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James Coburn biography

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Quick Facts

  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Laurel, Nebraska
  • PLACE OF DEATH: Beverly Hills, California
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Best Known For

James Coburn was an American stage and screen actor, well known for his role as "Derek Flint" in two 1960s films. He also starred in the 1998 film Affliction.

Synopsis

Born in Nebraska in 1928, James Coburn was an American actor. He studied at the Stella Adler Theatre School in New York City before landing his stage debut in Herman Melville's classic, Billy Budd. His first leading film role was in the box-office hit, Our Man Flint. He also appeared in Maverick, Payback,

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and Eraser. Before his death in 2002, he won an Academy Award for his role in Affliction.

Profile

Film, television, and stage actor. Born August 31, 1928, in Laurel, Nebraska. He studied acting at Los Angeles City College and the University of Southern California before moving to New York City, where he became a student at the prestigious Stella Adler Theatre school. Returning to California, he made his critically acclaimed acting debut at La Jolla Playhouse in Billy Budd, a stage adaptation of the Herman Melville classic. After some television work, including appearances in the TV??s popular western Bonanza, Coburn made his film debut in 1959 in Face of a Fugitive, a western directed by Paul Wendkos. Over the next few years, he was cast in a variety of supporting rolls, appearing in The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), and The Americanization of Emily (1964), among other movies.

In 1966, he won his first major starring role in the box-office hit Our Man Flint. His performance as "Derek Flint," a swinging 1960s spy, won Coburn a hit sequel, In Like Flint (1967), and later inspired Mike Myers's comedic character in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997). Coburn used his newfound fame to start up his won production company, which in 1967 produced The President's Analyst, a political satire. Admired by director Sam Peckinpah, who worked with him in Major Dundee (1965) and The Cross of Iron (1977), Coburn was given the opportunity to co-direct Peckinpah's 1978 film, Convoy.

In recent years, he has appeared opposite Mel Gibson in Maverick (1994) and Payback (1999), along side Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser (1996), and with Eddie Murphy in the hit The Nutty Professor. In 1998, after appearing in more than eighty films, Coburn gave his most acclaimed performance to date as "Glen Whitehouse," an abusive, alcoholic father in Paul Shrader's Affliction (1998), co-starring Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek.

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