Acting · Austin, Texas, USA · Born January 3, 1932
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).
MovieStill Working 9 to 5
2022
as Self
TVYellowstone
2018
as John Dutton Sr.
TVFor the People
2018
as Donald
MovieRules Don't Apply
2016
as Raymond Holliday
TVRay Donovan
2013
as Mr. Price
MovieChar·ac·ter
2012
as Self
TVPound Puppies
2010
as Mayor (voice)
TVBoardwalk Empire
2010
as Commodore Louis Kaestner
MovieHard Four
2007
as Spray Loomis
TVHeartland
2007
as Dr. Bart Jacobs
TVCourting Alex
2006
as Jack Atwell
MovieDomino
2005
as Drake Bishop
MovieRecess: All Growed Down
2003
as Principal Prickley (voice)
MovieRecess: Taking the Fifth Grade
2003
as Principal Prickly (voice)
TVNCIS
2003
as Army Corporal John Sydney
MovieWhere the Red Fern Grows
2003
as Grandpa
MovieMoonlight Mile
2002
as Mike Mulcahey
MovieThe Climb
2002
as Mack
MovieRecess Christmas: Miracle On Third Street
2001
as Principal Peter Prickly
MovieThe Making of Midway
2001
as Self
TVThe Guardian
2001
as Burton Fallin
MovieKiss My Act
2001
as Henry
MovieRecess: School's Out
2001
as Principal Peter Prickly (voice)
TVThe Zeta Project
2001
MovieHow to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale
2000
as John Kennedy
MovieStuart Little
1999
as Dr. Beechwood
MovieMust Be Santa
1999
TVLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Frank Hager
MovieInspector Gadget
1999
as Chief Quimby
MovieGiving It Up
1999
as Johnathan Gallant
Taken
1999
as Ethan Grover
MovieYou've Got Mail
1998
as Nelson Fox
MovieExiled
1998
as Lieutenant Kevin Stolper
MovieMy Date with the President's Daughter
1998
as President George Richmond
MovieTarget Earth
1998
as Senator Ben Arnold
TVRecess
1997
as Principal Peter Prickly (voice)
MovieA Witch's Way of Love
1997
as Joel
MovieDevil's Food
1996
as Seymour Kecker
TVE! True Hollywood Story
1996
MovieIn the Line of Duty: Kidnapped
1995
as Arthur Milo
TVHappily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
1995
as Monsieur Fox (voice)
MovieJudicial Consent
1994
as Charles Mayron
TVMadman of the People
1994
as Jack 'Madman' Buckner
TVThe Magic School Bus
1994
as Horace Scope (voice)
MovieClifford
1994
as Gerald Ellis
MovieThe Beverly Hillbillies
1993
as Milburn Drysdale
MovieAmos & Andrew
1993
as Chief of Police Cecil Tolliver
Lincoln
1992
as Stephen A. Douglas (voice)
MovieThere Goes the Neighborhood
1992
as Jeffrey Babitt
Drexell's Class
1991
MovieNever Forget
1991
as William Cox
MovieThe Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson
1990
as Self
MovieMeet the Applegates
1990
as Aunt Bea
MovieShort Time
1990
as Burt Simpson
MovieWhere the Heart Is
1990
as Stewart McBain
MovieMaybe Baby
1988
as Hal
MovieHot to Trot
1988
as Walter Sawyer
TVBaby M
1988
as Gary Skoloff
MoviePlaza Suite
1987
as Jesse Kiplinger
TVThe Slap Maxwell Story
1987
MovieDragnet
1987
as Jerry Caesar
MovieHappy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
1987
as Self
MovieSworn to Silence
1987
as Martin Costigan
MovieGuilty of Innocence: The Lenell Geter Story
1987
as Ed Sigel
TVFresno
1986
as Tyler Cane
MovieThe Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
1986
as Dabney Coleman
MovieMurrow
1986
as William Paley
MovieThe Man with One Red Shoe
1985
as Cooper
MovieNight of 100 Stars II
1985
as Self
MovieThe Muppets Take Manhattan
1984
as Martin Price
MovieCloak & Dagger
1984
as Jack Flack / Hal Osborne
MovieWarGames
1983
as McKittrick
TVBuffalo Bill
1983
as Bill Bittinger
MovieTootsie
1982
as Ron Carlisle
MovieYoung Doctors in Love
1982
as Dr. Joseph Prang
MovieModern Problems
1981
as Mark Winslow
MovieOn Golden Pond
1981
as Bill Ray
MovieCallie & Son
1981
as Randall Bordeaux
Dan August: The Jealousy Factor
1980
as Rick Bessett
MovieNine to Five
1980
as Franklin M. Hart Jr.
