Dabney Coleman

Dabney Coleman
Coleman in The Towering Inferno (1974)
Born	Dabney Wharton Coleman (1932-01-03) January 3, 1932 Austin, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1961–present
Spouse(s)	Ann Courtney Harrell ​ ​ (m. 1957; div. 1959)​ Jean Hale ​ ​ (m. 1961; div. 1984)​
Children	4, including Quincy

Dabney Wharton Coleman (born January 3, 1932) is an American actor.

Coleman's best known films include The Towering Inferno (1974), 9 to 5 (1980), On Golden Pond (1981), Tootsie (1982), WarGames (1983), Cloak & Dagger (1984), The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), You've Got Mail (1998), Recess: School's Out (2001), Moonlight Mile (2002), and Rules Don't Apply (2016).

Coleman's television roles include the title character in Buffalo Bill (1983–1984), Burton Fallin in The Guardian (2001–2004), the voice of Principal Peter Prickly in Recess (1997–2001), and Louis "The Commodore" Kaestner in Boardwalk Empire (2010–2011). He has won one Primetime Emmy Award from six nominations and one Golden Globe Award from three nominations.

Early life

Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary Wharton (née Johns) and Melvin Randolph Coleman. He entered the Virginia Military Institute in 1949, then studied law at the University of Texas before turning to acting. He was drafted in 1953 to the United States Army and served in Europe.

Career

Coleman is 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 Theater in New York City from 1958-60. Early roles in his career included a US Olympic skiing team coach in the 1969 Downhill Racer, 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).

He landed the main antagonist part of Franklin Hart, Jr., a sexist boss on whom three female office employees get their revenge in 1980's Nine to Five. It was this film that established Coleman in the character type he is most identified with and has frequently played since - a comic relief villain. Coleman followed Nine to Five with the role of the arrogant, sexist, soap opera director in Tootsie (1982), further enforcing audiences' identification of him as a smarmy, devious foil to a film's main character. He broke from this type somewhat, however, in his portrayal of military computer scientist John McKittrick in WarGames (1983). Since then, Coleman has consistently shifted between roles in serious drama and comedies.

Coleman received his first Emmy nomination for his lead role in the critically acclaimed, though short-lived, TV series Buffalo Bill. In 1987, he received an Emmy Award for his role in the TV movie Sworn to Silence. He appeared in the feature film On Golden Pond (1981), playing the fiancé of Chelsea Thayer Wayne (Jane Fonda). Coleman played a Hugh Hefner-ish magazine mogul in the comedy Dragnet (1987), Bobcat Goldthwait's boss in the 1988 talking-horse comedy Hot to Trot, and befuddled banker Milburn Drysdale in the feature film The Beverly Hillbillies (1993). Coleman played Gerald Ellis in Clifford (1994).

From 1997 to 2001, Coleman provided the voice of Principal Prickly on the animated series Recess. He also played a philandering father in You've Got Mail (1998). More recently, Coleman appeared as a casino owner in 2005's Domino. He received acclaim as Burton Fallin in the TV series The Guardian (2001–04). For two seasons, from 2010 to 2011, Coleman was a series regular on HBO's Boardwalk Empire.

On November 6, 2014, Coleman received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Personal life

Coleman resides in Brentwood, California. He has been divorced twice. He was married to Ann Courtney Harrell from 1957 to 1959 and Jean Hale from 1961 to 1984. He has four children with Hale: Meghan, Kelly, Randy, and singer Quincy.

In 1998, Coleman worked with fellow actor Bronson Pinchot at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina to help protect local forests and helped lead a campaign to educate others on how to care for and protect forests nationwide.

