Dabney Coleman Dies: ‘Tootsie,’ ‘9 to 5’ And ‘Mary Hartman’ Actor Was 92

Emmy-winner Dabney Coleman — whose six-decade career included a sterling run of hit movies in the ’80s such as 9 to 5, On Golden Pond and Tootsie and whose TV work included everything from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman to Yellowstone — has died, according to TMZ. He was 92.

Coleman’s career began with appearances on early-’60s TV staples such as Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare and The Outer Limits. Through the decade and into the ’70s he continued to be cast on episodes of some of TV most popular shows, with longer arcs on The Fugitive and That Girl.

His big break came with Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman in 1976, where he was cast as Merle Jeeter TK explain character’s place on show. Coleman appeared in nearly half of the show’s 325 episodes, and also on the spinoffs Fernwood Tonight and Forever Fernwood. But it was in the early ’80s that Coleman Broke through with a series of film roles, beginning with a small part in Jonathan Demme’s Melvin & Howard.

The actor then appeared in a series of cultural touchstones. In 1980, he played the egotistical, misogynistic boss Frank Hart in 9 to 5who made the lives of his female employees miserable. Amid the women’s movement, a recession and changing mores, the film hit a nerve and made not just Coleman a star, but turbo-charged the careers of Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton.

Coleman appeared opposite Fonda and her father, Henry, the following year in another buzzy movie, On Golden Pond. The film won the elder Fonda and Katherine Hepburn Oscars alongside Ernest Thompson, who took Best Writing (as it was then called).

In 1982, Coleman was again a part of the zeitgeist playing what seemed a less awful version of his 9 to 5 character in Sydney Pollack’s Tootsie.

He won an Emmy in 1987 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for his role Sworn to Silence.

MORE TO COME…