Biography
James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor. Coburn appeared in nearly 70 films and made over 100 television appearances during his 45-year career, and played a wide range of roles and won an Academy Award for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction. Description above from the Wikipedia article James Coburn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Complete Filmography

Passion & Poetry: Peckinpah's Last Western
2024
as Self
A documentary about the making of Sam Peckinpah's last western, "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" (1973).

I Am Bruce Lee
2012
as Self (archive footage)
Bruce Lee is universally recognized as the pioneer who elevated martial arts in film to an art form, and this documentary will reveal why Bruce Lee's ...

Passion & Poetry: Sam Peckinpah's War
2011
as Self
A documentary about Sam Peckinpah's "Cross of Iron," shot in Yugoslavia in 1976.

Passion & Poetry: Sam Peckinpah's War
2011
In Memory Of
A documentary about Sam Peckinpah's "Cross of Iron," shot in Yugoslavia in 1976.
Sam Peckinpah: Portrait
2006
as Self
A portrait of director Sam Peckinpah focusing more on his personal life than his moviemaking - featuring lots of interviews, backstage footage and eve...

Passion & Poetry: The Ballad of Sam Peckinpah
2005
as Self
Portrayal of a talented, influencial and troubled artist: a filmmaker who fought his own demons and seemed to live his own legend like no other direct...

Blood and Steel: The Making of 'Enter the Dragon'
2004
as Self
The making of 'Enter the Dragon'.

Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
2004
as Self (archive footage)
An account of the life and work of American film director Sam Peckinpah (1925-84), a tortured artist whose genius and inner demons changed the Western...

Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years
2003
as Self - Host
Behind-the-scenes footage, rare screen tests and insightful interviews highlight this engrossing two-hour look at one of Hollywood's greatest dream fa...

The Kid Stays in the Picture
2002
as Self (archive footage)
Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans, based on his famous 1994 autobiography.

American Gun
2002
as Martin Tillman
A father uses the serial number on a hand gun in an attempt to track down his daughter's killer. The truth he uncovers is an unsettling reminder of th...

The Yellow Bird
2002
as Rev. Increase Tutwiler
A young girl escapes the boredom of a small town existence in the 1930s.

The Real Virgil Hilts: A Man Called Jones
2002
as Narrator
A documentary on the United States Army Air Forces pilot David Jones, the inspiration for Steve McQueen’s character in the 1963 film THE GREAT ESCAPE.

I Love Muppets
2002
as Self
Gonzo the Great talks about the Muppets creator Jim Henson and what he did before the television show was made in 1976.

Snow Dogs
2002
as Thunder Jack
When a Miami dentist inherits a team of sled dogs, he's got to learn the trade or lose his pack to a crusty mountain man.

Texas Rangers
2001
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Ten years after the Civil War has ended, the Governor of Texas asks Leander McNelly to form a company of Rangers to help uphold the law along the Mexi...

Monsters, Inc.
2001
as Waternoose (voice)
Lovable Sulley and his wisecracking sidekick Mike Wazowski are the top scare team at Monsters, Inc., the scream-processing factory in Monstropolis. Wh...

The Man from Elysian Fields
2001
as Alcot
A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service where he becomes entwined wi...

Walter and Henry
2001
as Charlie
Walter and his 12-year-old son Henry are a pair of New York City street musicians living at poverty level in an empty Brooklyn lot. When Walter has a ...

Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days
2001
as Narrator (voice)
Marilyn Monroe's final project, "Something's Got to Give", has become one of the most talked about unfinished films in history. The story of the film ...

Proximity
2001
as Jim Corcoran
When William Conroy (Rob Lowe), a former college professor, is sentenced to life in prison for vehicular manslaughter it seems his life is over. But w...

Missing Pieces
2001
as Atticus Cody
Atticus (James Coburn) goes to the small Mexican town where his estranged son (Paul Kersey) was a resident to discover how he died.

