James Coburn (1928-2002) was born James Harrison Coburn III in Laural, Nebraska. He was raised in Compton, California, and attended Compton Junior College before enlisting (being drafted) into the Army. He was a truck driver in the Army and an occasional disc jockey at an Army radio station in Texas. He also narrated Army training films. After the Army, he went back to college and studied acting.
He made his stage debut at the La Jolla Playhouse in Herman Melville's "Billy Bud". He was also selected for a Remington razor commercial. He joked that he got the part because he had more teeth to show than the other candidates. He got his first film break in 1959 in "Ride Lonesome". It was a Randolph Scott film and Coburn was the sidekick of Pernell Roberts (of Bonanza-Coburn was later a guest actor on Bonanza several times). He ended up making many TV appearences in many venues to include westerns, mysteries, detective shows, and was even on "Perry Mason" two times. He once played the gong on "The Tonight Show" starring Johnny Carson. He was the voice of the Chevrolet "Like a Rock" ad campaign. He even appeared on the cover of Paul McCartney's 1973 album "Band on the Run". He did ads for Schlitz Beer, and after the contract was over, he admitted that he never did really like the taste of the beer.
He developed arthritis and didn't film much in the 1980's. He tried regular medicine, but had no success. He tried a sulphur based remedy, and later pronounced himself cured, as there was no pain and he returned to films.
He was good friends with Bruce Lee and served as a pallbearer at his funeral-along with Steve McQueen. He was also good friends with Robert Vaughn. They were college buddies. Vaughn starred in the "Man From U.N.C.L.E." series. Incidentally, his co-star in that series is now "Dr. Ducky Mallard" in NCIS.
He had a personal quote on actors. "Actors are boring when they are not working. It is a natural condition because they don't have anything to do. They just lay around, and that's why so many of them get drunk. They really get to be boring people. My wife will attest to that."
Some of his non-westerns are: "Hell is for Heroes", "The Great Escape", "Our Man Flint", "In Like Flint", "Eraser", "Affection", "The President's Analyst", and "Cross of Iron".
Some of his westerns are: "The Magnificent Seven", "Duck, You Sucker", "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", "Major Dundee", "The Californians", "Bite the Bullet", "Maverick", "The Last Hard Men", and "Waterhole #3".
Congrats to Jollymon9999 for the FTF!!