Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 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 charact...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Still Working 9 to 5
2022
as Self
Examines the 40-year evolution of gender inequality and discrimination in the workplace since the 1980 release of the comedy film “9 to 5” starring Ja...

Rules Don't Apply
2016
as Raymond Holliday
It's Hollywood, 1958. Small town beauty queen and devout Baptist virgin Marla Mabrey, under contract to the infamous Howard Hughes, arrives in Los Ang...

Char·ac·ter
2012
as Self
A raw and candid dialogue about the life and craft of acting between longtime colleagues and friends Dabney Coleman, Peter Falk, Charles Grodin, Mark ...

Hard Four
2007
as Spray Loomis
When legendary gambler Golden Hands Segal suffers a fatal heart attack at the craps table in Las Vegas, his grandson Freddy Meingold and boyhood pal S...

Domino
2005
as Drake Bishop
The story of the life of Domino Harvey, who abandoned her career as a Ford model to become a bounty hunter.

Recess: All Growed Down
2003
as Principal Prickley (voice)
T.J. and The Recess Gang are kidnapped by the Third Street School's kindergartners, who are in turn being bullied by a new kid in their class.

Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade
2003
as Principal Prickly (voice)
Everyone's favorite fourth graders have graduated! It's an all-new school year for the kids — and the gang hits the fifth grade running! But they're s...

Where the Red Fern Grows
2003
as Grandpa
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two...

Moonlight Mile
2002
as Mike Mulcahey
As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life.

The Climb
2002
as Mack
A pair of mismatched rock climbers must learn to work together to conquer one of the world's most treacherous mountains in this adventure tale. After ...

Recess: School's Out
2001
as Principal Peter Prickly (voice)
The school year is finally ending, and T.J. Detweiler is looking forward to summer. But boredom quickly sets in when his friends leave for camp — unti...

How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale
2000
as John Kennedy
Three broke men try to become rich by finding rich women.

Stuart Little
1999
as Dr. Beechwood
When the Littles adopt Stuart, the mouse, George is initially unwelcoming to his new brother, and the family cat, Snowbell, is even less enthusiastic....

Must Be Santa
1999
When the reigning Santa is no longer fit for duty his helpers must search for a replacement. This leads to a wacky, exhausting hunt and doesn't turn u...

Inspector Gadget
1999
as Chief Quimby
John Brown is a bumbling but well-intentioned security guard who is badly injured in an explosion planned by an evil mastermind. He is taken to a labo...

Giving It Up
1999
as Johnathan Gallant
A womanizing New York adman attempts to identify the causes of, and find a remedy for, his so-called addiction to sex, in order to win the love of a w...
Taken
1999
as Ethan Grover
A kidnapped businessman, finding out that no one is willing to pay the ransom to save his life, befriends his aggressor.

You've Got Mail
1998
as Nelson Fox
Book superstore magnate, Joe Fox and independent book shop owner, Kathleen Kelly fall in love in the anonymity of the Internet—both blissfully unaware...

Exiled
1998
as Lieutenant Kevin Stolper
NYPD Detective Mike Logan, who was reassigned to Staten Island after punching a corrupt politician, takes on a grisly murder case. When the investigat...

My Date with the President's Daughter
1998
as President George Richmond
Duncan is just an ordinary high school student. Hallie dreams of an ordinary life, but is actually the daughter of the president of the United States,...

Target Earth
1998
as Senator Ben Arnold
Unlikely heroes must overcome incredible dangers to save mankind from the threat of an alien invasion.

A Witch's Way of Love
1997
as Joel
Michael Firch is very skilled in computers and he goes to Paris to meet very important persons to discuss a contract. Michael was born on a special as...
Devil's Food
1996
as Seymour Kecker
When a TV anchor woman finds her career to be hampered by her uncontrollable weight problems, she closes a deal with the devil. He lends her her ideal...

In the Line of Duty: Kidnapped
1995
as Arthur Milo
Arthur Milo, an IRS official with access to detailed personal and financial data, chooses his kidnap victims from his files. Pete Honeycutt is in char...

Judicial Consent
1994
as Charles Mayron
Judge Gwen Warwick becomes involved in the murder trial she has been assigned. Her marriage is on the rocks and the murder victim is an old friend, wh...

Clifford
1994
as Gerald Ellis
When his brother asks him to look after his young son, Clifford, Martin Daniels agrees, taking the boy into his home and introducing him to his future...

The Beverly Hillbillies
1993
as Milburn Drysdale
Jed Clampett and kin move from Arkansas to Beverly Hills when he becomes a billionaire, after an oil strike. The country folk are very naive with rega...

Amos & Andrew
1993
as Chief of Police Cecil Tolliver
When Andrew Sterling, a successful black urbanite writer, buys a vacation home on a resort in New England the police mistake him for a burglar. After ...
Lincoln
1992
as Stephen A. Douglas (voice)
Famous actors read testimonies from people close to Lincoln about him and his actions during the Civil War.

