Dabney Coleman
Known for Acting · 172 credits
- Born
- 1932-01-03
- Died
- 2024-05-16
- Place of birth
- Austin, Texas, USA
- Also known as
- Dabney Wharton 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).
Known For
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Frank Hager
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
as Self
NCIS
2003
as Army Corporal John Sydney
Yellowstone
2018
as John Dutton Sr.
The Fugitive
1963
as Floyd / Sergeant Keith / Officer George Graham / Steve
Columbo
1971
as Hugh Creighton / Detective Murray
TV Shows (79)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Frank Hager
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
as Self
NCIS
2003
as Army Corporal John Sydney
Yellowstone
2018
as John Dutton Sr.
The Fugitive
1963
as Floyd / Sergeant Keith / Officer George Graham / Steve
Columbo
1971
as Hugh Creighton / Detective Murray
Saturday Night Live
1975
as Self - Host
Golden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Nominee
Bonanza
1959
as Clyde / Ivar Peterson
The Love Boat
1977
as Van Milner
Ironside
1967
as Daniel Leary
Mannix
1967
as Ralph Stoner / Howard Graham
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
as Sergeant Harry King / Stanley Rivkin
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1970
as Congressman Phil Whitman
The Donna Reed Show
1958
as Rallye Master
Boardwalk Empire
2010
as Commodore Louis Kaestner
Quincy, M.E.
1976
as Dr. Burt Travers / Officer Peter O'Neil
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
1976
as Merle Jeeter
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962
as Tom Esterow / Sgt. Lou Snyder
Dr. Kildare
1961
as Dr. David Kirkson
Ray Donovan
2013
as Mr. Price
Cannon
1971
I Dream of Jeannie
1965
as George Webb / Captain Yardley
Naked City
1958
as Resident
The Guardian
2001
as Burton Fallin
The F.B.I.
1965
as Ira Barker / Allen Clarke / Stanley Leonard / Sam Langlin / Ty Williams / Mr. Jamison / Barnes
Kojak
1973
as Alex Linden
Hazel
1961
as Les Swanton
Barnaby Jones
1973
as George Clark / Ted Sayers / Brad Adamson / Paul Cleveland
Medical Center
1969
The Invaders
1967
as Capt. Mitchell Ross / John Carter
Ben Casey
1961
Room 222
1969
Recess
1997
as Principal Peter Prickly (voice)
Run for Your Life
1965
as Fred Palmer
McMillan & Wife
1971
as Hansen / Walter Jennings
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
1995
as Monsieur Fox (voice)
The Outer Limits
1963
as Dr. Williams / James Custer / Lt. Rupert Lawrence Howard (uncredited)
Pound Puppies
2010
as Mayor (voice)
Switch
1975
as C.C. Owens
That Girl
1966
as Dr. Leon Bessemer
The Streets of San Francisco
1972
as George Todd / Andrew Horvath, Sr.
Police Story
1973
12 O'Clock High
1964
as Captain Wilson / Captain Robbins
The Flying Nun
1967
as Sub. Captain
The Mod Squad
1968
as John
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
1971
as Frank Wellmam
Kraft Suspense Theatre
1963
as William Gunther / Alvin Piper
The Magic School Bus
1994
as Horace Scope (voice)
Petrocelli
1974
as Willy Morgan
The Manhunter
1974
The Zeta Project
2001
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
1969
as Dr. Goldstone
Judd, for the Defense
1967
Arrest and Trial
1963
as Wayne Holton
For the People
2018
as Donald
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
1965
as Clark
Search
1972
Then Came Bronson
1969
as Dr. Ron Carlisle
Dan August
1970
as Rick Bessett
Movies (93)
You've Got Mail
1998
as Nelson Fox
Stuart Little
1999
as Dr. Beechwood
WarGames
1983
as McKittrick
The Towering Inferno
1974
as Deputy Chief #1
Tootsie
1982
as Ron Carlisle
Rules Don't Apply
2016
as Raymond Holliday
The Beverly Hillbillies
1993
as Milburn Drysdale
Midway
1976
as Captain Murray Arnold
A Witch's Way of Love
1997
as Joel
Nine to Five
1980
as Franklin M. Hart Jr.
Inspector Gadget
1999
as Chief Quimby
This Property Is Condemned
1966
as Salesman
Plaza Suite
1987
as Jesse Kiplinger
Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade
2003
as Principal Prickly (voice)
Dragnet
1987
as Jerry Caesar
When She Was Bad...