Kurosawa
2000
as Self
Documentary on film maker Akira Kurosawa

Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey
2000
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
Documentary on the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, with a focus on the production of his unfinished film Game of Death. Using interviews and behin...

Guns for Hire: The Making of 'The Magnificent Seven'
2000
as Self
A documentary about 'The Magnificent Seven'.

Once Upon a Time: Sergio Leone
2000
as Self (archive footage)
A short documentary based on Sergio Leone's life and career, and the making of the film "Once Upon a Time in America."

Intrepid
2000
as Captain Hal Josephson
Hotshot Navy special ops guys get assigned to take a cruise to keep an eye on a VIP's daughter. Once the voyage is under way, somehow a nuke A) gets l...
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Hollywood Hero
1999
as Self
Documentary tribute to actor and former bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Payback
1999
as Justin Fairfax
With friends like these, who needs enemies? That's the question bad guy Porter is left asking after his wife and partner steal his heist money and lea...
World's Scariest Ghosts - Caught on Tape
1999
as Narrator (voice)
Everyone has heard ghost stories, but what if those stories were true? Hosted by James Coburn, this special investigates some modern ghost tales in wh...

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
1999
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Even big stars need to stand in front of the director and audition for their roles, and some of the best screen tests are from the early years of lege...

Bruce Lee: The Legend Lives On
1999
as Self
This insightful documentary takes an in-depth look at the life of Bruce Lee, and the physical and mental practices he employed on his way to becoming ...

Mr. Murder
1998
as Drew Oslett, Sr.
A group of scientists are trying to produce the perfect soldier by cloning. The day the clone is born, Marty Stillwater, a mystery novel writer, feels...

The Path of the Dragon
1998
as Self
Produced and directed by Walt Missingham who, in 1983, became the first non-Chinese to practice Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple, this authoritative and ...

Bruce Lee: The Intercepting Fist
1998
as Self
Follow the transformation of world-renowned martial arts great Bruce Lee, from his early years as a young student to his final days as a skilled maste...

Affliction
1997
as Glen Whitehouse
A small town policeman must investigate a suspicious hunting accident. The investigation and other events result in him slowly disintegrating mentally...

The Second Civil War
1997
as Jack Buchan
When a planeload of Pakistani orphans are shipped to his state for permanent relocation, the governor of Idaho defies the president and closes the sta...

The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson
1997
as Himself
The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson is a mockumentary on the disappearance of a fictitious wealthy British film producer, Kevin Johnson, who is dealing...

Keys to Tulsa
1997
as Harmon Shaw
Richter Boudreau is on a bad streak: Languishing in the shadow of his celebrity mother, he loses his job as a film critic for the town paper, and now ...

Skeletons
1997
as Frank Jove
A heart attack moves a Pulitzer winning journalist to leave NY for the peace of a small New England town, but he soon finds himself pulled into a case...

Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years
1997
as Host
The first half century of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation from its beginnings under Hungarian immigrant William Fox to it emergence as a major ...

The Cherokee Kid
1996
as Cyrus Bloomington
Isaih Turner didn’t want to be a hero-all he wanted was revenge. Orphaned when both his parents were cruelly murdered by the wealthy and powerful Cyru...

Football America
1996
as Narrator
It is the most American of all games, a contest of wills, skills, and finesse. We are overwhelmed by its power, fascinated by its cunning, drawn by it...
Ben Johnson: Third Cowboy on the Right
1996
as Narrator
A documentary on the life of famed character actor and rodeo star Ben Johnson, featuring interviews with his fellow actors and cowboys, as well as dir...

The Nutty Professor
1996
as Harlan Hartley
When beautiful Carla Purty joins the university faculty, genetic professor Dr. Sherman Klump grows desperate to whittle his 400-pound frame down to si...

Eraser
1996
as WitSec Chief Beller
A Witness Protection specialist becomes suspicious of his co-workers when dealing with a case involving high-tech weapons.

