James coburn biography our man flint

American actor (1928–2002)

For other people named James Coburn, see James Coburn (disambiguation).

James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.

Coburn was a perfect tough guy in numerous leading roles in Westerns and action films. He played supporting roles in The Magnificent Seven, Hell Is for Heroes, The Great Escape, Charade and Hard Times as well as the lead role in Our Man Flint and its sequel In Like Flint, The President's Analyst, Duck, You Sucker!, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and Cross of Iron. In 1998, Coburn won an Academy Award for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction. In 2002, he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries nomination for producing The Mists of Avalon.

During the New Hollywood era, he cultivated an image synonymous with "cool".

Early life

James Harrison Coburn III was born in Laurel, Nebraska, on August 31, 1928, the son of James Harrison Coburn II and Mylet S. Coburn (née Johnson). His father and

1966 film by Daniel Mann

Our Man Flint is a 1966 American spy-ficomedy film that parodies the James Bond film series. The film was directed by Daniel Mann, written by Hal Fimberg and Ben Starr (from a story by Hal Fimberg), and starred James Coburn as master spy Derek Flint. A sequel, In Like Flint, was released the following year, with Coburn reprising his role.

Plot

Spy extraordinaire Derek Flint is an ex-agent of Z.O.W.I.E. (Zonal Organization World Intelligence Espionage) who is brought out of retirement to deal with the threat of Galaxy, a worldwide organization led by a trio of mad scientists: Doctor Krupov, Doctor Wu, and Doctor Schneider. Impatient that the world's governments will never improve, the scientists demand that all nations capitulate to Galaxy. To enforce their demands, they initiate earthquakes, volcanoes, storms, and other natural disasters with their climate-control apparatus to force countries to dissolve their armed forces and stop using nuclear power to generate electricity.

Initially reluctant, Flint decides to take them on after a preemptive assassination attempt by Galaxy's section head, Gila, who replaces a restaurant's harpist while Flint is dining with his four live-in "playmates" — Leslie, Anna, Gina, and Sakito. Gila uses a harp string as a bow to fire a poisoned dart, which misses Flint but hits his former boss, Cramden.

Flint squeezes the poison out of the wound, saving Cramden's life. A chemical trace on the dart directs Flint to Marseille for bouillabaisse. In one of Marseille's lowest clubs, he stages a brawl to gain information from "famous" Agent 0008, which leads him to a narcotics trade which is financing Galaxy.

Galaxy agent Hans Gruber is in the club enjoying his favorite soup while waiting to rendezvous with Gila. Instead, Gila sends Gruber to ambush Flint in the lavatory. Flint ends up killing Gruber in a toilet stall while Gila escapes, leaving behind a cold c

"When it came down to the second half of the Seventies, there were a lot more drugs," says James IV frankly. "I don't think my dad wanted to sit around and do drugs. I think my mother did." Turning 50, he settled in a bungalow in Sherman Oaks with a home bar and a couple of snooker tables and embarked on his rebound years. "He never had a problem getting chicks," says James IV. "He had a house in the Valley, he was a movie star, he drove around in a Ferrari. It was a Good. Steady.

Flow. 'You never have to worry about chicks, kiddo,' he'd say.

'There's always another one.'" "He did fine," confirms Lisa. "His choices weren't always so good, but he did fine."

This was the start of a dark time for Coburn. In 1980 he lost his great pal Steve McQueen to cancer and noticed a strange stinging in his wrists which turned out to be rheumatoid arthritis. Within a year the pain was so great, he could barely get out of bed. His father had also suffered from the disease, but Coburn preferred to blame it on the negative emotions stirred up by his divorce. "I was raging inside," he said, "and it turned me to stone." "I remember those days because they were sad in a way," says Messa, who was the closest of Coburn's male friends. "He was hurting and nobody was around. This town, people see someone in his shape and whoosh." "People thought he was dead," says James IV. Instead, Coburn found comfort in his spiritual interests.

When playing drums proved too painful, Messa customised a bamboo flute with a rubber tube so he could still play. It was a particularly cruel irony that this most graceful and physically expressive of actors - Sight and Sound magazine devoted a whole article to his gestures alone - should wind up with his hands so gnarled.

He finally alleviated the disease with an experimental electromagnetic treatment,

Available now:

This is the biography, authorized by his Estate, of “cool cat”, actor James Coburn – his career, romances, & spirituality. Thoroughly researched, with unparalleled access to old friends and family, including his son, James H. Coburn IV, and daughter, Lisa Coburn, the book’s foundation is his own words in the form of letters, interviews, and most especially his previously unpublished memoirs that he recorded in the months before his passing in 2002. There is no other Coburn biography yet in existence.

James Coburn was an individualist – charismatic, humorous, opinionated, loving, pragmatic and stoic, but above all a deeply thoughtful actor. The arc of his almost 50-year career was early success, a long ride at the top, a crash and struggle through his later life, then a final Renaissance, both personally and professionally, in his last decade. All the while he strove to attain not just mastery of his craft, his art form, but also spiritual enlightenment, through explorations into alternative philosophies. He was "New Age" before it had a name.

His professional life was highlighted by brilliant friendships, and an extraordinary level of respect and affection from his colleagues and associates. His personal life embodied not one, but two love stories for the ages, marked by romance, sensuality, poetry and devotion. And then there were some affairs along the way. 

He was a passionate aficionado of classical music, jazz, and luxury sports cars. His work spanned the gamut of beloved classics (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Charade, Our Man Flint, The Twilight Zone -"The Old Man in the Cave"), intellectually challenging pieces (The President's Analyst, The Last of Sheila), and frankly mediocre projects, where he was the best thing in them. Interestingly, his films helped lead the dismantling of the notorious Production Code and usher in the ratings system that we know today. Fe