Coburn in his '60s heyday.
"It was the desire to do the complete thing. I only took taking acting lessons because my whole thing, really, was to direct. But my first jobs were acting jobs."
James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American actor of stage, screen and television born in Laurel, Nebraska.
A tall, lanky, gravelly-voiced fellow frequently seen in "man of action" roles, Coburn became one of the preeminent film stars of The '60s, when he starred as superspy Derek Flint in In Like Flint and Our Man Flint. This Star-Making Role was just the hallmark of a long, distinguished career.
Film Roles
- Ride Lonesome (1959) as Whit
- The Magnificent Seven (1960) as Britt
- Hell Is for Heroes (1962) as Cpl. Frank Henshaw
- The Great Escape (1963) as Louis Sedgwick
- Charade (1963) as Tex Panthollow
- The Twilight Zone (1963), episode "The Old Man in the Cave", as Major French
- The Americanization of Emily (1964) as Lt. Cmdr. Paul "Bus" Cummings
- Major Dundee (1965) as Samuel Potts
- Our Man Flint (1966) as Derek Flint
- In Like Flint (1967) as Derek Flint
- The President's Analyst (1967) as Dr. Sidney Schaefer
- A Fistful of Dynamite (1971) as John Mallory
- A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die! (1972) as Col. Pembroke
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) as Pat Garrett
- The Last of Sheila (1973) as Clinton
- The Internecine Project (1974) as Robert Elliot
- Bite the Bullet (1975) as Luke Matthews
- Hard Times (1975) as Speed
- Sky Riders (1976) as Jim McCabe
- The Last Hard Men (1976) as Zach Provo
- Cross of Iron (1977) as Sergeant Rolf Steiner
- California Suite (1978), cameo As Himself
- Goldengirl (1979) as Jack Dryden
- The Muppet Movie (1979) as owner of El Sleezo Café;
- Looker (1981) as John Reston
- Darkroom (1981-1982) as Host
- Draw! (1984) as Sam Starret
- Young Guns II (1990) as John Simpson Chisum
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990-1992) as Looten Plunder
- Hudson Hawk (1991) as George Kaplan
- Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) as Mr. Crisp
- Maverick (1994) as The Commodore, who is hosting the big poker tournament Maverick is trying so hard to get into.
- Eraser (1996) as WITSEC Chief Arthur Beller
- The Nutty Professor (1996) as Harlan Hartley
- The Cherokee Kid as Bloomington
- Affliction (1998) as Glen Whitehouse; Something of a deconstruction of his tough guy image from earlier films, his performance as Nick Nolte's abusive elderly father netted him an Academy Award as best supporting actor.
- Payback as Fairfax, an Affably Evil man who happens to be one of the top leaders of The Syndicate.
- Monsters, Inc. (2001) as Henry J. Waternoose III
- Snow Dogs (2002) as James "Thunder Jack" Johnson
- American Gun (2002) as Martin Tillman (final role)
Tropes associated with James Coburn include:
- Cool Old Guy: He aged into an example of this and Silver Fox.
- Slasher Smile: His broad grin was well-suited to this when he played villainous or antiheroic roles.
- Speech Impediment: His deep, calm voice had a noticeable lisp.
