap opera director whose sexist attitude inspired the title "Tootsie" (1982). On television, the Emmy and Golden Globe winner was among the busiest character players of the 1960s before making his mark on the "brilliant-but-canceled" soap opera spoof "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" (syndicated, 1976-77) before acclaimed leading roles on the sitcom "The Slap Maxwell Story" (ABC, 1987-88), and the CBS legal drama "The Guardian" (2001-04). With his sharp comic timing and a Texas drawl that simultaneously suggested folksiness and moral laxity, the mustachioed Coleman carve out a unique career as an instantly recognizable and improbably likable screen actor.
Photos
Dabney Coleman
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Celebrating Laughter: The Life and Films of Colin Higgins | Self | - | 2022 |
93% | No Score Yet | Still Working 9 to 5 | Self | - | 2022 |
55% |
|
Rules Don't Apply | Raymond Holliday (Character) | $3.6M | 2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Char-ac-ter | Unknown (Character) | - | 2009 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hard Four | Spray Loomis (Character) | - | 2007 |
18% |
|
Domino | Drake Bishop (Character) | $10.1M | 2005 |
No Score Yet |
|
Recess: All Growed Down | Principal Prickley (Voice) | - | 2003 |
No Score Yet |
|
Where the Red Fern Grows | Grandpa (Character) | - | 2003 |
No Score Yet |
|
Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade | Principal Prickly (Voice) | - | 2003 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Climb | Mack (Character) | $78.7K | 2002 |
64% |
|
Moonlight Mile | Mike Mulcahey (Character) | $6.8M | 2002 |
60% |
|
Recess: School's Out | Principal Vance Prickly (Voice) | $36.7M | 2001 |
No Score Yet |
|
Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street | Unknown (Character) | - | 2001 |
No Score Yet |
|
Kiss My Act | Henry (Character) | - | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale | John Kennedy (Character) | - | 2000 |
No Score Yet |
|
Casanova Falling | Johnathan Gallant (Character) | - | 1999 |
67% |
|
Stuart Little | Dr. Beechwood (Character) | $140.0M | 1999 |
20% |
|
Inspector Gadget | Chief Quimby (Character) | $97.4M | 1999 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Must Be Santa | Unknown (Character) | - | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie | Lieutenant Kevin Stolper (Character) | - | 1998 |
70% |
|
You've Got Mail | Nelson Fox (Character) | $115.7M | 1998 |
No Score Yet |
|
Taken | Ethan Grover (Character) | - | 1998 |
No Score Yet |
|
Target Earth | Senator Ben Arnold (Character) | - | 1998 |
No Score Yet |
|
My Date With the President's Daughter | President Richmond (Character) | - | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Witch Way Love | Joel (Character) | - | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Devil's Food | Seymour Kecker (Character) | - | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | In the Line of Duty: Kidnapped | Arthur Milo (Character) | - | 1995 |
18% |
|
Clifford | Gerald Ellis (Character) | $6.5M | 1994 |
No Score Yet |
|
Judicial Consent | Charles Mayron (Character) | - | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | My Love, Your Honor | Charles Mayron (Character) | - | 1994 |
17% |
|
Amos & Andrew | Chief of Police Cecil Tolliver (Character) | $9.5M | 1993 |
24% |
|
The Beverly Hillbillies | Milburn Drysdale (Character) | $42.2M | 1993 |
No Score Yet |
|
Paydirt | Jeffrey Babitt (Character) | $8.2K | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star | Hugh Creighton (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet |
|
Never Forget | William Cox (Character) | - | 1991 |
29% |
|
Short Time | Burt Simpson (Character) | $3.5M | 1990 |
9% |
|
Where the Heart Is | Stewart McBain (Character) | $1.0M | 1990 |
9% |
|
Meet the Applegates | Aunt Bea (Character) | $274.8K | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Applegates | Aunt Bea (Character) | - | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Maybe Baby | Hal (Character) | - | 1988 |
0% |
|
Hot to Trot | Walter Sawyer (Character) | $6.4M | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | And Baby Makes Three | Hal (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Baby M | Gary Skoloff (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Guilty of Innocence: The Lenell Geter Story | Ed Sigel (Character) | - | 1987 |
50% |
|
Dragnet | Jerry Caesar (Character) | $56.0M | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sworn to Silence | Martin Costigan (Character) | - | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Plaza Suite | Jesse Kiplinger (Character) | - | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Murrow | CBS Chairman William Paley (Character) | - | 1986 |
47% |
|
The Man With One Red Shoe | Cooper (Character) | - | 1985 |
85% |
|
The Muppets Take Manhattan |
Martin Price/ |
- | 1984 |
67% |
|
Cloak and Dagger |
Jack Flack/ |
- | 1984 |
94% |
|
WarGames | Dr. John McKittrick (Character) | - | 1983 |
91% |
|
Tootsie | Ron Carlisle (Character) | - | 1982 |
35% |
|
Young Doctors in Love | Dr. Joseph Prang (Character) | - | 1982 |
No Score Yet |
|
Callie & Son | Randall Bordeaux (Character) | - | 1981 |
91% |
|
On Golden Pond | Bill Ray (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet |
|
Modern Problems | Mark Winslow (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Pray TV | Marvin Fleece (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet |
|
Nothing Personal | Dickerson (Character) | - | 1980 |
92% |
|
Melvin and Howard | Judge Keith Hayes (Character) | - | 1980 |
69% |
|
9 to 5 | Franklin M. Hart Jr. (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet |
|
Pray TV a/k/a K-GOD | Unknown (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | KGOD | Marvin Fleece (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet |
|
When She Was Bad... | Jack Wilson (Character) | - | 1979 |
86% |
|
North Dallas Forty | Emmett Hunter (Character) | - | 1979 |
No Score Yet |
|
How to Beat the High Cost of Living | Jack Heintzel (Character) | - | 1979 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | More Than Friends | Joshua "Josh" Harrington (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Maneaters Are Loose! | McCallum (Character) | - | 1978 |
14% |
|
Viva Knievel! | Ralph Thompson (Character) | - | 1977 |
80% |
|
Rolling Thunder | Maxwell (Character) | - | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Quality of Mercy | Unknown (Character) | - | 1976 |
No Score Yet |
|
Kiss Me... Kill Me | Capt. Logan (Character) | - | 1976 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Other Side of the Mountain | Dave McCoy (Character) | - | 1975 |
73% |
|
Bite the Bullet | Jack Parker (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet |
|
Black Fist | Heineken (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Returning Home | Al Stephenson (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan | Paul Mathison (Character) | - | 1975 |
67% |
|
Bad Ronald | Mr. Wood (Character) | - | 1974 |
68% |
|
The Towering Inferno | Deputy Chief 1 (Character) | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Dove | Charles Huntley (Character) | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | House of Evil | Unknown (Character) | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dying Room Only | Bob Mitchell (Character) | - | 1973 |
56% |
|
Cinderella Liberty | Executive Officer (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet |
|
Savage | Ted Seligson (Character) | - | 1972 |
No Score Yet |
|
The President's Plane Is Missing | Sen. Bert Haines (Character) | - | 1971 |
85% |
|
Downhill Racer | Mayo (Character) | - | 1969 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Trouble With Girls | Harrison Wilby (Character) | - | 1969 |
70% |
|
The Scalphunters | Jed (Character) | - | 1968 |
64% |
|
This Property Is Condemned | Salesman (Character) | - | 1966 |
71% |
|
The Slender Thread | Charlie (Character) | - | 1965 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
69% | 91% | For the People | Donald (Guest Star) | 2019 |
No Score Yet | 83% | NCIS | Army Corporal John Sydney (Guest Star) | 2019 |
72% | 85% | Ray Donovan | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2016 |
92% | 95% | Boardwalk Empire | Commodore Louis Kaestner (Character) | 2010-2011 |
78% | 83% | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Frank Hager (Guest Star) | 2009 |
45% | 43% | Heartland | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2007 |
25% | No Score Yet | Courting Alex | Bill Rose (Character) | 2006 |
No Score Yet | 83% | The Guardian | Unknown (Character) | 2001-2004 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | Unknown (Voice) | 2000 |
21% | No Score Yet | Madman of the People | Jack "Madman" Buckner (Character) | 1994-1995 |
14% | No Score Yet | Drexell's Class | Otis Drexell (Character) | 1991-1992 |
No Score Yet | 81% | Columbo | Detective Murray (Guest Star) | 1973 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The `Slap' Maxwell Story | Slap Maxwell (Character) | 1987-1988 |
No Score Yet | 62% | Saturday Night Live | Host | 1987 |
84% | No Score Yet | Buffalo Bill | Bill Bittinger (Character) | 1983-1984 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Barnaby Jones | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1973 1975 1978-1979 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Diff'rent Strokes | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1979 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tattletales | Guest | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Streets of San Francisco | Andrew Horvath, Sr. (Guest Star) | 1974 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Petrocelli | Unknown (Character) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cannon | Jack Sheffield (Guest Star) | 1973 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | Congressman Phil Whitman (Guest Star) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mannix | Howard Graham (Guest Star) | 1972 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Kojak | Alex Linden (Guest Star) | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Room 222 | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1970 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dan August | Rick Bessett (Guest Star) | 1970 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bonanza | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1968-1969 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mod Squad | John (Guest Star) | 1968 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Iron Horse | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1967 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Flying Nun | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1967 |
No Score Yet | 54% | I Dream of Jeannie | Captain Dan Yardley (Guest Star) | 1965 1967 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | That Girl | Dr. Leon Bessemer (Character) | 1966-1967 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Fugitive | Steve (Guest Star) | 1964-1966 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 12 O'Clock High | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1966 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hazel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1965 |
92% | 90% | The Outer Limits | James Custer (Character) | 1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Unknown (Character) | 1963-1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dr. Kildare | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Ben Casey | Dr. Bobby Bainbridge (Guest Star) | 1963 |