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DABNEY COLEMAN
Dabney Wharton Coleman
January 3, 1932, Austin, Texas
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Dabney Coleman auditioned for the role of The Professor in "Gilligan's Island"
I'm convinced that the place, if you have your druthers, to go to have that experience is New York City.
Dabney Coleman
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CLAIM TO FAME: He is best known for his abrasive characters and his always present mustache.
FAMILY LIFE: Coleman has been married twice. He was married to Ann Courtney Harrell from 1957 to 1959. He had three children with actress Jean Hale, whom he was married to from 1961 to 1983. He has four children: Meghan, Kelly, Randy, and Quincy.
INFO: Coleman has typically been typecast as a smarmy, self-
absorbed bigot. He earned this reputation with his performance in roles such as Franklin Hart, Jr. in 1980s Nine to Five (this role reunited him with actress Marian Mercer whom he also worked with in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), director Ron Carlisle in 1982's Tootsie and the earnest John McKittrick in 1983's WarGames.
The versatile actor went on to star in The Muppets Take
Manhattan (1984), and with Tom Hanks in 1985's The Man With
One Red Shoe. Coleman is also known for his lead roles in
the TV cult classics, Buffalo Bill and The Slap Maxwell
Story. He took an unusual part in the ABC cartoon, "Recess"
(1997), and then starred in a couple of big money grossers,
the Tom Hanks comedy, You've Got Mail (1998), as Chief
Quimby in Inspector Gadget, and in Stuart Little, both 1999.
TRIVIA: Entered the Virginia Military Institute in 1949,
then studied law at the University of Texas before turning
to acting.
Served 2 years in the Army's Special Services Division
Successfully treated for age-related macular degeneration,
an ailment that is the leading cause of blindness for people
over 55.
Is a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity from the Texas Beta
Chapter at the University of Texas.
His daughter, Quincy, released her first CD on September 30,
2003 called "Also Known As Mary"
Has been nominated three times for a Golden Globe, and won
once for his work as a leading man in The "Slap" Maxwell
Story
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WRITE TO DABNEY COLEMAN:
Dabney Coleman
360 N Kenter Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Dabney Coleman Quotes
And it just made me realize again because I have know it for some time, that you never get comfortable in this. No matter who you are. No matter who... how successful you are.
But I did make some money doing commercials. I did fourteen in one year.
But it is a hard, it's a hard profession teaching acting.
But it was this tough little character part that I was playing, a very funny little guy that I invented over a weekend, because I realized I was not contributing to the humor of this thing. And I had to do something.
But movies as much as anything developed what I thought was right and wrong, what was honorable, what wasn't, what was funny what wasn't... what had some depth to it, what didn't.
I did two or three plays every summer.
I didn't have any extra money. But I can't say that I had a hard early career.
I have a theory about that, if you have to say something, if you have encourage for one second a prospective acting student - he should not go in to acting.
I have worked with some great directors.
I think is very beneficial to relax yourself so that when you are doing it you are not staggering for lines and your concentration is not on what I am going to say - but the scene itself, the character that you are talking to.
I think that you get something for your acting from almost anything you do.
I was very lucky in as much as I played a lot of tennis.
I work with Sally and I can see Sally doing that. She is very aggressive. Very fun loving and charming... and pushy in a very competitive way and a very healthy way and a very good actress.
It takes a lot of energy to teach.
No not pigeon holed me as an actor, or as a character, or as to what I could do - but what I would do... and the fact is the things you don't do are almost as important as as the things that you do.
The career doesn't get any easier. A career stays tough.
The next night I got on an airplane, and flew to New York and looked into acting schools. Four or five acting schools. One of which was the Neighborhood Playhouse, which I started at six months there after.
There is something about New York City that in and of itself is so theatrical hat I use to think... I use to feel when I walked out of my apartment on the way to school or anywhere that I was walking out on stage.
To tell you the truth I am hard put to think of anyone who's career was affected significantly by making all those phone calls and I must be wrong. I must be wrong! Because it has just got to pay off!
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