There Goes the Neighborhood
1992
as Jeffrey Babitt
A dying prisoner whispers the location of his loot to the facility's psychologist, who heads to the New Jersey suburbs to find it. Two prisoners overh...

Never Forget
1991
as William Cox
Mel and Jane Mermelstein are a true-life California couple, thrown into the spotlight of judicial history in the 1980s. Mel is a Hungarian-born Jew, s...

The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson
1990
as Self
While the Muppets prepare a tribute to the late Jim Henson, they learn about the life and career of the renowned puppeteer/film maker.

Meet the Applegates
1990
as Aunt Bea
Modelling themselves after an idyllic cookie-cutter suburban 1950s family, a colony of insects move from South America into the United States with the...

Short Time
1990
as Burt Simpson
As a result of a misdiagnosis, Detective Burt Simpson is told he has just weeks to live. He gains a new respect for his life and loved ones but learns...

Where the Heart Is
1990
as Stewart McBain
A wealthy businessman shows his young adult kids how tough life can be.

Maybe Baby
1988
as Hal
For a happily married man changes his life completely and he finds himself in distress when his wife decides to have a baby after several years of mar...

Hot to Trot
1988
as Walter Sawyer
Fred P. Chaney receives as inheritance after the death of his mother a speaking horse that also has good knowledge about the stock-market. With the he...

Plaza Suite
1987
as Jesse Kiplinger
Hilarity abounds in this portrait of three couples successively occupying a suite at the Plaza.

Dragnet
1987
as Jerry Caesar
LAPD Sgt. Joe Friday -- the equally straight-laced nephew of the famous police sergeant of the same name -- is paired up with a young, freewheeling de...

Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
1987
as Self
A TV special on the 100th anniversary of the birth of film.

Sworn to Silence
1987
as Martin Costigan
A lawyer who is defending an accused murderer, is told by his client the whereabouts of the bodies. However, being his lawyer, he is unable to reveal ...

Guilty of Innocence: The Lenell Geter Story
1987
as Ed Sigel
This is the story of Lenell Geter, an engineer who was accused and convicted of armed robbery. Because he had such faith in the system, he thought tha...

The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
1986
as Himself
After two attempts to kidnap a little girl Mike Hammer is hired to protect her.

Murrow
1986
as William Paley
Follow legendary news reporter/commentator from his radio broadcasts from the rooftops of London during the Blitz to his TV documentary series "See It...

The Man with One Red Shoe
1985
as Cooper
A man is mistaken as a spy by the CIA when he arrives at the airport with one red shoe.

Night of 100 Stars II
1985
as Self
This special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited from a seven-hour live entertainment marathon that was t...

The Muppets Take Manhattan
1984
as Martin Price
When the Muppets graduate from Danhurst College, they take their song-filled senior revue to New York City, only to learn that it isn't easy to find a...

Cloak & Dagger
1984
as Jack Flack / Hal Osborne
Davey Osborne is an average 11-year-old boy with an overactive imagination. He spends his days playing video games and pretending to be a spy with his...

WarGames
1983
as McKittrick
High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwitt...

Tootsie
1982
as Ron Carlisle
When struggling, out of work actor Michael Dorsey secretly adopts a female alter ego – Dorothy Michaels – in order to land a part in a daytime drama, ...

Young Doctors in Love
1982
as Dr. Joseph Prang
An 'Airplane!'-style spoof of hospital soap operas—a brilliant young trainee can't stand the sight of blood; a doctor romances the head nurse in order...

Modern Problems
1981
as Mark Winslow
Jealous, harried air traffic controller Max Fielder, recently dumped by his girlfriend, comes into contact with nuclear waste and is granted the power...

On Golden Pond
1981
as Bill Ray
For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is for...

Callie & Son
1981
as Randall Bordeaux
A fictional drama, covering a 30-year period, about a poverty-stricken teenager forced to give up her illegitimate son at birth, and the climb to weal...
Dan August: The Jealousy Factor
1980
as Rick Bessett
Dan August: The Jealousy Factor (1980) A police detective investigates two messy murder cases involving lovers' triangles and jealous spouses

Nine to Five
1980
as Franklin M. Hart Jr.
Three female employees of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot find a way to turn the tables on him.

Melvin and Howard
1980
as Judge Keith Hayes
The story of hard-luck Melvin Dummar, who claimed to have received a will naming him an heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes.

How to Beat the High Cost of Living
1980
as Jack Heintzel
In order to beat inflation and subsidize their alimony checks, three suburban housewives plot to steal $1 million from a large plastic ball which is d...

Pray TV
1980
as Marvin Fleece
A failing television station is bought out by a slick TV evangelist and starts making mountains of money in the guise of religious programming, which ...

