‘9 to 5’ Mary Hartman, ‘Tootsie’ Actress Was 92

Dabney Coleman

Jeffrey Newberry/TV Guide/NBC/Everett Collection Courtesy

Dabney Coleman, the famous comedian from 9-5, Tutsi And Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman Many of his redeeming qualities are dead including his talent for portraying characters who had none. He was 92 years old.

His daughter, singer Quincy Coleman, said Coleman died Thursday at his home in Santa Monica Hollywood Reporter.

“My father spent his time here on Earth with an inquisitive mind, a generous heart, and a spirit ablaze with passion, desire, and humor that tickled humanity’s funny bone,” she said. “Throughout his life, he moved through this final chapter of his life with elegance, distinction and mastery.

“A mentor, a hero and a king, Dabney Coleman is a gift and blessing in life and in death as his spirit will shine through his work, his loved ones and his legacy…forever.”

The Emmy Award-winning actor also starred as the host of an irascible talk show in upstate New York on NBC Buffalo Billbut this critical favorite only lasted 26 episodes.

He had at least three other cracks in his sitcom title, but ABC The story of Maxwell’s slap,Fox Drexel class And NBC Crazy people They were never successful during their first seasons before being cancelled.

Most recently, the good-natured Coleman brought his signature mustache to play Burton Phalen, the law firm owner and father of Simon Baker’s character, on the CBS drama. Watchman; The power broker in Atlantic City was Commodore Louis Kestner on HBO Empire Corridor; He played the role of John Dutton Sr. (father of Kevin Costner’s character). Yellowstone.

Audiences got an early taste of Texas’s raunchy charm in 1976 when Coleman appeared as the feisty mayor of Fernwood, Ohio, Merle Jeter in Norman Lear’s satirical television series Late Night. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

In 2012 interview with AV ClubColeman described that gig, which was only supposed to last six episodes, as “the turning point in my career” and “probably the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Jeter “was great, just a once-in-a-lifetime character,” he said. He was the worst human being. … That’s where it all started, as much as people thought I could do comedy, especially the negative, scathing, mock-guy kind. I was very good at doing that.”

Coleman proves it again as backstabbing chauvinistic boss Franklin Hart Jr. in the workplace comedy 9-5, the 1980 cinematic example of women’s liberation that starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and, in her film debut, Dolly Parton. (Because he is a corrupt man, Hart ends up being restrained by his secretary, Barton’s Doralee Rhodes.)

“They were all established, and here’s this guy coming out,” he said of his co-stars Mary HartmanAnd it’s not too shabby. (He laughs.) But the TV was late at night. Anyway, what I’m pointing out is that all three of them did their best to make me feel equal. There’s no other way to say it.”

in Tutsi (1982), directed by his friend and mentor Sidney Pollack, Coleman played a sexist television director who dates an actress (Jessica Lange) in his television series. General Southwest.

Years earlier, Pollack had been his mentor at the Neighborhood Theater in New York, and Coleman’s first three films were Pollack’s first as a director as well.

Coleman also played a televangelist named Marvin Fleiss in the satirical film Prayer TV (1980), systems engineer supervising the WOPR military computer at John Badham Company War games (1983) and the curmudgeon banker Melbourne Drysdale in the 1993 film version of Beverly Hillbillies.

Asked before eagle In 2010, if he was proud to have helped make television “safe for spastic main characters,” he said He replied: “It’s fun to play those roles. You get to do weird things, things that you probably want to do in real life, but you don’t because you’re a civilized human being. There are no restrictions that are forbidden while playing.” [jerks] – I couldn’t imagine that anyone wouldn’t like to play those roles.

Dabney Wharton Coleman was born on January 3, 1932, in Austin, the youngest of four children. After his father died of pneumonia when he was four years old, his mother raised the family in Corpus Christi, and Coleman became a nationally ranked junior tennis player.

He attended the Virginia Military Institute (many in his family did) for two years, then served in the US Army Special Services Division for another two years, and then, in Austin, studied law at the University of Texas.

Mildred Pierce Actor Zachary Scott, a family friend of Coleman’s first wife, Anne Harrell, convinced him that he could become an actor, so he dropped out of college a semester before graduating and headed to the Manhattan District Theater and Sanford Meisner at the age of 26.

Coleman’s first screen appearance came in a 1961 episode of the television series Naked city — he got $90 for it — and he and his second wife, actress Jane Hill (the producer who brought the Mad Hatter on… Batman), moved to Los Angeles in 1962.

Coleman has appeared in shows such as Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, Alfred Hitchcock watch, External borders, hazelnut, I dream of Jenny And The fugitive Before recurring as Marlo Thomas’s neighbor, obstetrician Leon Bessemer, in the first season (1966-1967) of that girl.

He auditioned for Gilligan’s Island But he lost the role of the professor to Russell Johnson.

In 1963, Coleman appeared in an episode of the ABC drama Hospital Breaking point Which Pollack led, and the two would reunite in the films The thin thread (1965), This feature is condemned (1966) – although its scenes were cut – and Scaffoldfuntion (1968).

“The idea at the time, when I got out of school, was that I said, ‘I want to be in every movie you make,'” Coleman recalls. “He said, ‘Okay,’ and we’re off to a pretty good start.”

in Cinderella of freedom (1973), he worked with another Neighborhood Theater group, James Caan, where he played the commanding officer.

Around that time, the blue-eyed Coleman decided to grow a mustache, something he says changed his career. “Without the mustache, I looked a lot like Richard Nixon,” he said. eagle. “There’s no doubt that when I grew up, everything suddenly changed.”

The producers told him they’d give him the role of Jeter if he shaved his hide, but he refused — and they hired him anyway. He played the mayor in 148 episodes Mary Hartman And also on the subsidiary benefits Fernwood tonight And Forever Fernwood.

In the Disney animated series recess and its offshoots, Coleman provided the annoying voice of director Peter Brickley.

Working alongside Fonda 9-5 It led him to one of his rare non-brusque roles – as her dentist boyfriend in On the golden pond (1981).

As a leading man, Coleman was hilarious Shortly (1990), in which he played a police officer who is diagnosed with a terminal illness and learns that his daughter can only collect his pension if he is killed in the line of duty. His mad determination to displease himself, combined with his dismay at constantly winning praise for his “courage,” were unforgettable.

Coleman also portrayed an eccentric ball How to overcome the high cost of living (1980), a pornographer lisping in Dragnet (1987) and Sticky Drag Queen Learn about Applegates (1990).

His huge credits include films The problem is with girls (1969), Downhill racer (1969), Towering hell (1974), North Dallas Forte (1979), Melvin and Howard (1980), Modern problems (1981), Young doctors in love (1982), Cloak and dagger (1984), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), The man in the red shoes (1985), They were neighbors (1992), Amos and Andrew (1993), Clifford (1994), Devil’s food (1996), You’ve got mail (1998), Tool inspector (1999), Little Stuart (1999), Moonlight Mile (2002), domino (2005) and The rules do not apply (2016).

Coleman won a supporting actor Emmy Award in 1987 for his work on the ABC television movie I swear to silence He was nominated twice for playing Buffalo Bill Bittinger and once for his role as old-school sportswriter Slap Maxwell.

When he’s not working, Coleman can always be found at Dan Tana’s restaurant in West Hollywood, where a huge New York steak is named after him. “I assume it has to do with the fact that I’ve been ordering the damn thing five times a week for about 15 years,” he said in his letter. AV Club conversation.

In addition to Quincy, other survivors include his children, Randy, Kelly and Megan, and grandchildren Hill, Gabe, Louie, Kay and Coleman.

Duane Berg contributed to this report.