JAMES COBURN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

James Coburn was born on August 31st, 1928 in Laurel, Nebraska with the birth name James Harrison Coburn Jr. to parents, Mylet S. and James Harrison Coburn Jr.  His family raised him in Compton, California.  After high school he went on to enroll at Los Angeles City college and studies drama and then relocated to New York City to further his education in acting.    
 
He began appearing in a number of stage productions in New York City when he was seen by a scout and offered roles in a variety of westerns such as, "Ride Lonesome" (1959) starring Randolph Scott, Lee Van Cleef, James Best, Karen Steele and Pernell Roberts.  Soon he was adding such film credits to his resume as, "The Magnificent Seven" (1960) starring Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Robert Vaughn, Eli Wallach, Charles Bronson, Horst Buchholz, Brad Dexter, Robert J. Wilke and a host of other fine actors, "The Great Escape" (1963) starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence and several other stars, "Charade" (1963) starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, George Kennedy and Walter Matthau, "Midway" (1965) with an all star ensemble cast including Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, James Shigeta, Robert Ito, Monte Markham, Ed Nelson, Robert Webber, Tom Selleck, Christopher George, Eddie Albert, Glenn Corbett, Dabney Coleman, Kevin Dobson, Erik Estrada, Mitch Ryan, Christina Kokubo and Pat Morita, "High Wind in Jamaica" (1965) starring with Anthony Quinn and Lila Kedrova, "Major Dundee" (1965) starring Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Senta Berger, Jim Hutton, R.G. Armstrong, Ben Johnson, Warren Oates, Dub Taylor, Michael Anderson Jr. and Slim Pickens just to name a few, "Our Man Flint" (1966) with Lee J. Cobb, James Brolin, Rhys Williams and Benson Fong, "Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" (1966) co-starring Aldo Ray, Camilla Sparv, Robert Webber and James Westerfield, "In Like Flint" (1967) starring with Lee J. Cobb, Jean Hale, Yvonne Craig, Anna Lee and Andrew Duggan and "The President's Analyst" (1967) with Godfrey Cambridge, Severn Darden and Walter Burke. 
 
As his film career continued, Coburn did not slow down and remained working steadily in the industry being seen on the big screen in such features as, "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" (1973) co-starring Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Jason Robards, Chill Wills, Katy Jurado, Slim Pickens, Rita Coolidge, Jack Elam, Paul Fix and Barry Sullivan, "Hard Times" (1975) also starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland and Strother Martin and "Cross of Iron" (1977) co-starring Maximilian Schell, Senta Berger, David Warner and James Mason.
 
For some time in his career he dealt with suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, however with the help of holistic healing he was able to continue working in the industry and his health improved immensely. 
 
Some of his latest roles were in such television movies as, "Draw!" (1984) co-starring Kirk Douglas, "Silver Fox" (1991) a story written by Tom Selleck with Jillie Mack and M. Emmet Walsh, "True Facts" (1992) co-starring Billy Gallo, Deborah Harmon Honey Lauren, "Greyhounds" (1994) also starring Robert Guillaume, Roxann Dawson, Pat Morita and Dennis Weaver, "Christmas Reunion" (1995) with Edward Woodward, Meredith Edwards and Myfanwy Talog, "Missing Pieces" (2000) co-starring Lisa Zane, Paul Kersey and Finn Carter and "Walter and Henry" (2001) with John Larroquette, Kate Nelligan and Nicholas Braun among others.
 
Some of his more famous film roles he took on prior to passing were on, "The Nutty Professor" (1996) co-starring Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett, John Ales, Larry Miller and Dave Chappelle, "Affliction" (1997) also starring Nick Nolte, William Dafoe, Paul Stewart and Sissy Spacek, "American Gun" (2002) also starring Virginia Madsen, Barbara Bain, Walter Jones and Alexandra Holden, the Walt Disney film "Snow Dogs" (2002) also starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and his last role was on the television series, "Arli$$" (2002).
 
Over the course of his career he appeared in more than 70 films and over 100 television appearances, some of which are westerns such as "Bat Masterson", "Wanted Dead or Alive", The Tall Man", "The Deputy", "Sugarfoot", "Wagon Train", "The Rifleman", "Klondike", "Bonanza", "Tales of Wells Fargo", "Cheyenne", "Bronco" and "The Restless Gun" just to name a few.  He also won an Academy Award for his role in the film, "Affliction" (1997).  
 
He married twice throughout his lifetime.  His first wife was Beverly Kelly whom he wed in 1959 until the marriage came to an end in 1979.  He then married Paula O'Hara in 1993 and they remained married until he passed away on November 18th, 2002 in Beverly Hills, California after suffering a heart attack.   He was survived by his wife Paula, son, James and their step daughter.  His remains were interred at Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. 

There is a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to honor his contributions.