Coleman is an avid tennis player, winning celebrity and charity tournaments. He played mainly at the Rivera Country Club as well as in local sanctioned tournaments.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	The Slender Thread	Charlie
1968	The Scalphunters	Jed
1973	Cinderella Liberty	the Exec
1974	The Towering Inferno	SFFD deputy chief 1
1975	Bite the Bullet	Parker
1976	Midway	Captain Murray Arnold
1979	North Dallas Forty	Emmett Hunter
1980	How to Beat the High Cost of Living	Jack
1980	9 to 5	Franklin M. Hart Jr
1980	Melvin and Howard	Judge Keith Hayes
1981	Modern Problems	Mark Winslow
1981	On Golden Pond	Bill Ray
1982	Tootsie	Ron
1983	WarGames	Dr. John McKittrick
1984	The Muppets Take Manhattan	Martin Price / Murray Plotsky
1984	Cloak & Dagger	Jack Flack / Hal Osborne
1985	The Man with One Red Shoe	Burton Cooper
1987	Dragnet	Jerry Caesar
1988	Hot to Trot	Walter Sawyer
1990	Where the Heart Is	Stewart McBain
1990	Short Time	Burt Simpson
1991	Meet the Applegates	Aunt Bea
1992	There Goes the Neighborhood	Jeffrey Babitt
1993	Amos & Andrew	Police Chief Cecil Tolliver
1993	The Beverly Hillbillies	Milburn Drysdale
1994	Clifford	Gerald Ellis
1998	You've Got Mail	Nelson Fox
1999	Inspector Gadget	Police Chief Quimby
1999	Stuart Little	Dr. Beechwood
2001	Recess: School's Out	Principal Peter Prickly (voice)
2002	Moonlight Mile	Mike Mulcahey
2005	Domino	Drake Bishop
2016	Rules Don't Apply	Raymond Holliday

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	The Outer Limits	Specimen Unknown	Uncredited
1964	The Outer Limits	Wolf 359
1994-1995	Madman of the People	Jack "Madman" Buckner	16 episodes
1997	The Magic School Bus	Horace Scope (voice)	Episode: "Sees Stars"
1997-2001	Recess	Principal Peter Prickly (voice)	Main cast 127 episodes
1997	Jumanji	Ashton Phillips (voice)	Episodes: "The Palace of Clues" and "An Old Story"
1998	My Date with the President's Daughter	President Richmond	Television movie
2001-2004	The Guardian	Burton Fallin	67 Episodes
2006	Courting Alex	Bill Rose	12 Episodes
2006	Lilo & Stitch: The Series	Principal Peter Prickly (voice)	Episode: "Lax"
2009	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Frank Hager	Episode: "Snatched"
2010-2011	Pound Puppies	Mayor Jerry (voice)	4 episodes Season 1 only
2016	Ray Donovan	Mr. Price	Episode: "

