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Dabney Coleman

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Birthdate

1932-01-03

Day of Death

2024-05-16

Place of Birth

Austin, Texas, USA

Dabney Coleman

Biography

Dabney Wharton Coleman (January 3, 1932 – May 16, 2024) was an American actor. Coleman's best known films include 9 to 5 (1980), On Golden Pond (1981), Tootsie (1982), WarGames (1983), Cloak & Dagger (1984), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), You've Got Mail (1998), Inspector Gadget (1999), Recess: School's Out (2001), Moonlight Mile (2002), and Rules Don't Apply (2016). Coleman's television roles included the title characters of Buffalo Bill (1983–1984) and The Slap Maxwell Story (1987–1988), as well as Burton Fallin on The Guardian (2001–2004), the voice of Principal Peter Prickly on Recess (1997–2001), and Louis "The Commodore" Kaestner on Boardwalk Empire (2010–2011). He won one Primetime Emmy Award from six nominations and one Golden Globe Award from three nominations. Coleman was a character actor with roles in well over 60 films and television programs to his credit. He trained with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City from 1958 to 1960. Coleman made his Broadway debut in the short-lived A Call on Kuprin in 1961. In a 1964 episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre titled "The Threatening Eye", Coleman played private investigator William Gunther. Two years later, he played Dr. Leon Bessemer with Bonnie Scott as his wife Judy, neighbors and friends of the protagonist in Season 1 of That Girl, episode 3, "Never Change a Diaper on Opening Night". Noted for his moustache which he grew in 1973, he appeared in the sitcom wearing horn-rimmed glasses and with no facial hair. Other early roles in his career included a U.S. Olympic skiing team coach in Downhill Racer (1969), a high-ranking fire chief in The Towering Inferno (1974), and a wealthy Westerner in Bite the Bullet (1975). He portrayed an FBI agent in Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan (1975).

Filmography (93)

⭐ 10.0 Role: Self

Still Working 9 to 5

2022
⭐ 5.7 Role: Raymond Holliday

Rules Don't Apply

2016
⭐ 4.0 Role: Self

Char·ac·ter

2012
⭐ 4.9 Role: Spray Loomis

Hard Four

2007
⭐ 5.9 Role: Drake Bishop

Domino

2005
⭐ 6.5 Role: Principal Prickley (voice)

Recess: All Growed Down

2003
⭐ 6.6 Role: Principal Prickly (voice)

Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade

2003
⭐ 6.2 Role: Grandpa

Where the Red Fern Grows

2003
⭐ 6.3 Role: Mike Mulcahey

Moonlight Mile

2002
⭐ 6.1 Role: Mack

The Climb

2002
⭐ 6.3 Role: Principal Peter Prickly

Recess Christmas: Miracle On Third Street

2001
⭐ 9.0 Role: Self

The Making of Midway

2001
⭐ 6.0 Role: Henry

Kiss My Act

2001
⭐ 6.6 Role: Principal Peter Prickly (voice)

Recess: School's Out

2001
⭐ 4.0 Role: John Kennedy

How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale

2000