Biography
Charles Douville Coburn (June 19, 1877 – August 30, 1961) was an American film and theatre actor. Best known for his work in comedies, Coburn received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1943's The More the Merrier. Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scotch-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman (May 11, 1838 Springfield, Ohio – November 12, 1896 Savannah, Georgia) and Moses Douville Coburn (April 27, 1834 Savannah, Georgia – December 27, 1902 Savannah, Georgia). Growing up...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
1997
as Self (archive footage)
Born Ruby Stevens, she was orphaned when she was four. A chance audition led to a chorus job. By 17 she was a Ziegfeld Girl. At 20 she earned excellen...

Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
1986
as Self (from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes [1953]) (archive footage)
Her story is well-known — the lonely child who yearned for affection and approval which she finally seemed to find as Hollywood's greatest love goddes...

George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
1985
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Biography of the legendary filmmaker directed by his son.

It's Showtime
1976
as Self (archive footage)
A collection of film clips profiling animal actors.

Marilyn
1963
as Sir Francis 'Piggy' Beekman (archive footage) (uncredited)
This 1963 documentary, released less than a year after Marilyn Monroe's death, showcases the star in memorable scenes from her 20th Century Fox films,...

Pepe
1960
as Charles Coburn
Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno is a hired hand, Pepe, employed on a ranch. A boozing Hollywood director buys a white stallion that belongs to Pepe's boss. ...

John Paul Jones
1959
as Benjamin Franklin
The career of Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones, from his youth in Scotland through his service to Catherine the Great of Russia.

A Stranger in My Arms
1959
as Vance Beasley
An Air Force pilot finds romance with his war buddy's widow.

The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker
1959
as Grampa Pennypacker
In early 1900s' Pennsylvania, Mr. Pennypacker has two company offices and two families with a combined total of 17 children. With an office in Harrisb...

The Story of Mankind
1957
as Hippocrates
The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil.

How to Murder a Rich Uncle
1957
as Uncle George Clitterbern
A broke British nobleman targets his Canadian uncle, but other relatives get in the way.

Town on Trial
1957
as Dr. John Fenner
When an attractive young girl is murdered, suspicion falls on several members of the local tennis club. It falls to Police Inspector Halloran to sort ...

Around the World in Eighty Days
1956
as Steamship Company Clerk
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a ve...

The Power and the Prize
1956
as Guy Eliot
An ambitious executive jeopardizes his career to marry a European refugee.

How To Be Very, Very Popular
1955
as Dr. Tweed
Two strippers on the run hide out in a college fraternity. Director Nunnally Johnson's 1955 musical comedy stars Betty Grable, Sheree North, Robert Cu...

The Long Wait
1954
as Gardiner
Soon after thumbing a ride from a truck driver, Johnny McBride is badly burned and suffers from complete amnesia when the vehicle he’s riding in blows...

The Rocket Man
1954
as Mayor Ed Johnson
After procuring a special ray gun, a precocious orphan helps his community by exposing the shady doings of local government, and plays a part in a cut...

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
1953
as Sir Francis Beekman
Lorelei Lee is a beautiful showgirl engaged to be married to the wealthy Gus Esmond, much to the disapproval of Gus' rich father, Esmond Sr., who thin...

Trouble Along the Way
1953
as le Père Matthew William Burke
Struggling to retain custody of his daughter following his divorce, football coach Steve Williams finds himself embroiled in a recruiting scandal at t...

Monkey Business
1952
as Oliver Oxley
Research chemist Barnaby Fulton works on a fountain of youth pill for a chemical company. One of the labs chimps gets loose in the laboratory and mixe...

Has Anybody Seen My Gal?
1952
as Samuel Fulton / John Smith
When a 1920s millionaire tests the fiber of his Vermont family, a young lady and her boyfriend feel the repercussions.

The Highwayman
1951
as Lord Walters

Mr. Music
1950
as Alex Conway
A golf-crazy songwriter tries to avoid the long, solitary hours of concentration needed to produce a hit musical. His producer and his secretary consp...

Peggy
1950
as Professor Brookfield
Professor Brookfield along with daughters Peggy and Susan move to small town Pasadena, California. Their new neighbor Mrs. Fielding helps them move in...