• Naked City (TV) (1961) as Resident
• The Outer Limits (TV) ("The Mice"; 1963) as Dr. Williams
• The Outer Limits (TV) ("Wolf 359"; 1964) as James Custer
• Dear Uncle George (TV) (1964) as Tom Esterow
• The Donna Reed Show (TV) (1965) as Rallye Master
• This Property Is Condemned (1966) as Salesman
• That Girl (TV) (1966–67) as Dr. Leon Bessemer
• The Fugitive (TV) (1967) as Steve / Officer George Graham / Floyd / Sergeant Keith
• The Invaders (TV) (1967) as John Carter / Capt. Mitchell Ross
• Dundee and the Culhane (TV) (1967) as Sheriff Wrenn
• Bonanza (TV) (1968) one episode as Ivar Peterson, (1969) one episode as Clyde
• The Mod Squad (TV) (1969) as John
• The Trouble with Girls (1969) as Harrison Wilby
• Downhill Racer (1969) as Mayo
• The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970) as Agent Shepard
• I Love My Wife (1970) as Frank Donnelly
• The President's Plane Is Missing (1973) as Sen. Bert Haines
• Cinderella Liberty (1973) as Executive Officer
• Columbo ("Double Shock"; 1973) as Detective Murray
• Black Fist (1974) as Heineken
• The Dove (1974) as Charles Huntley
• Bad Ronald (1974) as Mr. Wood
• McMillan & Wife (TV) ("Cross and Double Cross"; 1974)
• Kojak (TV) (1974) as Alex Linden
• The Towering Inferno (1974) as Deputy Chief #1
• Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan (1975) as Paul Mathison
• Bite the Bullet (1975) as Jack Parker
• McMillan & Wife: Aftershock (TV) (1975) as Walter Jennings
• The Other Side of the Mountain (1975) as Dave McCoy
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show (TV) (1976) as Congressman Phil Whitman
• Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (TV) (1976–77) as Merle Jeeter
• Midway (1976) as Captain Murray Arnold
• Viva Knievel! (1977) as Ralph Thompson
• Rolling Thunder (1977) as Maxwell
• Quincy, M.E. (TV) (1977) as Officer Peter O'Neil / Dr. Burt Travers
• Apple Pie (TV) (1978) as "Fast Eddie" Murtaugh
• Maneaters Are Loose! (1978) as McCallum
• The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2 (1978) as Dave McCoy (uncredited)
• Go Tell the Spartans (1978) as Helicopter pilot (uncredited)
• North Dallas Forty (1979) as Emmett Hunter
• Nothing Personal (1980) as Dickerson
• How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980) as Jack Heintzel
• Melvin and Howard (1980) as Judge Keith Hayes
• 9 to 5 (1980) as Franklin Hart, Jr.
• Pray TV (1980) as Marvin Fleece
• On Golden Pond (1981) as Dr. Bill Ray
• Modern Problems (1981) as Mark Winslow
• Young Doctors in Love (1982) as Dr. Joseph Prang
• Tootsie (1982) as Ron Carlisle
• WarGames (1983) as McKittrick
• Buffalo Bill (TV) (1983–84) as Bill Bittinger
• Cloak & Dagger (1984) as Jack Flack / Hal Osborne
• The Man with One Red Shoe (1985) as Cooper
• Fresno (TV miniseries; 1986) as Tyler Cane
• Murrow (TV Movie - 1986) as CBS President William S. Paley
• Dragnet (1987) as Jerry Caesar
• The Slap Maxwell Story (TV; 1987–88) as Slap Maxwell
• Hot to Trot (1988) as Walter Sawyer
• Meet the Applegates (1990) as Aunt Bea
• Never Forget (1991) as William Cox
• Drexell's Class (TV) (1991–92) as Otis Drexell
• Columbo ("Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star"; 1991) as Hugh Creighton
• Amos & Andrew (1993) as Chief of Police Cecil Tolliver
• The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) as Milburn Drysdale
• Clifford (1994) as Gerald Ellis
• Judicial Consent (1994) as Charles Mayron
• Witch Way Love (1997) as Joel
• Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998) as Lieutenant Kevin Stolper
• Taken (1999) as Ethan Grover
• The Guardian (2001–04) as Burton Fallin
• The Climb (2002) as Mack
• Moonlight Mile (2002) as Mike Mulcahey
• Where the Red Fern Grows (2003) as Grandpa
• Domino (2005) as Drake Bishop
• Heartland (2007) as Dr. Bart Jacobs
• Hard Four (2007) as Spray Loomis
• Boardwalk Empire (2010–11) as Commodore Louis Kaestner
• Ray Donovan (2016, Season 4, Episode 4) as Mr. Price

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1983	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series	Buffalo Bill	Nominated
1984	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy		Nominated
1984	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
1987	CableACE Awards	Actor in a Movie or Miniseries	Murrow	Nominated
1987	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Sworn to Silence	Won
1988	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy	The Slap Maxwell Story	Won
1988		Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Sworn to Silence	Nominated
1988	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series	The Slap Maxwell Story	Nominated
1988		Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Baby M	Nominated
1991		Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series	Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star	Nominated
2011	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Boardwalk Empire	Won
2012				Won

External links

• Dabney Coleman at IMDb
• Dabney Coleman at the TCM Movie Database
• Dabney Coleman at the Internet Broadway Database