Dabney Coleman
Dabney Coleman
Dabney Wharton Colemanis an American actor best known for roles in the films On Golden Pond, 9 to 5, Cloak & Dagger, Tootsie, WarGames, You've Got Mail and on television as Burton Fallin on the CBS series The Guardian, Louis "The Commodore" Kaestner on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, the title character in the NBC series Buffalo Bill and the voice of Principal Prickly in the animated series Recess...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth3 January 1932
CityAustin, TX
CountryUnited States of America
There is something about New York City that in and of itself is so theatrical hat I use to think... I use to feel when I walked out of my apartment on the way to school or anywhere that I was walking out on stage.
I have a theory about that, if you have to say something, if you have encourage for one second a prospective acting student - he should not go in to acting.
But movies as much as anything developed what I thought was right and wrong, what was honorable, what wasn't, what was funny what wasn't... what had some depth to it, what didn't.
I got into it for selfish reasons. To just do my thing. To learn how to do and to just do it. It was just a very exciting idea, of doing that.
No not pigeon holed me as an actor, or as a character, or as to what I could do - but what I would do... and the fact is the things you don't do are almost as important as as the things that you do.
I think most directors cast, after a certain period, cast actors because they trust that actor, they know that actor, they know what he can do.
I think is very beneficial to relax yourself so that when you are doing it you are not staggering for lines and your concentration is not on what I am going to say - but the scene itself, the character that you are talking to.
Well Sid Pollack was... He was I would say probably, probably the most influential on me.
I'm convinced that the place, if you have your druthers, to go to have that experience is New York City.
But I did make some money doing commercials. I did fourteen in one year.
Then they made an extra out of me and I stood around in a crowd, but I got paid for an actor job, not an extra. And that was my first part.
And it just made me realize again because I have know it for some time, that you never get comfortable in this. No matter who you are. No matter who... how successful you are.