James Harrison Coburn III was born on the 31st August 1928, in Laurel, Nebraska USA, and was an actor was widely known for his roles in cult westerns as well as action movies such as “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), “Hell is for Heroes” (1962), “The Great Escape” (1963), “Major Dundee” (1965) and “Eraser” (1996). He passed away in November 2002.
Have you ever wondered how much wealth this Hollywood’s “tough-guy” accumulated for life? How rich James Coburn was? According to sources, it is estimated that the total amount of Coburn’s net worth, as of late 2016, would be over $10 million. It was acquired through his 45 year-long acting career in which he recorded over 170 acting credits, including movies and TV series.
James Coburn Net Worth $10 million
James was born to Mylet and James Harrison Coburn Jr. and was of American, Swedish, Scottish and Irish descent. Although he was born in Laurel, Nebraska, James grew up in Compton, California where he matriculated from Compton Junior College. He then moved to Los Angeles, California where he enrolled at Los Angeles City College and later at the University of Southern California where he studied acting. In 1950 he joined the US Army, serving as a truck driver, radio host and public information officer. In 1955, after his military service ended, James transferred to New York City, where he began studying acting under the master teacher Stella Adler. Some of his first acting roles included appearances in the dramatic studio TV series “Studio One in Hollywood” and “General Electric Theatre”.
After several years, James relocated to Los Angeles again, in order to pursue his acting career full time, and where he got roles in “Wagon Train”, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” TV series. These engagements traced the path for James Coburn’s acting career and provided the basis for his net worth.
James Coburn’s big screen debut occurred in 1959 when he appeared in “Ride Lonesome”. Just a year later, he got the role of Brit, the knife expert, in John Sturges’ legendary western – “The Magnificent Seven”, alongside Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson and Robert Vaughn. During the course of the next several years, James Coburn managed to maintain a continuous streak of acting engagements, including roles in “The Rifleman”, “Perry Mason” and “Bonanza”. In 1963, James collaborated with John Sturges again, this time in the historical drama about WWII prisoners of war – “The Great Escape”. It is certain that all these roles significantly increased James Coburn’s overall net worth by a large margin.
James Coburn’s career reached its peak in the 1960s and 1970s when he played some of his most notable roles – “Charade” (1963), “The Americanization of Emily” (1964), and “Major Dundee” (1965). In 1966, James Coburn starred in “Our Man Flint”, a James Bond parody movie which earned him a large dose of popularity – he was ranked No. 12 on Hollywood’s biggest star list. In 1971, James appeared as an Irish revolutionary and an explosive expert in Sergio Leone‘s western “Duck, You Sucker!”. Doubtlessly, all these engagements increased the popularity of James Coburn as well as his overall wealth.
During the 1980s James Coburn appeared in fewer movies, due to severe rheumatoid arthritis. Despite the pain, he returned to filming in the 1990s and played several supporting roles in movies including “Maverick” (1994) opposite Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson, “Eraser” (1996) featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and “The Nutty Professor” (1996) with Eddie Murphy in the leading roles (yes, roles!). For his role of Glen Whitehouse in the 1997 drama “Affliction”, James Coburn was honored with Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. One of the last James’ roles included a voice acting “appearance” in Pixar’s animated comedy “Monsters, Inc.” (2001). All these roles positively impacted James Coburn’s overall wealth.
When it comes to his personal life, James Coburn was a real gear head – he had an impressive collection of unique, expensive and rare cars. His personal garage featured Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, Ferrari Daytona, Ferrari 308, Ferrari 412P and Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California SWB. The latter, 13th out of just 56 produced, was restored and sold in an auction for over $10 million to British broadcaster Chris Evans.
James Coburn was married to Beverly Kelly, with whom he had one child, between 1959 and 1979 when they split. From 1993 to his death in 2002, James was married to Paula O’Hara. James Coburn passed away on the 18th November 2002, in Beverly Hills, California after a heart attack at the age of 74.
Full Name
James Coburn
Net Worth
$10 Million
Date Of Birth
August 31, 1928
Died
November 18, 2002
Place Of Birth
, Laurel, Nebraska, United States
Height
1.88 m
Profession
Actor
Education
El Camino College Compton Center, Los Angeles City College
Nationality
American
Spouse
Paula Murad Coburn (m. 1993–2002), Beverly Kelly (m. 1959–1979)
Children
James H. Coburn IV, Lisa Coburn
Parents
James Harrison Coburn, Mylet S. Coburn
IMDB
Awards
Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominations
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Movies
The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Our Man Flint, Cross of Iron, In Like Flint, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Duck, You Sucker!, Affliction, Charade, Monsters, Inc., The President's Analyst, Snow Dogs, The Nutty Professor, Major Dundee, Maverick, Ride Lonesome, Hard Times, Hudson Hawk, Harry ...