Okavango: Africa's Wild Oasis
1996
While most think an oasis in the desert is at best a mirage, this is not always so, as is the case of the jewel of the great African Kalahari Desert, ...

The Set Up
1995
as Jeremiah Cole
Charlie Thorpe, a security systems expert, gets caught during a robbery. When he is released from jail he is hired by a bank owner to design a fool pr...

Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder
1995
as Jeffery Winslow
Ray investigates the murder of a judge.

The Avenging Angel
1995
as Porter Rockwell
Miles Utley is a professional Mormon commando/bodyguard who is forced to turn renegade and to question his faith as he investigates a scandal involvin...

National Geographic - Arctic Kingdom: Life at the Edge
1995
as Narrator
Stalk the Arctic ice with the fiercest predator, the polar bear, as it prowls one of the most forbidding places on the planet: a hidden kingdom of mag...

A Christmas Reunion
1994
as Santa
Follows the story of grandfather and his grandson and what their generations had to go through which in the end may not be that different.

Greyhounds
1994
as John Dolan
A retired sheriff, judge, coroner and con-man team up to solve crimes. Pilot.

Maverick
1994
as Commodore Duvall
Bret Maverick is a gambler who would rather con someone than fight them, and needs an additional $3k in order to enter a winner-takes-all poker game b...

Ray Alexander: A Taste For Justice
1994
as Jeffrey Winslow
Ray investigates the murder of a psychiatrist.

Bruce Lee: The Immortal Dragon
1994
as Himself (archive footage)
A video tribute to a martial arts legend, Bruce Lee. Examined are his early years in Hong Kong and his journey to Hollywood, his role of Kato on the T...

The Life of Bruce Lee
1994
as Self - Actor & Student of Bruce Lee
Documentary about martial arts actor Bruce Lee, from his birth in 1940 till his death in 1973, with interviews with his fellow actors and family. Dedi...

Return to 'The Great Escape'
1993
as Self
A documentary about the making of the 1963 film THE GREAT ESCAPE, as well as some of the historical details on which it was based.

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
1993
as Mr. Crisp
Deloris Van Cartier is again asked to don the nun's habit to help a run-down Catholic school, presided over by Mother Superior. And if trying to reach...

Deadfall
1993
as Mike Donan / Lou Donan
After he accidentally kills his father, Mike, during a sting, Joe tries to carry out Mike's dying wish by recovering valuables that Mike's twin brothe...

The Curse of the Dragon
1993
as Self
A 1993 documentary film about Bruce Lee. The film includes interviews from some of his fellow students and opponents who worked alongside him in his m...

Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron
1993
as Self
This straight-talking program seeks to understand the enigmatic and controversial Sam Peckinpah, whose violent films such as The Wild Bunch and Straw ...

The Hit List
1993
as Peter Mayhew
A hit man's boss refers him to a client, a dangerous woman who mixes business with pleasure.

Mastergate
1992
as Major Manley Battle
A "play on words" about a fictional political scandal concerning covert arms deals and double-dealing government operatives, satirizing the Watergate ...

The Player
1992
as James Coburn
A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?

Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232
1992
as Jim Hathaway
Authentic drama of United Airlines flight 232 from Denver to Chicago. The DC-10 crashed during an emergency landing at Sioux City Gateway Airport on J...
True Facts
1992
Aka National Lampoon's True Facts
Silverfox
1991
as Robert Fox
Unsold series pilot about a former secret service agent, turned government spy, who can't seem to retire. Cases always keep coming his way to solve.

Hudson Hawk
1991
as George Kaplan
Eddie Hawkins, called Hudson Hawk has just been released from ten years of prison and is planning to spend the rest of his life honestly. But then the...

Young Guns II
1990
as John Simpson Chisum
Three of the original five "young guns" — Billy the Kid, Jose Chavez y Chavez, and Doc Scurlock — return in Young Guns, Part 2, which is the story of ...

