I never used to count Dabney Coleman among the actors I always look forward to seeing in something, but over the years I’ve come to appreciate him more and more, and he’s been featured more than once here in The Back Row! Coleman is a legendary character actor who’s been working in movies and TV since the 60’s, amassing a resume that includes well over 100 titles – and he’s still working today! Coleman got his start playing small roles in TV series like The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, I Dream of Jeannie, The Mod Squad, Bonanza, and Kojak. As the 70’s progressed, Coleman made the transition to film and started appearing in bit parts in films including The Towering Inferno and Rolling Thunder. In the 1980’s he began to gain serious recognition thanks to a string of memorable roles – as the sexist boss in Nine to Five, as Ron Carlisle in Tootsie, as McKittrick in Wargames, in a dual role in The Muppets Take Manhattan, and as the imaginary secret agent Jack Flack in Cloak & Dagger! Coleman’s role in Dragnet also brought him a lot of recognition, and since then he’s acted in too much stuff to attempt to list here, with notable titles including The Beverly Hillbillies, You’ve Got Mail, Inspector Gadget, Stuart Little, and Domino, to name but a few. His most recent role was as the Commodore on Boardwalk Empire, which really showed off Coleman’s tremendous acting talent. He’s certainly a guy who’s done it all! Dabney Coleman turns 80 today.