Louisa
1950
as Mr. Burnside
Architect Hal Norton and wife Meg invite his widowed mother Louisa to move in with them, only to discover the sweet elderly lady is romantically invol...

Everybody Does It
1949
as Major Blair
Leonard Borland loves his monied wife, but with his wrecking business looking shaky he treasures her all the more. So when she decides to try again to...

The Doctor and the Girl
1949
as Dr. John Corday
Dr. Michael Corday, a recent graduate of the Harvard Medical School, is the son of Dr. John Corday, an eminent New York City surgeon who has a tendenc...

Yes Sir, That's My Baby
1949
as Professor Jason Hartley
At a college, a group of ex-GIs clash with their wives about over playing football.

The Gal Who Took the West
1949
as General Michael O'Hara
In order to gain passage to the West, a woman poses as an opera singer, and causes a feud between two cousins.

Impact
1949
as Lieutenant Quincy
After surviving a murder attempt, an auto magnate goes into hiding so his wife can pay for the crime.

Green Grass of Wyoming
1948
as Beaver Greenway
The romance of a rancher's niece and a rival rancher's son parallels that of a stallion and a mare.

B.F.'s Daughter
1948
as Burton F. 'B.F.' Fulton
Wealthy Polly Fulton marries a progressive scholar whose attitudes toward capitalism and acquired wealth puts their marriage in jeopardy.

The Paradine Case
1947
as Sir Simon Flaquer
Attorney Anthony Keane agrees to represent Londonite Mrs. Paradine, who has been fingered in her husband's murder. From the start, the married lawyer ...

Lured
1947
as Harley Temple
Sandra Carpenter is a London-based dancer who is distraught to learn that her friend has disappeared. Soon after the disappearance, she's approached b...

The Green Years
1946
as Alexander Gow
An orphaned young boy is guided by his great-grandfather and strives to go to university to become a doctor. However, the boy's harsh grandfather stan...

Colonel Effingham's Raid
1946
as Colonel Will Seaborn Effingham
The story takes place in 1940. On the eve of America's entry in World War II, a colonel retired to his small Southern town, and discovers that there i...

Shady Lady
1945
as Col. John Appleby
A crook becomes the victim of a crafty card player who works for the District Attorney.

Over 21
1945
as Robert Drexel Gow
A woman screenwriter lives in a shabby bungalow in order to be near her husband, a 39-year-old newspaper editor who has just joined the army.

Rhapsody in Blue
1945
as Max Dreyfus
Fictionalized biography of George Gershwin and his fight to bring serious music to Broadway.

A Royal Scandal
1945
as Nicolai Iiyitch
Catherine the Great falls in love with an army officer who is plotting against her.

Together Again
1944
as Jonathan Crandall Sr
Anne Crandall is the mayor of a small town in Vermont. Her deceased husband had been the mayor for years and when he died, she was left to carry on an...

The Impatient Years
1944
as William Smith
Standing before a divorce court judge are Sergeant Andy Anderson and Janie Anderson asking him to dissolve their marriage. Janie's father, William Smi...

Wilson
1944
as Professor Henry Holmes
The political career of Woodrow Wilson is chronicled, beginning with his decision to leave his post at Princeton to run for Governor of New Jersey, an...

Knickerbocker Holiday
1944
as Peter Stuyvesant
The wild and woolly early days of New York -- when it was still known as New Amsterdam -- provide the backdrop for this period musical-comedy. In 1650...

My Kingdom for a Cook
1943
as Rudyard Morley
While visiting Massachusetts, a famous English author (Charles Coburn) faces the wrath of a socialite (Isobel Elsom) after stealing her chef.

Princess O'Rourke
1943
as Uncle Holman
A down-to-earth pilot charms a European princess on vacation in the United States.

Heaven Can Wait
1943
as Hugo Van Cleve
Spoiled playboy Henry van Cleve dies and arrives at the entrance to Hell, a final destination he is sure he deserves after living a life of profligacy...

The Constant Nymph
1943
as Charles Creighton
The daughter of a musical mentor adores a promising composer, who is quite fond of the adolescent. When her father dies, an uncle arrives with his own...

The More the Merrier
1943
as Benjamin Dingle
It's World War II and there is a severe housing shortage everywhere - especially in Washington, D.C. where Connie Milligan rents an apartment. Believi...

