Portrait of Joe Don Baker

Joe Don Baker

Acting

Biography

Joe Don Baker (February 12, 1936 - May 7, 2025) was 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.

Born: February 12, 1936

Place of Birth: Groesbeck, Texas, USA

Filmography

2013
Mud

as King

2008
Strange Wilderness

as Bill Calhoun

2005
The Dukes of Hazzard

as Governor Jim Applewhite

2003
The Commission

as Rep. Hale Boggs

2001
Joe Dirt

as Don, Brandy's Dad (uncredited)

2001
Vegas, City of Dreams

as Dylan Garrett

1998
Poodle Springs

as P.J. Parker

1997
George Wallace

as Big Jim Folsom

1997
George Wallace

as Big Jim Folsom

1996
Mars Attacks!

as Glenn Norris

1996
The Grass Harp

as Sheriff Junius Candle

1996
1995
GoldenEye

as Jack Wade

1995
Congo

as R.B. Travis

1995
Panther

as Brimmer

1995
The Underneath

as Clay Hinkle

1994
Felony

as Donovan

1994
Ring of Steel

as Man in Black

1994
Reality Bites

as Tom Pierce

1993
Complex of Fear

as Det. Frank Farrel

1992
1992
Citizen Cohn

as Sen. Joseph McCarthy

1991
Cape Fear

as Claude Kersek

1990
The Children

as Cliffe Wheater

1989
Criminal Law

as Detective Mesel

1989
Defrosting the Fridge

as Hunter McCall

1987
Leonard Part 6

as Snyderburn

1987
The Killing Time

as Carl Cunningham

1987
The Living Daylights

as Brad Whitaker

1987
Abduction

as Sheriff Onstad

1986
Getting Even

as King R. Kenderson

1985
Edge of Darkness

as Darius Jedburgh

1985
Fletch

as Chief Jerry Karlin

1984
Final Justice

as Geronimo

1984
The Natural

as The Whammer

1983
Joysticks

as Joseph Rutter

1982
Wacko

as Dick Harbinger

1980
Power

as Tommy Vanda

1979
Eischied

as Earl Eischied

1978
To Kill a Cop

as Chief Earl M. Eischied

1978
To Kill a Cop

as Chief Earl Eischied

1977
The Pack

as Jerry

1977
Speedtrap

as Pete Novick

1977
The Shadow of Chikara

as Wishbone Cutter

1977
Checkered Flag or Crash

as Walkaway Madden

1975
Mitchell

as Mitchell

1975
Framed

as Ron Lewis

1974
Golden Needles

as Dan Mason

1973
The Outfit

as Cody

1973
Doc Elliot

as Aaron Hickey

1973
1973
Walking Tall

as Buford Pusser

1972
That Certain Summer

as Phil Bonner

1972
Junior Bonner

as Curly Bonner

1972
The Valachi Papers

as Irish member of Valachi gang (uncredited)

1971
1971
Wild Rovers

as Paul Buckman

1970
Adam at Six A.M.

as Harvey Gavin

1968
1968
The Outsider

as Billy Joe Corey

1967
1965
The F.B.I.

as Alex Drake

1965
Honey West

as Rocky Hansen

1965
The Big Valley

as Tom Lightfoot

1959
Bonanza

as Luke Harper

1955
Gunsmoke

as Woody Stoner

1955
Gunsmoke

as Tom Butler