Dabney Coleman, ‘9 to 5’ villain with 60-year career, pronounced dead at 92

Dabney Coleman, a Hollywood television and film veteran who specialized in playing scruffy, mustachioed villains – including in the classic “9 to 5” – has died. He was 92.

Coleman was ailing because he canceled a scheduled appearance at the Chiller Theater, an autograph show in Parsippany, New Jersey, in April on doctor’s orders.

“Extra” reported the news on Friday morning.

His daughter, Quincy Coleman, told TMZ: “My father, Dabney Wharton Coleman, took his final earthly breath peacefully and exquisitely in his home on Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 1:50 p.m. My father shaped his time here on earth with a curious mind, a generous heart and a soul full of passion, desire and humor that tickled the funny bone of humanity. While he lived, he handled this final act of his life with elegance, excellence and mastery.

Family friend Alison Martino remembered him on social media as someone who “may have played a lot of bad guy roles, but was really a cuddler.” Many fondly remembered Coleman for his evening dinners at Dan Tana’s in West Hollywood, where a steak and a martini are named after him.

Born on January 3, 1932, in Austin, Texas, Coleman served in the Army in the ’50s before studying acting with Sanford Meisner in New York.

Coleman made his Broadway debut in 1961 in “A Call on Kuprin” and made his first television appearance in an episode of “Naked City” that same year.

He was remarkably prolific and, despite his good looks, soon became known for character roles, becoming the consummate villain that audiences loved to hate.

His 179 IMDb credits included appearances on early TV shows including “Ben Casey” (1963), “Dr. Kildare” (1963), “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour” (1963 and 1964), “The Outer Limits” (1964), “Hazel” (1965), “The Donna Reed Show” (1965), “The Fugitive” (1964 -1966), “I Dream of Jeannie” (1965 and 1967), “That Girl” (1966-1967), “”The Flying Nun” (1967), “Death Valley Days” (1968) and “Mod Squad” ( 1968).

He lost the role of Professor on Gilligan’s Island to Russell Johnson.

Coleman was a ubiquitous presence on ’70s television, appearing in more than 100 episodes of two quirky late-night soap parodies, the cultural phenomenon “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” (1976-1977) and its spinoff “Forever Fernwood” (1977-1978). as Merle Jeeter.

In 1965 films, he appeared in a variety of films, from the Elvis film The Trouble with Girls and Downhill Racer (both 1969) to the disaster epic The Towering Inferno (1974).

Twenty years into his career, Coleman landed the role with which he has always been most associated in “9 to 5” (1980): that of the “sexist, selfish, lying, hypocritical bigot” boss Franklin Hart Jr. In the The feminist comedy starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton as frustrated office workers who hatch a plan to contain Hart while taking over their share of the heartless corporation they thanklessly worked for.

The Colin Higgins-directed film grossed over $100 million and spawned a No. 1 film. 1 crossover hit for country star Parton, who became a sought-after film actor.

It also gave Coleman a rare starring role, starring in the sitcom Buffalo Bill (1983-1984). The series about an egotistical talk show host starred Geena Davis and Joanna Cassidy. The positively reviewed series, which was considered controversial because of the unsympathy of its main character from the time before “Seinfeld” and the discussion of the issue of abortion, died an early death.

For his performance, Coleman received his first Emmy nomination.

He went on to appear in a number of hit films, including On Golden Pond (1981), Tootsie (1982), WarGames (1983), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) and You. ‘ve Got Mail” (1998).

Other notable films included Cinderella Liberty (1973), How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980), Melvin & Howard (1980), Modern Problems (1981), Young Doctors in Love ( 1982), “Cloak & Dagger” (1984), “The Man with the Red Shoe” (1985), “Dragnet” (1987), “Meet the Applegates” (1990), “The Beverly Hillbillies” (1993), ” Clifford” (1994), “Inspector Gadget” (1999), “Stuart Little” (1999), “Moonlight Mile” (2002) and Warren Beatty’s last directorial effort “Rules Don’t Apply” (2016), which marked Coleman’s last feature film .

In the latter part of his career, Coleman was the voice of Principal Prickly in the animated series Recess (1997-2001) and made memorable appearances in The Guardian (2001-2004) and Boardwalk Empire (2010-2011). ) and in his last film appearance “Yellowstone” (2019), in which he played the father of the character of the series star Kevin Costner.

For Sworn to Silence (1987), he was nominated for an Emmy six times – including three times in one year – and won Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor – Television Series, Musical or Comedy for “The Slap Maxwell Story” (1988) and shared a SAG Award twice with the cast of “Boardwalk Empire.”

He was married and divorced twice, including to the late actress Jean Hale. He leaves behind four children.