Steve McQueen: Man on the Edge
1990
as Narrator
Abandoned by his father, he was a reform school kid with nothing going for him and a giant chip on his shoulder. He joined the Marines but never staye...

Train to Heaven
1989
as Gregorius
About Niño, an orphanage boy in the port city of Guayaquil in Ecuador.
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
1989
as Himself
A study of the Group Theatre, a company that changed the face of American drama. The Group was founded in 1931 by Cheryl Crawford, Harold Clurman and ...

Call from Space
1989
as Studio Boss
A movie director and his wanna-be actor/eccentric inventor nephew are filming a low-budget sci-fi movie. Things get interesting when the nephews' biza...

Walking After Midnight
1988
as Self
Explores the past-life experiences of various celebrities.

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

Death of a Soldier
1986
as Maj. Patrick Dannenberg
Based on a true story, James Coburn portrays a military lawyer assigned to defend a confessed psychotic killer. Set in the context of WWII and the une...

The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
1986
as Self (archive footage)
For the first time in their careers, all the Muppets (except the ones that couldn't make it, like the Doozers, Gorgs and most of the Fraggles) have ga...

Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away
1986
as Self
This 1986 documentary features interviews with director Alexander Mackendrick, actor Burt Lancaster, producer James Hill, and others.

Martin's Day
1985
as Lt. Lardner
Threatened with recapture after a prison escape, Martin Stechert grabs a 12-year-old as hostage. He proves to be named Martin, too a quiet "good littl...

Sins of the Father
1985
Fresh out of law school, Kevan Harris is hired by her dead father's ex-partner, Frank Murchison, and immediately 'falls into bed' with him. She then f...

Draw!
1984
as Sam Starret
In the final days of the Old West, a former desperado faces down a now drunken ex-sheriff, who was his long time nemesis.

Pinocchio
1984
as The Gypsy
A lonely wood-carver named Geppetto wishes for a son one night before going to bed. The Blue Fairy comes while he sleeps and partially grants the wish...

Bruce Lee: The Legend
1984
as Self (archive footage)
The Official Golden Harvest tribute to the Master of the Martial Arts Film, Bruce Lee.

Malibu
1983
as Tom Wharton
A young couple from Milwaukee moves into the fabled, high-society Malibu beach community and becomes involved with the lives of the various people liv...

Digital Dreams
1983
as God's Gift to Wyman
An amalgam of documentary and cinema verité, this movie outlines the life, loves and music of Rolling Stones bass guitarist Bill Wyman. After leaving ...

Looker
1981
as John Reston
Plastic surgeon Larry Roberts performs a series of minor alterations on a group of models who are seeking perfection. The operations are a resounding ...

Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls
1981
as Henry Bellamy
Updated version of the Jacqueline Susann best selling 1960's novel shows the lives of three very different women who come to New York City to achieve ...

High Risk
1981
as Serrano
Four American friends, badly needing money, decide to make a commando-like raid into a South American drug lord's compound.

Mr. Patman
1981
as Patman
Women, patients and paranoia surround an Irish night-shift orderly in a Canadian mental ward.

Loving Couples
1980
as Walter
Walter is a successful doctor, and so is his wife Evelyn. Wealthy and good-looking, they should be a happily married couple, but they're not. Walter ...

The Baltimore Bullet
1980
as Nick Casey
A tale of two hustlers trying to set up a big game.

Goldengirl
1979
as Jack Dryden
A neo-Nazi Doctor tries to make a superwoman of his daughter who has been specially fed, exercised & Conditioned since she was a child to run in t...

The Muppet Movie
1979
as El Sleezo Cafe Owner
The Muppets gather to watch their newly-finished big-budget rich-and-famous feature film: a talent agent persuades Kermit the Frog to leave the swamp ...

