Joe Don Baker

Joe Don Baker (born February 12, 1936) is an American character actor and a life member of the Actors Studio. He established himself as an action star with supporting roles as a mysterious cowboy drifter in Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), and as a deputy sheriff in the western Wild Rovers (1971), before receiving fame for his roles as a mafia hitman in Charley Varrick (1973), real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in the action film Walking Tall (1973), a brute force detective in Mitchell (1975), deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice (1985), and police chief Jerry Karlin in the action-comedy Fletch (1985). He is also known for his appearances as both a villain and an ally in three James Bond films: as Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights (1987) and as CIA Agent Jack Wade in GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Life and career Baker was born in Groesbeck, Texas, the son of Edna (née McDonald) and Doyle Charles Baker. He attended the North Texas State College in Denton and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1958. He served in the United States Army. During the 1963–64 Broadway season, he appeared on stage in Marathon '33 at the ANTA Theatre in New York City. His career had its roots in television, though he did appear in several movies, including an uncredited part in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke. He appeared in many television series, graduating to featured guest roles in such series as The Big Valley (in which he played a Harvard-educated Native American with a penchant for fighting) and Mod Squad (where he appeared as an illiterate vending machine robber). He was the title character in the 1971 TV movie Mongo's Back in Town, starring Telly Savalas.