Acting · Groesbeck, Texas, USA · Born February 12, 1936
Joe Don Baker (February 12, 1936 - May 7, 2025) was an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, real-life Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, James Bond villain Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights, and CIA agent Jack Wade in the James Bond films GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies.
MovieMud
2013
as King
MovieStrange Wilderness
2008
as Bill Calhoun
MovieThe 50 Greatest Television Dramas
2007
as Self
MovieThe Dukes of Hazzard
2005
as Governor Jim Applewhite
MovieSam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
2004
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Commission
2003
as Rep. Hale Boggs
MovieJoe Dirt
2001
as Don, Brandy's Dad (uncredited)
MovieVegas, City of Dreams
2001
as Dylan Garrett
MovieInside The Living Daylights
2000
as Self
MovieInside 'The Living Daylights'
2000
as Self
TVToo Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke
1999
as Buck Duke
MoviePoodle Springs
1998
as P.J. Parker
MovieTomorrow Never Dies
1997
as Wade
MovieGeorge Wallace
1997
as Big Jim Folsom
TVGeorge Wallace
1997
as Big Jim Folsom
MovieTo Dance with Olivia
1997
as Horace
MovieMars Attacks!
1996
as Glenn Norris
MovieThe Grass Harp
1996
as Sheriff Junius Candle
MovieThe Siege at Ruby Ridge
1996
as Gerry Spence
TVThe Siege at Ruby Ridge
1996
as Gerry Spence
MovieFelony
1996
as Donovan
MovieGoldenEye
1995
as Jack Wade
MovieCongo
1995
as R.B. Travis
MoviePanther
1995
as Brimmer
MovieThe Underneath
1995
as Clay Hinkle
MovieRing of Steel
1994
as Man in Black
MovieReality Bites
1994
as Tom Pierce
MovieComplex of Fear
1993
as Det. Frank Farrel
MovieThe Distinguished Gentleman
1992
as Olaf Andersen
MovieCitizen Cohn
1992
as Sen. Joseph McCarthy
MovieCape Fear
1991
as Claude Kersek
MovieThe Children
1990
as Cliffe Wheater
MovieCriminal Law
1989
as Detective Mesel
MovieDefrosting the Fridge
1989
as Hunter McCall
MovieLeonard Part 6
1987
as Snyderburn
MovieThe Killing Time
1987
as Carl Cunningham
MovieThe Living Daylights
1987
as Brad Whitaker
MovieThe Abduction of Kari Swenson
1987
as Sheriff Onstad
MovieGetting Even
1986
as King R. Kenderson
TVEdge of Darkness
1985
as Darius Jedburgh
MovieFletch
1985
as Chief Jerry Karlin
TVScreen Two
1985
as Hunter McCall
MovieFinal Justice
1984
as Deputy Sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III
MovieThe Natural
1984
as The Whammer
MovieJoysticks
1983
as Joseph Rutter
MovieWacko
1982
as Dick Harbinger
TVPower
1980
as Tommy Vanda
TVEischied
1979
as Earl Eischied
MovieTo Kill a Cop
1978
as Chief Earl M. Eischied
TVTo Kill a Cop
1978
as Chief Earl Eischied
MovieThe Pack
1977
as Jerry
MovieSpeedtrap
1977
as Pete Novick
MovieThe Shadow of Chikara
1977
as Wishbone Cutter
MovieCheckered Flag or Crash
1977
as Walkaway Madden
MovieMitchell
1975
as Mitchell
MovieFramed
1975
as Ron Lewis
MovieGolden Needles
1974
as Dan Mason
MovieThe Outfit
1973
as Jack Cody
TVDoc Elliot
1973
as Aaron Hickey
MovieCharley Varrick
1973
as Molly
MovieWalking Tall
1973
as Buford Pusser
MovieThat Certain Summer
1972
as Phil Bonner
MovieJunior Bonner
1972
as Curly Bonner
MovieThe Valachi Papers
1972
as Irish member of Valachi gang (uncredited)
MovieWelcome Home, Soldier Boys
1971
as Danny
MovieMongo's Back in Town
1971
as Mongo Nash
MovieWild Rovers
1971
as Paul Buckman
MovieAdam at Six A.M.
1970
as Harvey Gavin
MovieGuns of the Magnificent Seven
1969
as Slater
TVThe Mod Squad
1968
TVLancer
1968
TVThe Outsider
1968
as Billy Joe Corey
MovieCool Hand Luke
1967
as Fixer
TVThe High Chaparral
1967
as Yuma
TVJudd, for the Defense
1967
TVIronside
1967
TVMission: Impossible
1966
as Frank Kearney
TVFelony Squad
1966
TVThe F.B.I.
1965
as Alex Drake
TVHoney West
1965
as Rocky Hansen
TVThe Big Valley
1965
as Tom Lightfoot
TVBonanza
1959
as Luke Harper
TVGunsmoke
1955
as Woody Stoner
