Rheumatoid Arthritis Support

Coburn's film debut came in 1959 as the sidekick to bad guy Pernell Roberts in the Randolph Scott western ''Ride Lonesome''. He appeared in dozens of television roles, including with Roberts, on several episodes of ''Bonanza''. He and Ralph Taeger co-starred with Joi Lansing in ''Klondike'' on NBC in the 1960–1961 season. When ''Klondike'', set in the Alaskan gold rush town of Skagway, was cancelled, Taeger and Coburn were regrouped as detectives in Mexico in NBC's equally short-lived ''Acapulco''.

Coburn became well known for his roles in the variety of action and western films in the 1960s and the 1970s, first primarily with Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson in two John Sturges films: ''The Magnificent Seven'' and ''The Great Escape''. A villainous Texan in the hugely successful ''Charade'' (1963), a glib naval officer in ''The Americanization of Emily'' (1964) and a character role as a one-armed Indian tracker in ''Major Dundee'' (1965) gained him much notice. In 1966, Coburn became a bona fide star with the release of ''Our Man Flint'', a James Bond spoof released by 20th Century Fox. In 1971, he starred in the western film ''A Fistful of Dynamite'', directed by Sergio Leone, as an Irish explosives expert and revolutionary who has fled to Mexico during the time of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th Century. He teamed with director Sam Peckinpah for the 1973 film ''Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid'' (they had worked together in 1965 on ''Major Dundee''). An MGM producer tried to sabotage the production, causing the film to be drastically edited when it opened. Peckinpah and Coburn were greatly disappointed and turned next to ''Cross of Iron'', a critically acclaimed war epic which performed poorly in the U.S. but was a huge hit in Europe. The two remained close friends until the director's death in 1984. In 1973, Coburn was one of the celebrities featured dressed in prison gear on the cover of the album ''Band On The Run'' made by Paul McCartney and his band Wings.

In 1978, Coburn, known for his deep, distinctive voice, made a beer commercial in which he walked into a bar and spoke only two words: "Schlitz Light." According to media reports at the time, that meant Coburn made more money per word than any actor in history. (Veteran film actor Kenneth Tobey played the bartender.)

Coburn returned to television in 1978 to star in a three-part mini-series version of a Dashiell Hammett detective novel, ''The Dain Curse'', tailoring his character to bear a physical resemblance to the author. Due to severe rheumatoid arthritis, Coburn appeared in very few films during the 1980s. Though his hands were visibly gnarled in film appearances for the final two decades of his career, Coburn continued working. He spent much of his time writing songs with British singer-songwriter Lynsey De Paul and doing television such as his work on Darkroom. He claimed to have healed himself with pills containing a sulfur-based compound. Coburn returned to film in the 1990s, and appeared in supporting roles in ''Young Guns II'', ''Hudson Hawk'', ''Sister Act 2'', ''Maverick'', ''Eraser'', ''The Nutty Professor'', ''Affliction'', and ''Payback''. Coburn's role as Glen Whitehouse in the film ''Affliction'' earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, and the Independent Spirit Awards.


Adapted from the Wikipedia article James Coburn, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki