Dabney Coleman
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).
Known for
Acting172
tvYellowstone
2018
John Dutton Sr.
tvFor the People
2018
Donald
movieRules Don't Apply
2016
Raymond Holliday
tvRay Donovan
2013
Mr. Price
tvPound Puppies
2010
Mayor (voice)
tvBoardwalk Empire
2010
Commodore Louis Kaestner
movieHard Four
2007
Spray Loomis
tvHeartland
2007
Dr. Bart Jacobs
tvCourting Alex
2006
Jack Atwell
movieDomino
2005
Drake Bishop
movieRecess: All Growed Down
2003
Principal Prickley (voice)
movieRecess: Taking the Fifth Grade
2003
Principal Prickly (voice)
tvNCIS
2003
Army Corporal John Sydney
movieMoonlight Mile
2002
Mike Mulcahey
movieRecess Christmas: Miracle On Third Street
2001
Principal Peter Prickly
tvThe Guardian
2001
Burton Fallin
movieKiss My Act
2001
Henry
movieRecess: School's Out
2001
Principal Peter Prickly (voice)
movieStuart Little
1999
Dr. Beechwood
tvLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
Frank Hager
movieInspector Gadget
1999
Chief Quimby
movieGiving It Up
1999
Johnathan Gallant
Taken
1999
Ethan Grover
movieYou've Got Mail
1998
Nelson Fox
movieExiled
1998
Lieutenant Kevin Stolper
movieMy Date with the President's Daughter
1998
President George Richmond
movieTarget Earth
1998
Senator Ben Arnold
tvRecess
1997
Principal Peter Prickly (voice)
movieDevil's Food
1996
Seymour Kecker
movieIn the Line of Duty: Kidnapped
1995
Arthur Milo
tvHappily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
1995
Monsieur Fox (voice)
movieJudicial Consent
1994
Charles Mayron
tvMadman of the People
1994
Jack 'Madman' Buckner
tvThe Magic School Bus
1994
Horace Scope (voice)
movieClifford
1994
Gerald Ellis
movieThe Beverly Hillbillies
1993
Milburn Drysdale
movieAmos & Andrew
1993
Chief of Police Cecil Tolliver
Lincoln
1992
Stephen A. Douglas (voice)
movieThere Goes the Neighborhood
1992
Jeffrey Babitt
movieNever Forget
1991
William Cox
movieMeet the Applegates
1990
Aunt Bea
movieShort Time
1990
Burt Simpson
movieWhere the Heart Is
1990
Stewart McBain
movieHot to Trot
1988
Walter Sawyer
tvBaby M
1988
Gary Skoloff
moviePlaza Suite
1987
Jesse Kiplinger
movieDragnet
1987
Jerry Caesar
movieSworn to Silence
1987
Martin Costigan
tvFresno
1986
Tyler Cane
movieThe Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
1986
Dabney Coleman
movieMurrow
1986
William Paley
movieThe Muppets Take Manhattan
1984
Martin Price
movieCloak & Dagger
1984
Jack Flack / Hal Osborne
movieWarGames
1983
McKittrick
tvBuffalo Bill
1983
Bill Bittinger
movieTootsie
1982
Ron Carlisle
movieYoung Doctors in Love
1982
Dr. Joseph Prang
movieModern Problems
1981
Mark Winslow
movieOn Golden Pond
1981
Bill Ray
movieCallie & Son
1981
Randall Bordeaux
movieNine to Five
1980
Franklin M. Hart Jr.
movieMelvin and Howard
1980
Judge Keith Hayes
movieHow to Beat the High Cost of Living
1980
Jack Heintzel
moviePray TV
1980
Marvin Fleece
movieNothing Personal
1980
Dickerson
movieWhen She Was Bad...
1979
Jack Wilson
movieNorth Dallas Forty
1979
Emmett Hunter
movieMore Than Friends
1978
Joshua 'Josh' Harrington
tvApple Pie
1978
Fast Eddie Murtaugh
movieManeaters Are Loose!
