Dabney Coleman

Coleman was born, in Austin, TX. After a teenage stint at the Military Institute in Lexington, VA, Coleman spent two years in the service before returning to Austin and the University of Texas. He was well into earning a law degree when he changed his course, eventually earning a Drama degree from UT in 1954. In New York City, Coleman joined the up-and-comers studying Method Acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School. During his brief period in New York, Coleman appeared in regional theater productions and debuted on Broadway in the play "A Call on Kuprin," but eventually the promise of a screen career uprooted him to Los Angeles in 1962. He quickly became a busy working actor, with guest spots on almost literally every detective show, domestic comedy, and anthology series of the day, including recurring character runs on "That Girl" (ABC, 1966-1971) and "The Fugitive" (ABC, 1963-67). From his rising television stature, Coleman landed small roles in the Sydney Pollack features "The Slender Thread" (1965) and "This Property Is Condemned" (1966), based on the Tennessee Williams' play, as well as appeared in the Elvis vehicle "The Trouble with Girls" (1969). Kicking off the 1970s as one of the busiest guest stars on television, Coleman landed a recurring role as a doctor on the NBC soap opera "Bright Promise" (1969-1972) and held down a dizzying number of TV gigs before solidifying his famous persona in Norman Lear's innovative soap opera spoof, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" (syndicated, 1976-77). His character Merle Jeeter, the shady father of a child preacher who eventually becomes mayor of the fictional Ohio town of Fernwood, was reprised on the spin-off, "Forever Fernwood" (syndicated, 1977-78). Meanwhile, Coleman became more in-demand as a feature film character player, with supporting appearances in the disaster classic "Towering Inferno" (1974), "North Dallas Forty" (1979), and "Melvin and Howard" (1980). Coleman had 100 film and television appearances under his belt by the time he garnered his first widespread attention in the blockbuster comedy "9 to 5" (1980), in which he played the "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" exec who receives a comeuppance at the hands of long-suffering employees Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton.Thus began Coleman's decade in the theatrical spotlight, where he followed up with a leading role as a slick TV evangelist in the satirical "Pray TV" (1980), and supported as an unethical cop in the equally cynical comedy "How to Beat the High Co$t of Living" (1980). In 1981 Coleman re-teamed with former office torturer Jane Fonda to play a romantic couple in the landmark melodrama "On Golden Pond" (1981), before reclaiming his hold on misogynist louts in "Tootsie" (1982). Sydney Pollack's Academy Award nominee for Best Film starred Dustin Hoffman as a struggling actor who aces an audition for a female soap opera character and unwittingly becomes a role model of the modern woman - one who gives hell to her womanizing director (Coleman). From that wildly popular comedy classic, Coleman took a serious turn as a military computer programmer who must avert disaster when a teen hacker (Matthew Broderick) unintentionally ignites an international nuclear weapons incident in "WarGames" (1983). Coleman portrayed another military man in 1984's "Cloak and Dagger," which unsuccessfully sought to capitalize on the popularity of role playing games, before starring as an egotistical, insecure talk show host on the critically lauded sitcom, "Buffalo Bill" (NBC, 1983-84). Coleman earned two Emmy nominations for his work but the series failed to take hold with audiences. He was acclaimed again in 1986 for the HBO biopic "Murrow" (HBO, 1986), earning an Ace award nomination for portraying CBS network brass William S. Paley, and the following year took home an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special for the legal drama, "Sworn to Silence" (ABC, 1987). Coleman became a regular primetime player again that year when he was cast as a curmudgeonly sportswriter in the short-lived "The 'Slap' Maxwell Story" (ABC, 1987-88), which won raves and Coleman a Golden Globe for his lead. After another "evil boss" role in the forgettable Bobcat Goldthwait vehicle "Hot to Trot" (1988), Coleman gave his most ambitious performance in John Boorman's unfortunately little-seen "Where the Heart Is" (1990), as a formidable New York patriarch and demolition entrepreneur who decides to teach his pampered children the value of money.Trying his TV hand again, Coleman was cast to star in "Drexell's Class" (Fox, 1991-92), as a fallen corporate exec-turned-cranky, middle school teacher faced with a classroom full of "amusing" tykes. Neither critics nor audiences took to this risible family sitcom, but Coleman stayed in the public eye with steady supporting film roles in comedies "Amos and Andrew" (1993) and "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1993), where he was the ideal choice to recreate scheming banker Mr. Drysdale, and where he again found himself bossing Lily Tomlin. Despite limited commercial success as a TV lead, Coleman went on to star in "Madman of the People" (NBC, 1994-95) as an opinionated magazine columnist who frequently clashes with his publisher-daughter. The series was one of Coleman's strongest ratings-grabbers, but after a number of shuffles around the NBC Thursday night lineup, audiences eventually lost interest in hunting it down. Coleman closed out his third decade on the screen with supporting roles in "You've Got Mail" (1998), the Hallmark Channel romantic comedy "My Date with the President's Daughter" (1998), and a reteaming with Matthew Broderick in "Inspector Gadget" (1999). Coleman's long-running voice role as Principal Prickly on the Disney animated series "Recess" (Disney Channel, 1997-2003) led to a reprisal in the successful film spin-off "Recess: School's Out" (2001). In 2002, Coleman found more television series success on "The Guardian" (CBS, 2001-04), a dark drama surrounding a family law firm headed by Coleman and his son (Simon Baker) who battles drug problems. On film, Coleman had a memorable role as a land developer in Brad Silberling's "Moonlight Mile" (2002) opposite Dustin Hoffman and Jake Gyllenhaal, and adopted the "crotchety Grandpa" role in a direct-to-video remake of the family classic "Where the Red Fern Grows" in 2004. Coleman had a small role in the failed Tony Scott thriller "Domino" (2005), but remained firmly on television over the next few years, playing Jenna Elfman's father on the CBS sitcom, "Courting Alex" (2006), in a recurring role on the medical drama "Heartland" (TNT, 2007), and on Martin Scorsese's critically lauded "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO, 2010-15), a historical chronicle about the rise of Atlantic City during the Prohibition Era. Dabney Coleman died on May 16, 2024 in Santa Monica, CA at the age of 92.