Joe Don Baker Movies and Career Information

Joe Don Baker (born February 12, 1936) is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, real-life Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, James Bond villain Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights, and CIA agent Jack Wade in the James Bond films GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies. Baker was born in Groesbeck, Texas, the son of Edna (née McDonald) and Doyle Charles Baker. In 1964 he appeared on stage in "Marathon '33" at the ANTA Theatre in New York City. He got his start in acting as an uncredited character in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, and as an illiterate vending machine robber in a 1969 episode of the TV series Mod Squad, but his real beginnings came when he scored the role of Steve McQueen's younger brother in the film Junior Bonner, directed by Sam Peckinpah. He later starred in the 1973 film Walking Tall, directed by Phil Karlson, also starring in the film maker's final work Framed, two years later. Baker was offered a cameo in the remake (which had nothing to do with Sheriff Buford Pusser) but declined the offer. His work in 1973's Charley Varrick may remain Baker's most memorable success. Baker was praised for a