MovieMelvin and Howard
1980
as Judge Keith Hayes
MovieHow to Beat the High Cost of Living
1980
as Jack Heintzel
MoviePray TV
1980
as Marvin Fleece
MovieNothing Personal
1980
as Dickerson
MovieWhen She Was Bad...
1979
as Jack Wilson
MovieNorth Dallas Forty
1979
as Emmett Hunter
TVDiff'rent Strokes
1978
MovieMore Than Friends
1978
as Joshua 'Josh' Harrington
TVApple Pie
1978
as Fast Eddie Murtaugh
MovieManeaters Are Loose!
1978
as McCallum
MovieThe Case of the Baltimore Girls
1978
as George Bates
MovieRolling Thunder
1977
as Maxwell
TVForever Fernwood
1977
TVThe Love Boat
1977
as Van Milner
MovieBlack Fist
1977
as Heineken
TVFernwood 2 Night
1977
as Mayor Merle Jeeter
MovieViva Knievel!
1977
as Ralph Thompson
TVQuincy, M.E.
1976
as Dr. Burt Travers
MovieMidway
1976
as Captain Murray Arnold
MovieKiss Me... Kill Me
1976
as Capt. Logan
TVMary Hartman, Mary Hartman
1976
as Merle Jeeter
MovieThe Other Side of the Mountain
1975
as Dave McCoy
TVSaturday Night Live
1975
as Self - Host
MovieBite the Bullet
1975
as Jack Parker
TVSwitch
1975
as C.C. Owens
TVMedical Story
1975
as Blair
MovieReturning Home
1975
as Al Stephenson
MovieAttack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan
1975
as Paul Mathison
TVAttack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan
1975
as Paul Mathison
MovieThe Towering Inferno
1974
as Deputy Chief #1
MovieBad Ronald
1974
as Mr. Wood
TVSons and Daughters
1974
TVThe Manhunter
1974
TVPetrocelli
1974
as Willy Morgan
MovieThe Dove
1974
as Charles Huntley
MovieHouse of Evil
1974
MovieCinderella Liberty
1973
as Executive Officer
TVKojak
1973
as Alex Linden
MovieThe President's Plane Is Missing
1973
as Sen. Bert Haines
MovieDying Room Only
1973
as Bob Mitchell
MovieMoving Target
1973
MovieSavage!
1973
as Ted Seligson
TVPolice Story
1973
TVBarnaby Jones
1973
as George Clark
TVThe Streets of San Francisco
1972
as George Todd
TVBanyon
1972
as Ralph Hubbard
TVSearch
1972
TVMcMillan & Wife
1971
as Hansen
TVOwen Marshall: Counselor at Law
1971
as Frank Wellmam
TVColumbo
1971
as Hugh Creighton
TVCannon
1971
MovieI Love My Wife
1970
as Frank Donnelly
TVDan August
1970
as Rick Bessett
TVThe Mary Tyler Moore Show
1970
as Congressman Phil Whitman
MovieThe Brotherhood of the Bell
1970
as Agent Shepard
TVNanny and the Professor
1970
as Detective Robinson
MovieDownhill Racer
1969
as Mayo
TVMedical Center
1969
TVThen Came Bronson
1969
as Dr. Ron Carlisle
TVThe Bold Ones: The New Doctors
1969
as Dr. Goldstone
TVRoom 222
1969
MovieThe Trouble with Girls
1969
as Harrison Wilby
TVThe Mod Squad
1968
as John
MovieThe Scalphunters
1968
as Jed
TVMannix
1967
as Ralph Stoner
TVJudd, for the Defense
1967
TVThe Flying Nun
1967
as Sub. Captain
TVIronside
1967
as Daniel Leary
TVThe Invaders
1967
as Capt. Mitchell Ross
TVThat Girl
1966
MovieThis Property Is Condemned
1966
as Salesman
MovieThe Slender Thread
1965
as Charlie
TVThe F.B.I.
1965
as Ira Barker
TVI Dream of Jeannie
1965
as George Webb
TVPlease Don't Eat the Daisies
1965
as Clark
TVRun for Your Life
1965
as Fred Palmer
TV12 O'Clock High
1964
as Captain Wilson
TVKraft Suspense Theatre
1963
as William Gunther
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
as Sergeant Harry King
TVThe Fugitive
1963
as Floyd
TVThe Outer Limits
1963
as Dr. Williams
TVArrest and Trial
1963
as Wayne Holton
TVThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
as Self
TVThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962
as Tom Esterow
TVBen Casey
1961
TVHazel
1961
as Les Swanton
TVDr. Kildare
1961
as Dr. David Kirkson
TVKraft Mystery Theatre
1961
TVBonanza
1959
as Clyde
TVNaked City
1958
as Resident
TVThe Donna Reed Show
1958
as Rallye Master
TVGolden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Nominee
