Walking Tall

Background:

Getting his start in acting as an uncredited character in the 1967 film starring Paul Newman ''Cool Hand Luke,'' Joe Don Baker received broad attention while playing Steve McQueen's wheeler-dealer younger brother in the western film ''Junior Bonner'' (1972). He subsequently starred in such films as ''Walking Tall'' (1973), "Charley Varrick" (1973), "Framed" (1975), "Fletch" (1985), "Cape Fear" (1991), "Mars Attacks!" (1996), and "The Dukes of Hazzard" (2005).

The Texas-born also appeared in three James Bond films, as the villain Brad Whitaker in ''The Living Daylights'' (1987; starring Timothy Dalton as the fictional British secret agent), and then as Bond's CIA contact Jack Wade in ''GoldenEye'' (1995) and ''Tomorrow Never Dies'' (1997; both starring Pierce Brosnan as the ultra-suave 007 agent). He will next be seen in an upcoming Adam Sandler-produced comedy film titled "Strange Wilderness," starring Steve Zahn.

As for his TV works, the 6' 2½" rugged, burly character actor was widely remembered while playing the titular role of an NYPD chief of detectives on NBC short-lived crime/drama series "Eischied" (1979-1980). He also appeared recurringly in Carroll O'Connor's place, as Capt. Tom Dugan (1989), on NBC/CBS crime drama series ''In the Heat of the Night'' while O'Connor was recovering from open heart surgery.

Texas Root

Childhood and Family:

In Groesbeck, Texas, Joe Don Baker was born on February 12, 1936, to Doyle Charles Baker and Edna Baker. He attended University of North Texas (now known as the University of North Texas), Denton, Texas, and received his BBA in 1958. He is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.

Upon completing military service, he headed for New York City and joined the Actors Studio.

On Christmas in 1969, Baker married Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres, but now they have divorced.

Eischied

Career:

After serving in the army, Joe Don Baker honed his craft at the Actors Studio in New York City. He made his Broadway debut in 1963 in the play "Marathon 33," and followed it up in the next year with a well-received performance in James Baldwin's "Blues For Mister Charlie," helmed by Burgess Meredith. After guest spots in a 1965 episode of ABC crime drama series "Honey West" and a 1967 episode of the ABC legal drama "Judd for the Defense," he eventually landed on the big screen, playing an uncredited role as Fixer in Stuart Rosenberg's Oscar-winning adaptation of Donn Pearce's novel, "Cool Hand Luke" (1967; starring Paul Newman).

Following his film debut, Baker would spend most of the late 1960s and early 1970s on television, guest-starring in a string of TV shows, including ABC crime drama "Felony Squad," NBC western/cowboy series "Bonanza," CBS western drama "Gunsmoke," ABC western "The Big Valley," "Lancer," ABC cop drama "The Mod Squad," NBC's "Bracken's World," ABC crime drama "The F.B.I.," ABC's "The Most Deadly Game," NBC western "The High Chaparral," and CBS espionage series "Mission: Impossible."

He also made his TV-movie debut in the novel-based "Mongo's Back in Town" (1971), playing the titular professional gunman, opposite Telly Savalas, Sally Field and Martin Sheen. Meanwhile, he co-starred in three films, Paul Wendkos' western "Guns of the Magnificent Seven" (1969; starring George Kennedy), as one of the "seven" members, Robert Scheerer's coming-of-age drama "Adam at Six A.M." (1970; starring Michael Douglas), and writer/director Blake Edwards' western "Wild Rovers" (1971; with William Holden, Ryan O'Neal and Karl Malden).

In 1972, Baker really attracted attention as Steve McQueen's entrepreneur and real-estate developer brother Curly Bonner in director Sam Peckinpah's western and melodrama film, "Junior Bonner." On working with Peckinpah on the film, Baker recalled, ''I didn't care for Peckinpah at all. He was one of those little guys who tries to bully big guys and he almost got his ass whipped for trying to do it to me. Every time I was going to throttle Peckinpah, Steve McQueen would come over and calm me down like a brother would.''

In the following year, Baker scored his most memorable role as the real-life Tennessee hero Sheriff Buford Pusser, a former professional wrestler-turned lawman, in Phil Karlson's semi-biopic "Walking Tall" (1973), an extremely violent film that went on to huge box office success and spawned a sequel and a television series. That same year, he was cast as an amoral killer/mafia named Molly, opposite Walter Matthau's small-time bank robber, in Don Siegel's crime film "Charley Varrick," based on the novel "The Looters" by John Reese.

