MovieChat Forums > James Coburn Discussion > Just read his biography, and I'm kind of...

Just read his biography, and I'm kind of disappointed in him.

posted 2 years ago by whynotwriteme (7122)
17 replies | jump to latest

Coburn has always been my favorite actor since I was about 12. I used to watch all his old Westerns, War and Thriller movies on TV, having been too young during his initial popularity to see them at the movies.

Growing up without a dad around much of the time, I used to imagine that James Coburn was my dad, using him for a role model.

A biography was never available until recently, when his daughter-in-law wrote "Dervish Dust". It's a fascinating book about a complicated man, but I was saddened at how he neglected his kids.

He and his wife spent most of their free time jetting around the world, partying, smoking pot and pursuing faddish 1960s interests in Eastern beliefs, leaving their kids at home with nannies where they basically had to raise themselves. Coburn comes across in the book as very self-centered.

I still like his movies and he's still my favorite actor, but I now see what a flawed person he was in life.

[–] TheArgentinian (6432) 2 years ago

most actors from his era neglected their family duties.

[–] whynotwriteme (7122) 2 years ago

Yes, it seems so. I'm sure most actors neglect their kids even today.

[–] huwdj (4562) 2 years ago

Just out of curiosity, does it mention Lynsey de Paul?

[–] whynotwriteme (7122) 2 years ago

Actually, I should have said "I am reading his biography". I'm just up to his divorce from his wife Beverly now. I'm sure Lynsey will be mentioned. She was an important part of his life for some time.

[–] huwdj (4562) 2 years ago

Yes, I remember the newspapers at the time. And then it came to an end and she was back in the UK singing again but perhaps less successfully.

[–] Levtones (500) 2 years ago

We're all flawed, in some way.

[–] whynotwriteme (7122) 2 years ago

Yes. All our heroes have feet of clay.

[–] Kowalski (58144) 2 years ago

I HAD A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE WITH PETER FONDA...I COULD NOT EVEN FINISH HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY...HE IS A WHINY BITCH WITH SOME SERIOUSLY WEIRD HANGUPS.

[–] whynotwriteme (7122) 2 years ago

I can see Fonda being that way. Apparently, that scene in Easy Rider when he freaks out in the graveyard was real, not acting.

[–] Kowalski (58144) 2 years ago

HE IS VERY BOASTFUL OF EVERY DRUG TRIP AND SEXUAL EXPERIENCE HE EVER HAD...TO MADDENING LEVELS...PADE AFTER PAGE DESCRIBING NOTHING MORE THAN HOW ATTRACTIVE HE WAS AND HOW GREAT A LOVER HE WAS...CONSTANTLY ELEVATING HIMSELF ABOVE COMPLAINTS HE MAKES ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE...THE WORST THOUGH WAS WHEN HE WAS A KID HE WAS SUPER SKINNY...THE DOCTORS WERE CONCERNED...HIS DAD TOOK HIM TO THE HOSPITAL FOR A PROCEDURE WHERE THE PUT A SCOPE IN YOUR INTESTINE TO EXAMINE FOR ISSUES...I HAD IT DONE WHEN I WAS A KID...WELL...PETER SPENDS THE RST OF THE BOOK SHIT TALKING HIS DAD AND REFERRING TO THE "RAPE" HE WENT THROUGH AND HOW IT WAS ALL DAD'S FAULT...INSANE MAN.

[–] javie (2203) 2 years ago

You're a pleasure to talk to mate, I can promise you that.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

[deleted]

[–] whynotwriteme (7122) 2 years ago

You must lead a very miserable life. Anyone with as much hate as you display in your posts is usually diverting it from its real target: Themselves. I hope things get better for you.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (8425) 2 years ago

You know, it is very common for rich and really driven people to neglect their families. There is a cycle that arises out of that where the first generation make a lot of money, fame, power ... whatever, and outsources the raising of their kids to nannies and servants. Their kids grow up toxic and learn to recognize two classes of people ... those they need to treat like human beings and those who they can treat like less than human beings. They learn to be lying cheaters, and because of their parents' money and power they have access to jobs and careers regular people do not. They, not all of them of course, get involved in crime and drugs, and then they insinuate themselves into the power structure of the country, the elites, the government, and corrupt it, Pretty soon the whole system is corrupt.

[–] whynotwriteme (7122) 2 years ago

That's very insightful. We have seen this play out in a lot of cases.

I don't really know how Coburn's children turned out. His son's wife is the one who compiled and edited his memoirs for this biography. I understand the son is involved in film behind the scenes.

[–] Owlwise (1490) 2 years ago

What you call "faddish 1960s interests in Eastern beliefs" was a very big part of a spiritually seeking world growing up in the wake of WWII, the Holocaust & and the daily threat of nuclear war. It may seem silly to you from the perspective of 2022 ... but many things that seem extremely important to today's world may seem just as silly to another generation some 50-60 years down the line from today. Smoking pot & using LSD were actually serious ways of expanding consciousness in those days, although I'll grant you that as they became widespread, more people were simply interested in getting high rather than exploring the depths of the psyche. Remember, judge not lest ye be judged ...

[–] whynotwriteme (7122) 2 years ago

Whatever the case, I don't think those pursuits were worth neglecting his children. I'd say the value of any enlightenment that came out of that would be canceled by the knowledge that your kids basically grew up without you.