Dabney Coleman

Dabney Wharton Coleman (born January 3, 1932) is an American actor. He is best known for his abrasive characters and his always present mustache.

Biography

Early life

Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary Wharton (née Johns) and Melvin Randolph Coleman.^[1][2] He entered the Virginia Military Institute in 1949, then studied law at the University of Texas before turning to acting.

Career

Though a capable character actor with a wide range, and more than 60 movies to his credit, Coleman is usually typecast as smarmy, selfish, nervous, patronizing and self-absorbed, usually an authority figure of some sort, most famously as a powerful, chauvinistic boss. An early example of such features a rather dapper Coleman (sans mustache) as the ethically absent Harrison Wilby in the Elvis Presley film, "The Trouble with Girls." His fate in these types of roles was cemented with his performances in roles such as Franklin Hart, Jr. in 1980s Nine to Five (this role reunited him with actress Marian Mercer whom he also worked with in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), director Ron Carlisle in 1982's Tootsie and the earnest John McKittrick in 1983's WarGames.

He is also known for his lead roles in the TV cult classics, Buffalo Bill and The Slap Maxwell Story, which asked audiences to embrace his own charisma and comic timing (and good writing), as compensation for his character's lack of character and abundance of personality. However, his recent television characters have a well-timed, dry wit, which seem to come to Coleman naturally. He later played a more sympathetic TV character in The Guardian. On September 16, 1963, he appeared in the series premiere of the ABC medical drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point with Paul Richards and Eduard Franz. A decade later, he appeared in Lorne Greene's short-lived ABC crime drama Griff.

Coleman voice-acted in the Disney series Recess as Principal Prickly.

Personal life

Coleman has been married twice. He was married to Ann Courtney Harrell from 1957 to 1959. He had three children with actress Jean Hale, to whom he was married from 1961 to 1983. He has four children: Meghan, Kelly, Randy, and Quincy.

Filmography

References

External links

• Dabney Coleman at the Internet Movie Database
• Dabney Coleman at TV.com