The Muppets Go Hollywood
1979
as Self
Kermit the Frog throws a glamorous party at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub to celebrate the premiere of the Muppets' first feature film, The Muppet Movi...

Firepower
1979
as Jerry Fanon / Eddie
A mercenary is hired by the FBI to track down a powerful recluse criminal, a woman is also trying to track him down for her own personal vendetta.
Superstunt II
1979
as Self
Sequel to the NBC special about dangerous stunts.

California Suite
1978
as Actor in Diana's Movie (uncredited)
The misadventures of four groups of guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Formula 1 - Speed fever
1978
as Self
Interspersed with interviews that the actress Sydne Rome gives to some of the most famous "Formula 1" champions - from Lauda to Regazzoni, from Andret...

Circle of Iron
1978
Story
In a mystical desert kingdom, young martial arts fighter Cord loses a contest to determine who will journey to take the powerful Book of All Knowedge ...

Convoy
1978
Second Unit Director
Trucker Rubber Duck and his buddies Pig Pen, Widow Woman and Spider Mike use their CB radios to warn one another of the presence of cops. But connivin...

Cross of Iron
1977
as Unteroffizier / Feldwebel Rolf Steiner
It is 1943, and the German army—ravaged and demoralised—is hastily retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of the madness, conflict brews betw...

White Rock
1977
as James Coburn
British documentary filmmaker and producer Tony Maylam reinvigorated the sports documentary genre with WHITE ROCK, an idiosyncratic and utterly engagi...

Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth
1976
as Self (archive footage)
A highly fictionalized biography of the famous Bruce Lee, this movie traces his college life, his marriage to Linda Lee, his relationship with his mas...

Midway
1976
as Capt. Vinton Maddox
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.

The Last Hard Men
1976
as Provo
In 1909 Arizona, retired lawman Sam Burgade's life is thrown upside-down when his old enemy Provo and six other convicts escape a chain-gang in the Yu...

Sky Riders
1976
as Jim McCabe
When an industrialist's wife and kids are kidnapped by terrorists in Greece, the woman's ex-husband comes to the rescue with a plan involving hang gli...

Bite the Bullet
1975
as Luke Matthews
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...

Hard Times
1975
as Spencer "Speed" Weed
In the depression, Chaney, a strong silent streetfighter, joins with Speed, a promoter of no-holds-barred street boxing bouts. They go to New Orleans ...

The Internecine Project
1974
as Robert Elliot
Offered a job as a presidential adviser, a professor is forced to dispose of those who knew him when he was a spy.

Harry in Your Pocket
1973
as Harry
A master thief and his drug-addicted partner teach two aspiring crooks how to steal wallets.

The Last of Sheila
1973
as Clinton
A year after Sheila is killed in a hit-and-run, her multimillionaire husband invites a group of friends to spend a week on his yacht playing a scaveng...

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1973
as Pat Garrett
Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.

A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die
1972
as Colonel Pembroke
A dishonored Union Army officer leads a group of convicts to retake Fort Holman from the Confederate Army.

The Honkers
1972
as Lew Lathrop
An over-the-hill rodeo champion is so self-centered that he ignores his wife, son, and best friend.

The Carey Treatment
1972
as Dr. Peter Carey
A doctor uncovers a hotbed of corruption when he tries to clear a colleague of a murder charge.

Duck, You Sucker
1971
as John H. Mallory
At the beginning of the 1913 Mexican Revolution, greedy bandit Juan Miranda and idealist John H. Mallory, an Irish Republican Army explosives expert o...

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots
1970
as Jeb Stuart Thornton
A new bride gets caught between her decadent husband and his black half-brother.

Hard Contract
1969
as John Cunningham
A cold hearted American hit man goes to Europe for "one last score". His encounter with a beautiful young woman casts self doubt on his lifeblood, and...

The Wolf Men
1969
as Narrator
The Wolf Men [also known as Wolves and the Wolf Men) is a 1969 documentary film produced by Irwin Rosten. It was produced for the GE Monogram document...

