Photo of Dabney Coleman
Acting

Dabney Coleman

Profession
Acting
Born
January 3, 1932 · Austin, Texas, USA
Died
May 16, 2024

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

Stuart Little poster
Stuart Little
Film · 1999 · ★ 6.1
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Series · 1999 · ★ 8.0
You've Got Mail poster
You've Got Mail
Film · 1998 · ★ 6.7
Yellowstone poster
Yellowstone
Series · 2018 · ★ 8.3
NCIS poster
NCIS
Series · 2003 · ★ 7.6
WarGames poster
WarGames
Film · 1983 · ★ 7.1
Tootsie poster
Tootsie
Film · 1982 · ★ 7.2
Inspector Gadget poster
Inspector Gadget
Film · 1999 · ★ 4.5
Boardwalk Empire poster
Boardwalk Empire
Series · 2010 · ★ 8.0
Domino poster
Domino
Film · 2005 · ★ 5.9
The Towering Inferno poster
The Towering Inferno
Film · 1974 · ★ 7.0
Columbo poster
Columbo
Series · 1971 · ★ 8.1

Filmography