Acting
Dabney Coleman
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).
Filmography
Dolly Parton: An American Original – Special Edition of 20/20
Film · 2026
Still Working 9 to 5
Film · 2022
For the People
Series · 2018
Yellowstone
Series · 2018
Rules Don't Apply
Film · 2016
Ray Donovan
Series · 2013
Char·ac·ter
Film · 2012
Boardwalk Empire
Series · 2010
Pound Puppies
Series · 2010
Hard Four
Film · 2007
Heartland
Series · 2007
Courting Alex
Series · 2006
Domino
Film · 2005
Where the Red Fern Grows
Film · 2003
Recess: All Growed Down
Film · 2003
Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade
Film · 2003
NCIS
Series · 2003
Moonlight Mile
Film · 2002
The Climb
Film · 2002
Recess: School's Out
Film · 2001
Kiss My Act
Film · 2001
Recess Christmas: Miracle On Third Street
Film · 2001
The Making of Midway
Film · 2001
The Guardian
Series · 2001
The Zeta Project
Series · 2001
How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale
Film · 2000
Inspector Gadget
Film · 1999
Giving It Up
Film · 1999
Taken
Film · 1999
Stuart Little
Film · 1999
Must Be Santa
Film · 1999
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Series · 1999
Target Earth
Film · 1998
My Date with the President's Daughter
Film · 1998
You've Got Mail
Film · 1998
Exiled
Film · 1998
A Witch's Way of Love
Film · 1997
Recess
Series · 1997
Devil's Food
Film · 1996
E! True Hollywood Story
Series · 1996
In the Line of Duty: Kidnapped
Film · 1995
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
Series · 1995
Clifford
Film · 1994
Judicial Consent
Film · 1994
Madman of the People
Series · 1994
The Magic School Bus
Series · 1994
Amos & Andrew
Film · 1993
The Beverly Hillbillies
Film · 1993
There Goes the Neighborhood
Film · 1992
Lincoln
Film · 1992
Never Forget
Film · 1991
Drexell's Class
Series · 1991
Short Time
Film · 1990
Where the Heart Is
Film · 1990
Meet the Applegates
Film · 1990
The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson
Film · 1990
Hot to Trot
Film · 1988
Maybe Baby
Film · 1988
Baby M
Series · 1988
Guilty of Innocence: The Lenell Geter Story
Film · 1987
Dragnet
Film · 1987
Sworn to Silence
Film · 1987
Plaza Suite
Film · 1987
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
Film · 1987
The Slap Maxwell Story
Series · 1987
The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
Film · 1986
Murrow
Film · 1986
Fresno
Series · 1986
The Man with One Red Shoe
Film · 1985
Night of 100 Stars II
Film · 1985
The Muppets Take Manhattan
Film · 1984
Cloak & Dagger
Film · 1984
WarGames
Film · 1983
Buffalo Bill
Series · 1983
Tootsie
Film · 1982
Young Doctors in Love
Film · 1982
On Golden Pond
Film · 1981
Modern Problems
Film · 1981
Callie & Son
Film · 1981
Dan August: The Jealousy Factor
Film · 1980
Melvin and Howard
Film · 1980
Pray TV
Film · 1980
Nine to Five
Film · 1980
Nothing Personal
Film · 1980
How to Beat the High Cost of Living
Film · 1980
North Dallas Forty
Film · 1979
When She Was Bad...
Film · 1979
Maneaters Are Loose!
Film · 1978
The Case of the Baltimore Girls
Film · 1978
More Than Friends
Film · 1978
Diff'rent Strokes
Series · 1978
Apple Pie
Series · 1978
Rolling Thunder
Film · 1977
Viva Knievel!
Film · 1977
Black Fist
Film · 1977
Forever Fernwood
Series · 1977
The Love Boat
Series · 1977
Fernwood 2 Night
Series · 1977
Kiss Me... Kill Me
Film · 1976
Midway
Film · 1976
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Series · 1976
Quincy, M.E.
Series · 1976
Quincy, M.E.
Series · 1976
Bite the Bullet
Film · 1975
The Other Side of the Mountain
Film · 1975
Returning Home
Film · 1975
Switch
Series · 1975
Saturday Night Live
Series · 1975
Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan
Series · 1975
Medical Story
Series · 1975
Bad Ronald
Film · 1974
The Dove
Film · 1974
The Towering Inferno
Film · 1974
House of Evil
Film · 1974
Sons and Daughters
Series · 1974
The Manhunter
Series · 1974
Petrocelli
Series · 1974
Cinderella Liberty
Film · 1973
Dying Room Only
Film · 1973
Savage!
Film · 1973
Moving Target
Film · 1973
The President's Plane Is Missing
Film · 1973
Kojak
Series · 1973
Police Story
Series · 1973
Barnaby Jones
Series · 1973
Barnaby Jones
Series · 1973
Barnaby Jones
Series · 1973
Barnaby Jones
Series · 1973
Search
Series · 1972
Banyon
Series · 1972
The Streets of San Francisco
Series · 1972
The Streets of San Francisco
Series · 1972
Columbo
Series · 1971
Cannon
Series · 1971
Columbo
Series · 1971
McMillan & Wife
Series · 1971
McMillan & Wife
Series · 1971
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Series · 1971
I Love My Wife
Film · 1970
The Brotherhood of the Bell
Film · 1970
Nanny and the Professor
Series · 1970
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Series · 1970
Dan August
Series · 1970
Downhill Racer
Film · 1969
The Trouble with Girls
Film · 1969
Room 222
Series · 1969
Medical Center
Series · 1969
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
Series · 1969
Then Came Bronson
Series · 1969
The Scalphunters
Film · 1968
The Mod Squad
Series · 1968
Mannix
Series · 1967
Ironside
Series · 1967
Judd, for the Defense
Series · 1967
The Invaders
Series · 1967
The Invaders
Series · 1967
The Flying Nun
Series · 1967
Mannix
Series · 1967
This Property Is Condemned
Film · 1966
That Girl
Series · 1966
That Girl
Series · 1966
The Slender Thread
Film · 1965
The F.B.I.
Series · 1965
I Dream of Jeannie
Series · 1965
Run for Your Life
Series · 1965
The F.B.I.
Series · 1965
The F.B.I.
Series · 1965
The F.B.I.
Series · 1965
The F.B.I.
Series · 1965
The F.B.I.
Series · 1965
The F.B.I.
Series · 1965
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
Series · 1965
I Dream of Jeannie
Series · 1965
12 O'Clock High
Series · 1964
12 O'Clock High
Series · 1964
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Series · 1963
The Fugitive
Series · 1963
The Fugitive
Series · 1963
The Fugitive
Series · 1963
The Fugitive
Series · 1963
The Outer Limits
Series · 1963
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Series · 1963
Arrest and Trial
Series · 1963
The Outer Limits
Series · 1963
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Series · 1963
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Series · 1963
The Outer Limits
Series · 1963
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Series · 1962
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Series · 1962
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Series · 1962
Ben Casey
Series · 1961
Dr. Kildare
Series · 1961
Kraft Mystery Theatre
Series · 1961
Hazel
Series · 1961
Bonanza
Series · 1959
Bonanza
Series · 1959
The Donna Reed Show
Series · 1958
Naked City
Series · 1958
Golden Globe Awards
Series · 1944