# James Coburn Has Died **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2002, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468 "2002-11-19T05:03:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/21 "2002-11-19T15:23:42Z")
And No mention of The Great Escape! Philistines! ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/22 "2002-11-19T16:24:38Z")
Aw… merde. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/23 "2002-11-19T16:27:33Z")
**Tuckerfan** said: > [@](#): > > I can’t say that he was in any really great films I can. I think they’ve been mentioned, but if you haven’t seen 'em, run, do not walk, to the video store of your choice: _The Magnificent Seven The Great Escape Affliction_ There were other really good ones too (like the _Flint_ movies) but these stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/24 "2002-11-19T17:40:41Z")
I was always fond of his performance in Sergio Leone’s 1971 western _Duck, You Sucker_, in which he starred as an IRA explosives expert on the run in revolutionary Mexico. His Irish accent was awful, but he was very enjoyable nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/25 "2002-11-19T21:20:43Z")
Wow, he had a heart attack while listening to music with his wife. I wonder if it was the same song Nelson Rockefeller or John Garfield was listening to? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/26 "2002-11-20T01:09:55Z")
didn’t he have some primo babe for a wife? way to go, james! r.i.p. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/27 "2002-11-20T01:19:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handsomeharry \* > \*\*didn’t he have some primo babe for a wife? way to go, james! r.i.p. \*\* She’s not too [shabby](http://www.bmi.com/special/sundance2002/images/18.jpg), though it’s not a particularly flattering photo of her. ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/28 "2002-11-20T02:34:36Z")
Damn, hate that. Another one of the “men’s men.” RIP. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/29 "2002-11-20T04:03:11Z")
No one has mentioned him in _The Americanization of Emily_ yet. There too was an under-rated film. He was a very good actor., but yes, he was in some other great films. For God’s sake, One of the best war movies ever, _The Great Escape_, perhaps the greatest western ever _Magnificant Seven_, and two of the best send ups of the James Bond concept _Our Man Flint_ and _In like Flint_. This is in addition to such very good films as _The President’s Analyst, Affliction_ and _Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round._ ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/30 "2002-11-20T05:52:56Z")
Yes, I was upset when I saw the story in the paper this morning. A clip from _The President’s Analyst_: JC (a shrink, remember) and good guy Godfrey Cambridge are hiding behind an overturned desk in the midst of a battle (smoke, fire and bullets everywhere) as GC explains the fiendish plot. JC is angry enough to grab up a machine gun, leap on the desk, fire off a few dozen rounds, and shout: “Take that, you hostile bastards!” A great line from a great actor. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/31 "2002-11-20T08:10:53Z")
I don’t think _The President’s Analyst_ was one of the all time greats, but it would have been a shame if it hadn’t been made. “We’re all beautiful, Snow White.” I love that line. I know it wasn’t his. But it does capture what I liked about his humor – as out there as it needed to be. I’ve watched the Flint movies more times over the years than I can count. My kind of James Bond. I don’t ever remember him giving a bad performance. How many actors can say that? RIP, old buddy. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/32 "2002-11-20T08:11:04Z")
And remember, the bad guys with the fiendish plat turned out to be the phone company. Life imitates Art. Interesting, until eading more comments in this thread, I really hadn’t categorized Coburn as a “tough guy”. More as a very smooth, very together “cool” guy. With some real comic talent. In retrospect he was more of a “suave” tough guy. Like Pierce Brosnan is supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/33 "2002-11-20T10:34:47Z")
Pierce Brosnan. _–shaking head–_ Man, it’s amazing what we’ll put up with when we’ve forgotten what we’re missing… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/34 "2002-11-20T11:55:53Z")
I hear ya. I was really hestant to throw out the name, because I don’t think Brosnan is worthy of comparison with Coburn. But the Hollywood image builders _want_ him to be. But it’s like comparing an apple to a picture of an apple. ---
**Author:** ![lynn73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@lynn73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynn73)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/35 "2002-11-20T15:03:52Z")
☹ Doggone it, I didn’t know that! He was a good actor. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468/36 "2002-11-26T11:54:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimboguy \* > \*\*In retrospect he was more of a “suave” tough guy. Like Pierce Brosnan is supposed to be. \*\* Thanks for this insight, it struck an emotional chord. Coburn was the emotional, human, compassionate being one wishes Bond is. A personal hero, rather than an unstopable force. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-coburn-has-died/137468.md?page=1)