Lanky, charismatic and versatile actor with an amazing grin that put
everyone at ease, James Coburn studied acting at UCLA, and then moved
to New York to study under noted acting coach
Stella Adler. After being noticed in
several stage productions, Coburn appeared in a handful of minor
westerns before being cast as the knife-throwing, quick-shooting Britt
in the John Sturges mega-hit
Die glorreichen Sieben (1960).
Sturges remembered Coburn's talents when he cast his next major film
project,
Gesprengte Ketten (1963), where
Coburn played the Australian POW Sedgwick. Regular work now came thick
and fast for Coburn, including appearing in
Sierra Charriba (1965), the first of
several films he appeared in directed by Hollywood enfant terrible
Sam Peckinpah.
Coburn was then cast, and gave an especially fine performance as Lt. Commander Paul Cummings in Arthur Hiller's The Americanization of Emily, where he demonstrated a flair for writer Paddy Chayefsky's subtle, ironic comedy that would define his performances for the rest of his career.
The next two years were a
key period for Coburn, with his performances in the wonderful 007 spy
spoof Derek Flint schickt seine Leiche (1966) and the
eerie
Immer wenn er Dollars roch (1966).
Coburn followed up in 1967 with a Flint sequel,
Derek Flint - hart wie Feuerstein (1967), and the much
underrated political satire
Jagt Dr. Sheefer (1967).
The remainder of the 1960s was rather uneventful for Coburn. However,
he became associated with martial arts legend
Bruce Lee and the two trained
together, traveled extensively and even visited India scouting
locations for a proposed film project, but Lee's untimely death
(Coburn, along with Steve McQueen,
was a pallbearer at Lee's funeral) put an end to that.
The 1970s saw Coburn appearing again in several strong roles, starting
off in Peckinpah's
Pat Garrett jagt Billy the Kid (1973),
alongside Charles Bronson in the
Depression-era Ein stahlharter Mann (1975) and
as a disenchanted German soldier on the Russian front in Peckinpah's
superb Steiner - Das Eiserne Kreuz (1977).
Towards the end of the decade, however, Coburn was diagnosed with
rheumatoid arthritis, which severely hampered his health and work
output for many years. After conventional treatments failed, Coburn
turned to a holistic therapist, and through a restructured diet
program, made a definite improvement. By the 1990s he was once again
appearing regularly in both film and TV productions.
No one was probably more surprised than Coburn himself when he was both
nominated for, and then won, the Best Supporting Actor Award in 1997
for playing Nick Nolte's abusive and
alcoholic father in Der Gejagte (1997).
At 70 years of age, Coburn's career received another shot in the arm,
and he appeared in another 14 films, including
Snow Dogs - Acht Helden auf vier Pfoten (2002) and
Ein Mann für geheime Stunden (2001),
before his death from a heart attack in November of 2002. Coburn's
passions in life included martial arts, card-playing and enjoying
Cuban cigars (which may have contributed to his fatal heart attack).