Nothing Personal
1980
as Dickerson
Environmentally concerned lawyer Abigail Adams works with Professor Roger Keller in his effort to protect baby seals from slaughter.

When She Was Bad...
1979
as Jack Wilson
Stressed by a recent move and being a stay-at-home mom, Teeny takes out her bottled-up rage on her daughter Robbie. Only the help of her friends, fami...

North Dallas Forty
1979
as Emmett Hunter
A semi-fictional account of life as a professional football player. Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys team of the early 1970s.

More Than Friends
1978
as Joshua 'Josh' Harrington
Matty Perlman and Alan Corkus are old friends. He wants them to be more than friends. Sometimes she does too.

Maneaters Are Loose!
1978
as McCallum
Terror stalks a small California community when a broke and depressed animal owner and trainer is forced to abandon his tigers and let them fend for t...

The Case of the Baltimore Girls
1978
as George Bates
Former police captain and his assistant investigate extortion and murder at a dating service.

Rolling Thunder
1977
as Maxwell
A Vietnam veteran, Charles Rane, returns home after years in a POW camp and is treated as a hero. He has a hard time adjusting, and things go badly. A...

Black Fist
1977
as Heineken
To make money, a Los Angeles street-fighter goes to work for gangsters.

Viva Knievel!
1977
as Ralph Thompson
The legendary stuntman plans his most incredible stunt yet while battling the mob in this action-adventure.

Midway
1976
as Captain Murray Arnold
This war drama depicts the U.S. and Japanese forces in the naval Battle of Midway, which became a turning point for Americans during World War II.

Kiss Me, Kill Me
1976
as Capt. Logan
A female investigator in the district attorney's office sets out to track down the person who murdered a young schoolteacher.

The Other Side of the Mountain
1975
as Dave McCoy
One year before the Olympics, Jill Kinmont, an 18-year-old skiing champion, suffers a fall during competition and is left paralyzed. With her life now...

Bite the Bullet
1975
as Jack Parker
At the beginning of the 20th century, a newspaper organizes an endurance horse race : 700 miles to run in a few days. 9 adventurers are competing, amo...

Returning Home
1975
as Al Stephenson
The story of three returning World War II veterans, and how they try to cope with returning to civilian life.

Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan
1975
as Paul Mathison
After three civil-rights workers are murdered in Mississippi in 1964, a team of FBI agents is sent there to find the killers.

The Towering Inferno
1974
as Deputy Chief #1
At the opening party of a colossal—but poorly constructed—skyscraper, a massive fire breaks out, threatening to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

Bad Ronald
1974
as Mr. Wood
When awkward teen Ronald Wilby accidentally kills a young girl whose sister rejected his affections, his overbearing mother decides to hide him from t...

The Dove
1974
as Charles Huntley
16-year-old Robin Lee Graham aims to become the youngest person to sail around the world in a 23-foot sloop named "The Dove". On his journey, he meets...

House of Evil
1974
A missing teenager reappears and tells police she had been imprisoned by two sisters that she believes were witches.

Cinderella Liberty
1973
as Executive Officer
A lonely Navy sailor falls in love with a Seattle hooker and becomes a surrogate father figure for her son during an extended liberty due to his servi...

The President's Plane Is Missing
1973
as Sen. Bert Haines
When the President's plane mysteriously disappears with him on board, it is left to the seemingly weak Vice President to try to avert a nuclear exchan...

Dying Room Only
1973
as Bob Mitchell
A married couple are traveling on a deserted desert road at night. They stop at a diner and the husband goes to the men's room. He never returns and t...

Moving Target
1973
A police detective initially believed to have died in an accident is found to have been murdered, and suspicion arises the killer is a fellow officer.

Savage
1973
as Ted Seligson
A TV reporter investigates compromising photographs of a nominee to the Supreme Court.

I Love My Wife
1970
as Frank Donnelly
Young surgeon becomes bored with his wife and family, he has a very successful career, but even with having so much in life, he feels empty and goes t...

The Brotherhood of the Bell
1970
as Agent Shepard
A successful professor has his life disrupted by a secret from his past — in his college days he became a member of a powerful secret society, and now...

Downhill Racer
1969
as Mayo
An ambitious young skier, determined to break all existing records, is contemptuous of the teamwork advocated by the US coach when they go to Europe f...

The Trouble with Girls
1969
as Harrison Wilby
Chautauqua manager Walter Hale and his loyal business manager struggle to keep their traveling troupe together in small town America.

The Scalphunters
1968
as Jed
Forced to trade his valuable furs for a well-educated escaped slave, a rugged trapper vows to recover the pelts from the Indians and later the renegad...

This Property is Condemned
1966
as Salesman
Owen Legate, a railroad official, comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down the local railway - the town's main income. But Owen unexpectedly finds l...

The Slender Thread
1965
as Charlie
Alan is a Seattle college student volunteering at a crisis center. One night when at the clinic alone, a woman calls up the number and tells Alan that...