TV Shows
Captain Planet and the Planeteers, The Fifth Corner, Darkroom, Acapulco, Klondike
[on Stella Adler] Stella taught us that without style, without personality, you're just a stick out there.
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[on winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Affliction (1997)] I finally got one right, I guess.
3
Sam [Sam Peckinpah] was a mad genius. He would shove you right over into the abyss and sometime he would jump right in after you.
4
I meditate, I take good care of myself, sure. I don't get too involved in the details.
5
I came from dust bowl folk -- ordinary people who were stultified by the American Dream.
6
I'm a jazz kind of actor, not rock'n'roll.
7
[on Hard Contract (1969)] I was really unhappy with that film, because the fellow that directed it was also the writer. Now, he's a brilliant writer, but he was a terrible director. And he did so many things that were wrong, just out of pure ego, that he drove us all up the wall.
8
[on Steve McQueen] Steve has to prove he had a worse childhood than anybody else. Only one other person I know can compete with him and that's Charles Bronson.
9
[on Sam Peckinpah] He knew how to bring something out of an actor that even the actor didn't know was there. That's what an actor works for. What else is there? Saying lines, or being cute, or whatever. No. People think about that. People think that acting is an easy chore. "Why, I can do that". Like they have today. Tits and ass, and this studio who's always doing his trip. Shooting and killing and blowing things up. Nah. That's junk. It's terrible junk. Commercial shit is what it is. And everybody likes it because it's easy. Nobody has to think about anything. They just sit there and sensitize themselves or desensitize themselves to anything real. And it's, "Oh boy! Wasn't he great? See that gun he had?" They're made for thirteen-, fourteen-year-old boys.
10
[on Sam Peckinpah] Sam is, I think, a great filmmaker. Of course, he's his own worst enemy. Sam is an unusual human being, and he needs to be treated like an unusual human being. He can create an atmosphere, whether he's drunk, sober, pissed off or in a rage, or whatever. I mean, for about three or four hours a day, he's a fucking genius. But the rest of the time he spends wallowing in a kind of emotional reaction to either good or bad memories.
11
Actors are boring when they are not working. It's a natural condition, because they don't have anything to do. They just lay around, and that's why so many of them get drunk. They really get to be boring people. My wife will attest to that.
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Fact
1
Gained an Associate of Arts from Compton Junior College in 1950, before being drafted into the Army. Then on his return from service in Germany, he studied acting at Los Angeles City College, (along with Robert Vaughn) and improvisation at Jeff Corey's Professional Actors Workshop. One of his colleagues there was James Dean. He did not study at UCLA.
2
Has a granddaughter named Jayn Coburn who is the daughter of his son James H. Coburn IV.
Became good friends with Kris Kristofferson during the filming of Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973). They also worked together on Convoy (1978) and Payback (1999). Coburn contributed with backup vocals on Kristofferson's album "Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame".
5
During the 1960s he was often compared with Lee Marvin.
6
Was the original choice for the role of Hannibal Smith in The A-Team (1983), a role which later went to George Peppard.
7
For a time he did ads for "Schlitz" beer. Later after the contract was finished he admitted on a talk show that he never liked the taste of the beer.
Despite being one of the stars, he had only eleven lines in The Magnificent Seven (1960).
10
Was a big fan of Seven Samurai (1954). His favorite character in that film eventually became the character he ended up playing in The Magnificent Seven (1960).
He co-wrote two songs with Lynsey de Paul, "Melancholy Melon" and "Losin' the Blues for You" that appeared on her album "Tigers and Fireflies".
17
Appears on the cover of Paul McCartney's 1973 album "Band on the Run".
18
Along with his The Magnificent Seven (1960) co-star, Steve McQueen, Coburn was a pallbearer at the funeral of his friend (and his martial arts instructor), Bruce Lee, on July 31, 1973 in Seattle, Washington.
19
Became a father for the 1st time at age 32 when his 1st wife Beverly Kelly gave birth to their son James H. Coburn IV on May 22, 1961.
20
In 1979, Coburn started suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis, which left him debilitated at times. In 1998, a holistic healer started him on a dietary supplement, which resulted in a drastic improvement in his condition.
