The veteran actor is best known for his roles in the comedies You’ve Got Mail, 9 to 5, and Tootsie.
Family friend Alison Martino was told that he had died at the age of 92, according to Extra.
Her post about the late actor was shared on social media.
Alison shared several pictures of herself and Dabney, some from 2007 and others from 2014 and 2022.
“My Father, Dabney Wharton Coleman, took his last earthly breath peacefully and exquisitely in his home on Thursday, May 16th, 2024 at 1:50 PM,” the actor’s daughter, Quincy Coleman, told TMZ.
My father crafted his time here on earth with a curious mind, a generous heart, and a soul on fire with passion, desire, and humor that tickled the funny bone of humanity,” she said.
“As he lived, he moved through this last act of his life with elegance, excellence, and mastery,” Quincy said.
“A teacher, 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… eternally.”
It was recently reported that the actor had been sick.
His doctor told him not to go to an autograph show at the Chiller Theatre in New Jersey in April, so he didn’t.
One fan wrote on Twitter, “RIP Dabney Coleman, 92.”
“I knew this was going to happen when he pulled out of Chiller Theatre at the last minute because his doctor told him to,” they said. Very good actor.
Another fan wrote, “Was a great actor who could play any role.”
He was nominated for six Emmys over the course of his 60-year career, and won one for his work in Sworn to Silence in 1987.
In 1988, Dabney won a Golden Globe for her role in The Slap Maxwell Story. Later, she and the cast of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire won two SAG Awards.
The prolific actor had almost 200 acting credits before he died. His last acknowledged movie role was in Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner.
EARLY LIFE
Coleman was born on January 3, 1932, in Austin, Texas. He was the youngest of four children.
When he was 4, his father died of pneumonia, leaving his mother to raise the family in Corpus Christi.
After two years at the Virginia Military Institute, Dabney served in the U.S. Army’s Special Services Division for another year. He then went back to Austin to study law at the University of Texas.
Even though Dabney was nice in real life, she made a living playing bad guys in movies and on TV.
CAREER IN ACTING
In a 1961 episode of Naked City, he spoke for the first time on screen. But people didn’t get to see the actor’s grumpy side until 1976’s satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, where he played Ohio Mayor Merle Jeeter.
He talked about his big break in an interview with The A.V. Club in 2012.
His job, which was only supposed to last six episodes, was “the turning point” of his career and “probably the best thing” he had ever done, he said.
Dabney said that Jeeter was “just wonderful, just a once-in-a-lifetime character.”
He went on, “[Jeeter] was the worst person ever…” That’s where people first thought I could do comedy, especially as that negative, mean, cynical guy. That was something I was pretty good at.
In the workplace comedy 9 to 5, Dabney played the sexist boss Franklin Hart Jr., which was another bad guy role for him.
The comedy from 1980 starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton in her first movie role.
“All of them were well-known,” Dabney said of his co-stars.
“Look at this guy coming off of Mary Hartman,” he said, then joked, “which isn’t too bad.”
“But it was late-night TV.” In any case, what I mean is that they all went out of their way to treat me equally. It can’t be said any other way.
In David A. Dabney’s Tootsie, Dustin Hoffman played a sexist TV director who dates an actress, Jessica Lange, on his soap opera, Southwest General.
It was asked of the actor by Vulture in 2010 if he was proud to have helped make TV “safe for jerky lead characters.”
“I enjoy taking on those roles.” “You get to do crazy things, things you probably want to do in real life but don’t because you’re a good person,” Dabney replied.
He said, “There are no-holds-barred when you’re playing [jerks] – I couldn’t imagine anyone not loving playing those parts.”
Dabney had four children. He was married twice and divorced twice.
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