Breakdowns of 1942
1942
as Self
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1942.

George Washington Slept Here
1942
as Stanley Menninger
New Yorkers Bill and Connie Fuller have to move from their apartment. Without Bill's knowledge, Connie purchases a delapidated old farmhouse in Pennsy...

In This Our Life
1942
as William Fitzroy
An unhappy, self-centered woman runs off with her sister's husband, wreaking havoc and ruining the lives of those around her.

Kings Row
1942
as Henry Gordon
Five young adults in a small American town face the revelations of secrets that threaten to ruin their hopes and dreams.

H.M. Pulham, Esq.
1941
as John Pulham
A middle-aged businessman who has lived a conservative life according to the routine conventions of society, still remembers the beautiful young woman...

Unexpected Uncle
1941
as Seton Mansley
An elderly gentleman comes to a young woman's aid by pretending to be her uncle. Comedy.

Our Wife
1941
as Professor Drake
A musician's ex-wife wants him back after he finds love and success.

The Devil and Miss Jones
1941
as John P. Merrick/Thomas Higgins
The wealthiest man in the world, John P. Merrick, is a private person who likes to stay anonymous. One of his many assets is Neeley's Department Store...

The Lady Eve
1941
as 'Colonel' Harrington
It's no accident when wealthy Charles falls for Jean. Jean is a con artist with her sights set on Charles' fortune. Matters complicate when Jean start...

Three Faces West
1940
as Dr. Karl Braun
Viennese surgeon Dr. Braun and his daughter Leni come to a small town in North Dakota as refugees from Hitler. When the winds of the Dust Bowl threate...

The Captain Is a Lady
1940
as Captain Abe Peabody
Because of a bad investment, Captain and Mrs. Peabody are evicted from their home. Mrs. Peabody finds lodging at a retirement home, but as only single...

Florian
1940
as Dr. Johannes Hofer
Set against the backdrop of WWI Europe, a man and woman of different classes are brought together by their love of Lippizan horses.

Edison, the Man
1940
as General Powell
In flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story starting at age twenty-two with his arrival in New Yor...

Road to Singapore
1940
as Joshua Mallon IV
Two playboys try to forget previous romances in Singapore – until they meet a beautiful dancer.

In Name Only
1939
as Richard Walker
A wealthy man falls for a widow but is locked into a loveless marriage with a woman who has contrived to convince his parents she is the ideal wife.

Stanley and Livingstone
1939
as Lord Tyce
When American newspaperman and adventurer Henry M. Stanley comes back from the western Indian wars, his editor James Gordon Bennett sends him to Afric...

Bachelor Mother
1939
as J. B. Merlin
Polly Parrish, a clerk at Merlin's Department Store, is mistakenly presumed to be the mother of a foundling. Outraged at Polly's unmotherly conduct, D...

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1939
as Gardner Hubbard
Alexander Graham Bell falls in love with deaf girl Mabel Hubbard while teaching the deaf and trying to invent means for telegraphing the human voice. ...

Made for Each Other
1939
as Judge Joseph M. Doolittle
A couple struggle to find happiness after a whirlwind courtship.

Idiot's Delight
1939
as Dr. Hugo Waldersee
A group of disparate travelers are thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are closed at the start of WWII.

Lord Jeff
1938
as Captain Briggs
Spoiled child Geoffrey Bramer teams up with a pair of small time crooks to pose as an aristocrat and steal jewelry from exclusive shops. During a a ca...

Yellow Jack
1938
as Dr. Finlay
A fairly accurate historical account of Walter Reed's search for the cause of "Yellow Jack" or Yellow Fever and those who risked their lives in the pu...

Vivacious Lady
1938
as Mr. Morgan
College town life gets turned upside down after a button-down botany professor secretly weds a sizzling night-club singer.

Of Human Hearts
1938
as Dr. Charles Shingle
This is a story about family relationships, set in the time before and during the American Civil War. Ethan Wilkins is a poor and honest man who minis...

The People's Enemy
1935
as Judge
Money was what gangster Vince M. Falcone wanted most and he did lay hands on millions of dollars by fair means or (mostly) foul. But once he became ri...