Baker reteamed with "Walking Tall" director Phil Karlson and writer Mort Briskin for the even more venal film inspired by Mike Misenheimer's novel, "Framed" (1975), in which he played the lead role of a dull-witted gambler who makes a bloody revenge on the mayor and the police commissioner who have framed him and put him in jail. Three years later, he originated the role of Eischied, an NYPD chief of detectives, in the NBC miniseries based on Robert Daley's novel, "To Kill a Cop," and later reprised his role in its series version, "Eischied," which made him the first actor to receive $1,000,000 to star in a television series. Unfortunately, the show was short-lived, having only 13 episodes during its run from September 21, 1979 to January 20, 1980.

The 1980s saw Baker portraying a fictionalized version of Babe Ruth called The Whammer who was struck out by the young Roy Hobbs (played by Robert Redford), in Barry Levinson's film adaption of the 1952 baseball novel, "The Natural" (1984), playing a sinister police chief behind the drug trafficking on Los Angeles' beaches in Michael Ritchie's comedy film based on the popular Gregory Mcdonald novels, "Fletch" (1985; opposite Chevy Chase), and offering a stunning performance as CIA agent Darius Jedburgh, an associate of Harcourt (played by Ian McNeice) and Pendleton (played by Charles Kay), in the BBC drama/thriller miniseries "Edge of Darkness" (1985), which won numerous British awards including a BAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Actor for Baker. He also supported Beau Bridges and Kiefer Sutherland in Rick King's thriller film "The Killing Time" (1987), and played a determined sheriff who nailed the kidnappers of an Olympic biathlete in the NBC movie "The Abduction of Kari Swenson" (1987).

In 1987, Baker got the role of the villain Brad Whitaker, an international black market arms dealer from the U.S. who was fascinated by war and whose actual military career was a failure, in the James Bond film ''The Living Daylights'' (1987; starring Timothy Dalton as the fictional British secret agent). He would later returned to the Bond series in 1995 and 1997, this time playing Bond's ally Jack Wade, 007's CIA contact, in ''GoldenEye'' and ''Tomorrow Never Dies,'' both of which starring Pierce Brosnan as the ultra-suave Bond. Meanwhile, in 1989, Baker appeared recurringly in Carroll O'Connor's place, as Capt. Tom Dugan, a retired police captain, on NBC/CBS crime drama series ''In the Heat of the Night'' while O'Connor was recovering from open heart surgery.

Entering the new decade, Baker was cast as Claude Kersek, the private investigator hired by a former Atlanta public defender (Nick Nolte) to protect his family from a recently-released ex-convict (Robert De Niro), in the Martin Scorsese Oscar-nominated remake of the 1962 movie, "Cape Fear" (1992), played Senator Joe McCarthy in the HBO Golden Globe-nominated biopic about the brutal genius who destroyed some of the most powerful people in America and later died of complications from AIDS, "Citizen Cohn" (1992; starring James Woods in title role), and portrayed Junius Candle, the Sheriff of the town, in Charles Matthau's film version of Truman Capote's 1951 novel, "The Grass Harp" (1995).

He was also cast as the redneck father of Jack Black's Billy Glen and Lukas Haas' Richie in Tim Burton's sci-fi comedy movie based on the popular card series of the same name, "Mars Attacks!" (1996), and portrayed Big Jim Folsom in the TNT miniseries "George Wallace" (1997; starring Gary Sinese in title role), which earned him a CableACE nomination for Supporting Actor in a Movie or Miniseries and a Golden Satellite Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

In 2001, Baker starred as the dying father of three girls (Erika Eleniak, Monika Schnarre and Brenda Epperson Doumani) who embark on a journey to clear their late sister's (Carrie Stevens) name and solve what they believe to be her murder, in the erotic thriller "Vegas, City of Dreams," and had a cameo role as Brittany Daniel's dad in the comedy film starring David Spade, "Joe Dirt."

Afterwards, he portrayed Rep. Hale Boggs in Mark Sobel's historical drama "The Commission" (2003; with Martin Landau, Sam Waterston, Martin Sheen and Edward Asner), and played Governor Jim Applewhite in the film version of the hit classic TV series, "The Dukes of Hazzard" (2005; with Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson and Burt Reynolds). Next, he will be seen in an upcoming Adam Sandler-produced comedy film titled "Strange Wilderness," directed by Fred Wolf and stars Steve Zahn and Allen Covert.

Awards:
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