James Harrison Coburn III was born on the 31st August 1928, in Laurel, Nebraska USA, and was an actor was widely known for his roles in cult westerns as well as action movies such as “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), “Hell is for Heroes” (1962), “The Great Escape” (1963), “Major Dundee” (1965) and “Eraser” (1996). He passed away in November 2002.
Have you ever wondered how much wealth this Hollywood’s “tough-guy” accumulated for life? How rich James Coburn was? According to sources, it is estimated that the total amount of Coburn’s net worth, as of late 2016, would be over $10 million. It was acquired through his 45 year-long acting career in which he recorded over 170 acting credits, including movies and TV series.
James Coburn Net Worth $10 million
James was born to Mylet and James Harrison Coburn Jr. and was of American, Swedish, Scottish and Irish descent. Although he was born in Laurel, Nebraska, James grew up in Compton, California where he matriculated from Compton Junior College. He then moved to Los Angeles, California where he enrolled at Los Angeles City College and later at the University of Southern California where he studied acting. In 1950 he joined the US Army, serving as a truck driver, radio host and public information officer. In 1955, after his military service ended, James transferred to New York City, where he began studying acting under the master teacher Stella Adler. Some of his first acting roles included appearances in the dramatic studio TV series “Studio One in Hollywood” and “General Electric Theatre”.
After several years, James relocated to Los Angeles again, in order to pursue his acting career full time, and where he got roles in “Wagon Train”, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” TV series. These engagements traced the path for James Coburn’s acting career and provided the basis for his net worth.
James Coburn’s big screen debut occurred in 1959 when he appeared in “Ride Lonesome”. Just a year later, he got the role of Brit, the knife expert, in John Sturges’ legendary western – “The Magnificent Seven”, alongside Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson and Robert Vaughn. During the course of the next several years, James Coburn managed to maintain a continuous streak of acting engagements, including roles in “The Rifleman”, “Perry Mason” and “Bonanza”. In 1963, James collaborated with John Sturges again, this time in the historical drama about WWII prisoners of war – “The Great Escape”. It is certain that all these roles significantly increased James Coburn’s overall net worth by a large margin.
James Coburn’s career reached its peak in the 1960s and 1970s when he played some of his most notable roles – “Charade” (1963), “The Americanization of Emily” (1964), and “Major Dundee” (1965). In 1966, James Coburn starred in “Our Man Flint”, a James Bond parody movie which earned him a large dose of popularity – he was ranked No. 12 on Hollywood’s biggest star list. In 1971, James appeared as an Irish revolutionary and an explosive expert in Sergio Leone‘s western “Duck, You Sucker!”. Doubtlessly, all these engagements increased the popularity of James Coburn as well as his overall wealth.
During the 1980s James Coburn appeared in fewer movies, due to severe rheumatoid arthritis. Despite the pain, he returned to filming in the 1990s and played several supporting roles in movies including “Maverick” (1994) opposite Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson, “Eraser” (1996) featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and “The Nutty Professor” (1996) with Eddie Murphy in the leading roles (yes, roles!). For his role of Glen Whitehouse in the 1997 drama “Affliction”, James Coburn was honored with Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. One of the last James’ roles included a voice acting “appearance” in Pixar’s animated comedy “Monsters, Inc.” (2001). All these roles positively impacted James Coburn’s overall wealth.
When it comes to his personal life, James Coburn was a real gear head – he had an impressive collection of unique, expensive and rare cars. His personal garage featured Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, Ferrari Daytona, Ferrari 308, Ferrari 412P and Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California SWB. The latter, 13th out of just 56 produced, was restored and sold in an auction for over $10 million to British broadcaster Chris Evans.
James Coburn was married to Beverly Kelly, with whom he had one child, between 1959 and 1979 when they split. From 1993 to his death in 2002, James was married to Paula O’Hara. James Coburn passed away on the 18th November 2002, in Beverly Hills, California after a heart attack at the age of 74.