1978
McCallum
movieThe Case of the Baltimore Girls
1978
George Bates
movieRolling Thunder
1977
Maxwell
tvThe Love Boat
1977
Van Milner
movieBlack Fist
1977
Heineken
tvFernwood 2 Night
1977
Mayor Merle Jeeter
movieViva Knievel!
1977
Ralph Thompson
tvQuincy, M.E.
1976
Dr. Burt Travers / Officer Peter O'Neil
movieMidway
1976
Captain Murray Arnold
movieKiss Me... Kill Me
1976
Capt. Logan
tvMary Hartman, Mary Hartman
1976
Merle Jeeter
movieThe Other Side of the Mountain
1975
Dave McCoy
tvSaturday Night Live
1975
Self - Host
movieBite the Bullet
1975
Jack Parker
tvSwitch
1975
C.C. Owens
tvMedical Story
1975
Blair
movieReturning Home
1975
Al Stephenson
tvAttack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan
1975
Paul Mathison
movieThe Towering Inferno
1974
Deputy Chief #1
movieBad Ronald
1974
Mr. Wood
tvPetrocelli
1974
Willy Morgan
movieThe Dove
1974
Charles Huntley
movieCinderella Liberty
1973
Executive Officer
tvKojak
1973
Alex Linden
movieThe President's Plane Is Missing
1973
Sen. Bert Haines
movieDying Room Only
1973
Bob Mitchell
movieSavage!
1973
Ted Seligson
tvBarnaby Jones
1973
George Clark / Ted Sayers / Brad Adamson / Paul Cleveland
tvThe Streets of San Francisco
1972
George Todd / Andrew Horvath, Sr.
tvBanyon
1972
Ralph Hubbard
tvMcMillan & Wife
1971
Hansen / Walter Jennings
tvOwen Marshall: Counselor at Law
1971
Frank Wellmam
tvColumbo
1971
Hugh Creighton / Detective Murray
movieI Love My Wife
1970
Frank Donnelly
tvDan August
1970
Rick Bessett
tvThe Mary Tyler Moore Show
1970
Congressman Phil Whitman
movieThe Brotherhood of the Bell
1970
Agent Shepard
tvNanny and the Professor
1970
Detective Robinson
tvThen Came Bronson
1969
Dr. Ron Carlisle
tvThe Bold Ones: The New Doctors
1969
Dr. Goldstone
movieThe Trouble with Girls
1969
Harrison Wilby
tvMannix
1967
Ralph Stoner / Howard Graham
tvThe Flying Nun
1967
Sub. Captain
tvIronside
1967
Daniel Leary
tvThe Invaders
1967
Capt. Mitchell Ross / John Carter
tvThat Girl
1966
Dr. Leon Bessemer
movieThe Slender Thread
1965
Charlie
tvThe F.B.I.
1965
Ira Barker / Allen Clarke / Stanley Leonard / Sam Langlin / Ty Williams / Mr. Jamison / Barnes
tvI Dream of Jeannie
1965
George Webb / Captain Yardley
tvRun for Your Life
1965
Fred Palmer
tv12 O'Clock High
1964
Captain Wilson / Captain Robbins
tvKraft Suspense Theatre
1963
William Gunther / Alvin Piper
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
Sergeant Harry King / Stanley Rivkin
tvThe Fugitive
1963
Floyd / Sergeant Keith / Officer George Graham / Steve
tvThe Outer Limits
1963
Dr. Williams / James Custer / Lt. Rupert Lawrence Howard (uncredited)
tvArrest and Trial
1963
Wayne Holton
tvThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962
Tom Esterow / Sgt. Lou Snyder
tvHazel
1961
Les Swanton
tvDr. Kildare
1961
Dr. David Kirkson
tvBonanza
1959
Clyde / Ivar Peterson
tvNaked City
1958
Resident
tvThe Donna Reed Show
1958
Rallye Master
tvGolden Globe Awards
1944
Self - Nominee