 
Filmography

2002   Arli$$

2002   American Gun 

2002   Snow Dogs 

2001   Monsters, Inc. 

2001   The Man from Elysian Fields 

2001   Walter and Henry 

2001   The Yellow Bird 

2001   Texas Rangers 

2001   Proximity 

2000   Intrepid 

2000   Scene by Scene

2000   Missing Pieces 

2000   The Good Doctor

1999   Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story 

1999   Noah's Ark

1999   Payback

1999   Vengeance Unlimited

1998   Mr. Murder

1998   Stories from My Childhood

1997   Affliction 

1997   Skeletons

1997   The Second Civil War 

1997   Profiler 

1996   The Cherokee Kid 

1996   Okavango: Africa's Savage Oasis

1996   Keys to Tulsa 

1996   Football America 

1996   The Nutty Professor

1996   Eraser 

1995   Christmas Reunion 

1995   The Set Up 

1995   Picket Fences

1995   Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder

1995   The Avenging Angel 

1995   C.E.O.

1994   Greyhounds

1994   Maverick 

1994   Ray Alexander: A Taste for Justice

1993   Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit

1993   Deadfall

1993   The Hit List 

1990-1992  Captain Planet and the Planeteers 

1992   Mastergate

1992   Murder, She Wrote

1992   The Fifth Corner

1992   True Facts

1992   Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232

1991   Silverfox

1991   Hudson Hawk

1990   Young Guns II

1989   Train to Heaven

1989   Call from Space

1986   The Wildest West Show of the Stars

1986   Death of a Soldier 

1985   Martin's Day 

1985   Sins of the Father 

1984   Draw!

1984   Faerie Tale Theatre 

1983   Malibu 

1983   Digital Dreams

1981   Looker

1981   Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls 

1981   High Risk 

1980   Mr. Patman 

1980   Loving Couples

1980   The Baltimore Bullet

1980   Superstunt II

1979   Goldengirl 

1979   The Muppet Movie 

1979   Firepower 

1978   California Suite

1978   The Dain Curse

1977   Cross of Iron

1976   Midway

1976   The Last Hard Men

1976   Sky Riders

1975   Hard Times 

1975   Bite the Bullet 

1975   Jackpot 

1974   The Internecine Project 

1973   Harry in Your Pocket

1973   The Last of Sheila

1973   Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

1972   A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die

1972   The Honkers

1972   The Carey Treatment

1971   Duck, You Sucker

1970   Bracken's World

1970   Last of the Mobile Hot Shots

1969   Hard Contract 

1968   Candy

1968   Duffy

1967   The President's Analyst

1967   Waterhole #3

1967   In Like Flint

1966   Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round

1966   What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

1966   Our Man Flint

1965   The Loved One

1965   A High Wind in Jamaica

1965   Major Dundee 

1964   The Americanization of Emily

1964   The Defenders 

1964   Route 66 

1963   Kings of the Sun

1963   The Man from Galveston 

1963   Charade 

1963   Twilight Zone

1963   The Eleventh Hour 

1963   The Greatest Show on Earth 

1963   Combat! 

1963   The Great Escape 

1963   Stoney Burke 

1962   Hell Is for Heroes 

1962   Naked City 

1958-1962  Tales of Wells Fargo 

1959-1962  Bonanza 

1961-1962  Perry Mason 

1962   The Dick Powell Theatre 

1962   Checkmate 

1962   Rawhide

1962   Cain's Hundred

1962   Ripcord 

1962   King of Diamonds

1958-1961  The Rifleman

1961   Cheyenne

1961   The Brothers Brannagan

1961   Acapulco

1959-1961  Laramie

1961   Outlaws

1960-1961  Klondike

1961   The Untouchables

1961   The Tall Man

1961   Stagecoach West

1961   The Detectives

1961   The Aquanauts

1960   Lawman

1960   The Magnificent Seven

1959-1960  Zane Grey Theater

1960   Death Valley Days 

1959-1960  Wanted Dead or Alive 

1960   Richard Diamond, Private Detective 

1960   Tate

1960   The Deputy

1960   Peter Gunn 

1959-1960  Have Gun - Will Travel 

1960   Bourbon Street Beat 

1960   Men Into Space

1960   Sugarfoot 

1959-1960  Bat Masterson 

1959-1960  Wichita Town

1959-1960  Bronco 

1960   The Texan 

1959   The Millionaire 

1958-1959  Alfred Hitchcock Presents 

1959   The DuPont Show with June Allyson 

1959   The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp 

1958-1959  Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color 

1959   Tombstone Territory 

1959   Whirlybirds 

1959   Johnny Ringo 

1959   Face of a Fugitive 

1959   The Californians

1959   The Rough Riders 

1959   M Squad

1958-1959  The Restless Gun 

1959   Black Saddle

1959   State Trooper 

1959   Trackdown

1959   Ride Lonesome 

1958   Wagon Train 

1958   G.E. True Theater 

1958   Suspicion 

1957   Studio One in Hollywood