1979
as Jack Wilson
Recess: All Growed Down
2003
as Principal Prickley (voice)
Domino
2005
as Drake Bishop
Recess: School's Out
2001
as Principal Peter Prickly (voice)
I Love My Wife
1970
as Frank Donnelly
Night of 100 Stars II
1985
as Self
Rolling Thunder
1977
as Maxwell
The Making of Midway
2001
as Self
The Man with One Red Shoe
1985
as Cooper
Kiss My Act
2001
as Henry
Dying Room Only
1973
as Bob Mitchell
On Golden Pond
1981
as Bill Ray
Nothing Personal
1980
as Dickerson
Recess Christmas: Miracle On Third Street
2001
as Principal Peter Prickly
The Muppets Take Manhattan
1984
as Martin Price
House of Evil
1974
Exiled
1998
as Lieutenant Kevin Stolper
Moving Target
1973
Cinderella Liberty
1973
as Executive Officer
Young Doctors in Love
1982
as Dr. Joseph Prang
How to Beat the High Cost of Living
1980
as Jack Heintzel
The Other Side of the Mountain
1975
as Dave McCoy
Where the Red Fern Grows
2003
as Grandpa
The Slender Thread
1965
as Charlie
Meet the Applegates
1990
as Aunt Bea
There Goes the Neighborhood
1992
as Jeffrey Babitt
The Dove
1974
as Charles Huntley
Char·ac·ter
2012
as Self
Bite the Bullet
1975
as Jack Parker
The Scalphunters
1968
as Jed
Callie & Son
1981
as Randall Bordeaux
Moonlight Mile
2002
as Mike Mulcahey
Amos & Andrew
1993
as Chief of Police Cecil Tolliver
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
1987
as Self
Bad Ronald
1974
as Mr. Wood
Judicial Consent
1994
as Charles Mayron
Guilty of Innocence: The Lenell Geter Story
1987
as Ed Sigel
Downhill Racer
1969
as Mayo
Savage!
1973
as Ted Seligson
Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan
1975
as Paul Mathison
Cloak & Dagger
1984
as Jack Flack / Hal Osborne
Kiss Me... Kill Me
1976
as Capt. Logan
The Trouble with Girls
1969
as Harrison Wilby
Viva Knievel!
1977
as Ralph Thompson
Clifford
1994
as Gerald Ellis
North Dallas Forty
1979
as Emmett Hunter
Returning Home
1975
as Al Stephenson
Never Forget
1991
as William Cox
My Date with the President's Daughter
1998
as President George Richmond
Hot to Trot
1988
as Walter Sawyer
The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
1986
as Dabney Coleman
Murrow
1986
as William Paley
Where the Heart Is
1990
as Stewart McBain
Giving It Up
1999
as Johnathan Gallant
Still Working 9 to 5
2022
as Self
Short Time
1990
as Burt Simpson
The Case of the Baltimore Girls
1978
as George Bates
Modern Problems
1981
as Mark Winslow
Black Fist
1977
as Heineken
Devil's Food
1996
as Seymour Kecker
Melvin and Howard
1980
as Judge Keith Hayes
Target Earth
1998
as Senator Ben Arnold
The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson
1990
as Self
The Brotherhood of the Bell
1970
as Agent Shepard
Hard Four
2007
as Spray Loomis
Lincoln
1992
as Stephen A. Douglas (voice)
In the Line of Duty: Kidnapped
1995
as Arthur Milo
Must Be Santa
1999
How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale
2000
as John Kennedy
Sworn to Silence
1987
as Martin Costigan
More Than Friends
1978
as Joshua 'Josh' Harrington
The President's Plane Is Missing
1973
as Sen. Bert Haines
Maybe Baby
1988
as Hal
Maneaters Are Loose!
1978
as McCallum
The Climb
2002
as Mack
Pray TV
1980
as Marvin Fleece
Dan August: The Jealousy Factor
1980
as Rick Bessett
Taken
1999
as Ethan Grover
About Dabney Coleman
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… With 172 credits spanning from 1944 to 2022, Dabney Coleman has appeared in 93 films and 79 TV shows.
Fans searching for Dabney Coleman movies, Dabney Coleman filmography, or the latest projects starring Dabney Coleman can stream many of these titles on Bowood.TV, free and in HD, with no subscription required.
Most Popular Dabney Coleman Movies
- You've Got Mail (1998) — as Nelson Fox
- Stuart Little (1999) — as Dr. Beechwood
- WarGames (1983) — as McKittrick
- The Towering Inferno (1974) — as Deputy Chief #1
- Tootsie (1982) — as Ron Carlisle
Where to Watch Dabney Coleman Films
Most Dabney Coleman movies and series are available to stream on Bowood.TV in full HD, completely free and without signup. Browse the complete filmography above to jump directly to any title. For more films and the latest web series featuring Dabney Coleman, check our movies catalogue and browse page.