‘Tootsie,’ ‘9 To 5,’ ‘WarGames,’ and ‘Buffalo Bill’ Actor Was 92

Dabney Colemanthe prolific Emmy-winning actor whose six-decade career included a string of hit 1980s films such as 9 to 5, On the golden pond, War games And Tootsie and whose television work ranged from Marie Hartman, Marie Hartman And Buffalo Bill has The Guardian And Boardwalk Empiredied at age 92.

Coleman’s daughter, Quincy, said he died May 16 at his home in Santa Monica, but did not provide further details.

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“My father lived here on earth with a curious mind, a generous heart and a soul aflame with passion, desire and humor that tickled the bones of humanity,” Quincy Coleman wrote in a statement on behalf of the family. “Throughout his life, he went through this final act of his life with elegance, excellence and mastery. Teacher, hero and king, Dabney Coleman is a gift and blessing in life and in death as his spirit will shine through his work, his loved ones and his legacy…forever.

Often playing mischievous, unlikable, even despicable characters – many with a wry tone – Coleman amassed six Primetime Emmy nominations during his career, including two for lead actor in the acclaimed but short-lived NBC sitcom. Buffalo Bill. He won once, for his supporting role in the 1987 TV movie. Sworn to silence.

He also won a Golden Globe for his starring role in The Slap Maxwell Story and shared consecutive SAG Awards for the Boardwalk Empire together in the early 2010s. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.

In his final on-screen role, Coleman played the father of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton in a flashback during season 2 of Yellow stone in 2019.

Coleman’s long and prolific career began with appearances on early ’60s television shows such as Ben Casey, Dr Kildare And The outer limits. Throughout the decade and into the ’70s, he continued to appear in episodes of some of television’s most popular shows, with longer arcs. The fugitive And This girlAnd Columbo.

Coleman went on to rack up over 175 credits on the big and small screen over 58 years. Along the way, he would star in more than half a dozen television series, but the longest only lasted three seasons.

His big break came with Norman Lear’s Marie Hartman, Marie Hartman in 1976, in which he returned as Merle Jeeter in dozens of episodes, also appearing in spin-offs Fernwood tonight And Everlasting Fernwood. The character was introduced as the con artist father of a child evangelist and became the shady mayor of the series’ setting, Fernwood, Ohio.

But it was in the early 1980s that Coleman broke through with a series of film roles, starting with a small role in Jonathan Demme’s film. Melvin and Howard.

The actor then appeared in a series of cultural landmarks. In 1980, he played the selfish and misogynistic boss Frank Hart in 9 to 5, which made the lives of its employees miserable. Amid the women’s movement, a recession, and changing morals, the film hit a nerve and not only made Coleman a star, but also boosted the careers of Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton. The latter had a chart-topping single with the title track.

Coleman appeared alongside Fonda and her father, Henry, the following year in another popular film, On the golden pond. The film won Oscars for the elder Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, as well as for Ernest Thompson, who won Best Screenplay (as it was then called). In total, it received 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

By 1982, Coleman was once again part of the zeitgeist, playing what seemed a less gruesome version of his 9 to 5 character in Sydney Pollack Tootsie. His Ron Carlisle was the sexist director of a popular soap opera in which Dustin Hoffman’s unemployed actor character lands a much-needed role – disguised as a woman. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

He headlined two sitcoms later in the decade, playing an egocentric radio talk show host in two seasons of Buffalo Bill (1983-84), then egotistical sports editor on ABC The Slap Maxwell Storywhich lasted one season in 1987-88.

The 1990s saw Coleman lead two more sitcoms: Fox’s Drexell’s classplaying the titular corporate raider turned elementary school teacher for one season in 1991-92, and NBC’s Crazy about the people, this time, he plays a magazine columnist with old-school values. But that too would only last one season, in 1994-95. He also played the role of an elementary school principal in half a dozen ABC animated series. Break in 1997.

Coleman’s longest-running television role would come a few years later, when he starred alongside Simon Baker and others in a CBS legal drama. The Guardian. He played the father of Baker’s character, who happened to be a senior partner at the law firm where the son – who had been convicted of drug crimes – worked. It aired 67 episodes from 2001 to 2004.

Coleman would co-lead another TV series, this time co-starring Jenna Elfman in the CBS sitcom. Courting Alex. Once again, he played a father whose child worked in his law firm. The series lasted for eight episodes in 2006.

He was also a regular at Heart of the country, the TNT medical drama starring Treat Williams. It would also only air one season, in 2007.

Coleman was also a regular in the first two seasons of Boardwalk Empire, HBO gangster drama set in the 1920s starring Steve Buscemi and produced by Martin Scorsese. He played Louis Kaestner aka The Commodore, the mentor of Buscemi’s main character, Nucky Thompson, and the father of Michael Pitt’s co-lead, Jimmy Darmody.

During the 2010s, Coleman also appeared in episodes of For the People, NCIS And Ray Donovanwith Yellowstone.

Among his lesser-known TV roles was an amusing turn with Carol Burnett, Teri Garr, Charles Grodin and others in the 1986 CBS miniseries. Fresno. Spoofing the then-popular genre of prime-time soap operas and airing at the height of the miniseries craze, it focused on the raisin wars of California’s Central Valley.

During this time, Coleman continued to appear in dozens of films. He co-starred with Matthew Broderick in the popular 1983 comedy techno thriller. War games and alongside Tom Hanks in the Cold War spy comedy The man with the red shoe two years later. He reunited with Hanks opposite Dan Aykroyd in the 1987 crime comedy. Flirtingplaying a porn editor, and performed opposite his Fresno co-lead of Burnett in Neil Simon-written Suite Place that same year.

He also had roles in pictures such as The other side of the mountain (1975) and its 1978 sequel, opposite Nick Nolte and Mac Davis in the professional football comedy-drama North Dallas Forty (1979), with Donald Sutherland and Suzanne Somers in Nothing personal (1980) and a memorable turn in Garry Marshall’s soap opera parody Young doctors in love (1982).

Coleman, many other film credits included Half-way (1975), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1979), Modern problems (nineteen eighty one), Clifford (1994), You’ve got mail (1998) — still with Hanks — Stuart Little (1999), Where does the red fern grow? (2003) and many others.

Along with his daughter Quincy, Coleman is survived by his children Meghan, Kelly and Randy and his grandchildren Hale and Gabe Torrance, Luie Freundl and Kai and Coleman Biancaniello.

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