Dabney Coleman profile
Actor profile

Dabney Coleman

3rd January 1932 Austin, Texas, USA Acting

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).

90 Movies 103 TV Shows 199 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Domino poster
Domino 14th October 2005 as Drake Bishop
Exiled poster
Exiled 8th November 1998 as Lieutenant Kevin Stolper
Dragnet poster
Dragnet 26th June 1987 as Jerry Caesar
Murrow poster
Murrow 19th January 1986 as William Paley
Tootsie poster
Tootsie 17th December 1982 as Ron Carlisle
Pray TV poster
Pray TV 23rd May 1980 as Marvin Fleece
Midway poster
Midway 18th June 1976 as Captain Murray Arnold
Savage! poster
Savage! 31st March 1973 as Ted Seligson
NCIS poster
NCIS 23rd September 2003 as Army Corporal John Sydney
Recess poster
Recess 13th September 1997 as Principal Peter Prickly (voice)
Baby M poster
Baby M 22nd May 1988 as Gary Skoloff
Fresno poster
Fresno 16th November 1986 as Tyler Cane
Apple Pie poster
Apple Pie 23rd September 1978 as Fast Eddie Murtaugh
Switch poster
Switch 9th September 1975 as C.C. Owens
Kojak poster
Kojak 24th October 1973 as Alex Linden
Banyon poster
Banyon 15th September 1972 as Ralph Hubbard
Columbo poster
Columbo 15th September 1971 as Hugh Creighton
Columbo poster
Columbo 15th September 1971 as Detective Murray
Mannix poster
Mannix 16th September 1967 as Ralph Stoner
Mannix poster
Mannix 16th September 1967 as Howard Graham
That Girl poster
That Girl 8th September 1966 as Dr. Leon Bessemer
Hazel poster
Hazel 28th September 1961 as Les Swanton
Bonanza poster
Bonanza 12th September 1959 as Ivar Peterson