Candy
1968
as Dr. A.B. Krankheit
A high school girl encounters a variety of kookie characters and humorous sexual situations while searching for the meaning of life.

Duffy
1968
as Duffy
Half-brothers Stefane and Antony despise their biological father, callous millionaire Charles Calvert. Because Charles refuses to share his wealth wit...

The President's Analyst
1967
as Dr. Sidney Schaefer
At first, Dr. Sidney Schaefer feels honored and thrilled to be offered the job of the President's Analyst. But then the stress of the job and the para...

Waterhole #3
1967
as Lewton Cole
After a professional gambler kills a Confederate soldier, he finds a map pinpointing the location in the desert where stolen army gold bullion is buri...

In Like Flint
1967
as Derek Flint
Flint is again called out of retirement when his old boss finds that he seems to have missed 3 Minutes while golfing with the President. Flint finds t...

Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round
1966
as Eli Kotch
A sophisticated con man mounts an intricate plan to rob an airport bank while the Soviet premier is due to arrive.

What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?
1966
as Lieutenant Christian
A by-the-book Captain is ordered to capture a strategic village in Italy. The Italian soldiers are willing to surrender, if they can have a festival f...

Our Man Flint
1966
as Derek Flint
When scientists use eco-terrorism to impose their will on the world by affecting extremes in the weather, Intelligence Chief Cramden calls in top agen...

The Loved One
1965
as Immigration Officer
Newly arrived in Hollywood from England, Dennis Barlow finds he has to arrange his uncle's interment at the highly-organised and very profitable Whisp...

A High Wind in Jamaica
1965
as Zac
In 1870, a Jamaican colonial family sends its children to Britain for proper schooling, but their ship is taken over by pirates, who become fond of th...

Major Dundee
1965
as Samuel Potts
During the last winter of the Civil War, cavalry officer Amos Dundee leads a contentious troop of Army regulars, Confederate prisoners and scouts on a...

The Americanization of Emily
1964
as Lt. Commander Paul "Bus" Cummings
American sailor Charlie Madison falls for a pretty Englishwoman while trying to avoid a senseless and dangerous D-Day mission concocted by a deranged ...
Action on the Beach
1964
as Self
Behind the scenes look at the D-Day special effects created in filming The Americanization of Emily (1964).

The Man from Galveston
1963
as Boyd Palmer
Circuit-riding Texas lawyer Timothy Higgins defends a former girlfriend against a murder charge stemming from an extortionist's threat to reveal her s...

Kings of the Sun
1963
as Narrator (uncredited)
In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the U...

Charade
1963
as Tex Panthollow
After Regina Lampert falls for the dashing Peter Joshua on a skiing holiday in the French Alps, she discovers upon her return to Paris that her husban...

The Great Escape
1963
as Sedgwick 'Manufacturer'
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-secu...

Hell Is for Heroes
1962
as Cpl. Frank Henshaw
World War II drama where the action centers around a single maneuver by a squad of GIs in retaliation against the force of the German Siegfried line. ...

The Murder Men
1961
as Arthur Troy
Melodrama of the attempt to smash a drug ring and to promote a former addict singer's rehabilitation. Edited from TV series, Cain's Hundred

The Magnificent Seven
1960
as Britt
An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.

Face of a Fugitive
1959
as Purdy
A man who was falsly accused for murder escapes the sheriffs and starts a new life in a town at the border of the States to Mexico. But he cannot sett...

Ride Lonesome
1959
as Whitt
On the way to pick up the bounty on a wanted murderer, a bounty hunter stops at a staging post where he is forced to continue his journey with two out...

The Night America Trembled
1957
as Sam (as Jim Coburn)
A recreation and commentary on how people reacted to the radio broadcast of The War Of The Worlds in 1938. [An episode of the CBS anthology series "St...