Joe Don Baker
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.
Known For
Bonanza
1959
Ironside
1967
Mission: Impossible
1966
Screen Two
1985
The Big Valley
1965
The F.B.I.
1965
The High Chaparral
1967
The Streets of San Francisco
1972
Gunsmoke
1955
Gunsmoke
1955
Judd, for the Defense
1967
The Mod Squad
1968
Filmography
Bonanza
as Luke Harper · 1959
Ironside
as Eric Blair · 1967
Mission: Impossible
as Frank Kearney · 1966
Screen Two
as Hunter McCall · 1985
The Big Valley
as Tom Lightfoot · 1965
The F.B.I.
as Alex Drake · 1965
The High Chaparral
as Yuma · 1967
The Streets of San Francisco
as Leonard Collier Cord · 1972
Gunsmoke
as Woody Stoner · 1955
Gunsmoke
as Tom Butler · 1955
Judd, for the Defense
as Merl Varney · 1967
The Mod Squad
as Willie Turner · 1968
Felony Squad
as Shep Taubs · 1966
Lancer
as Day Pardee · 1968
Lancer
as Santee · 1968
Lancer
as Clovis Horner · 1968
Tomorrow Never Dies
as Wade · 1997
Honey West
as Rocky Hansen · 1965
The Living Daylights
as Brad Whitaker · 1987
GoldenEye
as Jack Wade · 1995
Mars Attacks!
as Glenn Norris · 1996
Cape Fear
as Claude Kersek · 1991
The Dukes of Hazzard
as Governor Jim Applewhite · 2005
The Outsider
as Billy Joe Corey · 1968
Cool Hand Luke
as Fixer · 1967
Congo
as R.B. Travis · 1995
Joe Dirt
as Don, Brandy's Dad (uncredited) · 2001
The Natural
as The Whammer · 1984
Edge of Darkness
as Darius Jedburgh · 1985
Reality Bites
as Tom Pierce · 1994
Mud
as King · 2013
Doc Elliot
as Aaron Hickey · 1973
Eischied
as Earl Eischied · 1979
The Siege at Ruby Ridge
as Gerry Spence · 1996
Fletch
as Chief Jerry Karlin · 1985
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
as Slater · 1969
Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke
as Buck Duke · 1999
Walking Tall
as Buford Pusser · 1973
George Wallace
as Big Jim Folsom · 1997
Power
as Tommy Vanda · 1980
Strange Wilderness
as Bill Calhoun · 2008
The Distinguished Gentleman
as Olaf Andersen · 1992
Charley Varrick
as Molly · 1973
To Kill a Cop
as Chief Earl Eischied · 1978
The Underneath
as Clay Hinkle · 1995
Criminal Law
as Detective Mesel · 1989
The Grass Harp
as Sheriff Junius Candle · 1996
The Valachi Papers
as Irish member of Valachi gang (uncredited) · 1972
The Outfit
as Jack Cody · 1973
Junior Bonner
as Curly Bonner · 1972
Panther
as Brimmer · 1995
Poodle Springs
as P.J. Parker · 1998
The Siege at Ruby Ridge
as Gerry Spence · 1996
Joysticks
as Joseph Rutter · 1983
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
as Self · 2007
The Pack
as Jerry · 1977
The Abduction of Kari Swenson
as Sheriff Onstad · 1987
To Kill a Cop
as Chief Earl M. Eischied · 1978
The Killing Time
as Carl Cunningham · 1987
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
as Self (archive footage) · 2004
George Wallace
as Big Jim Folsom · 1997
Citizen Cohn
as Sen. Joseph McCarthy · 1992
Wild Rovers
as Paul Buckman · 1971
Checkered Flag or Crash
as Walkaway Madden · 1977
Speedtrap
as Pete Novick · 1977
The Shadow of Chikara
as Wishbone Cutter · 1977
Adam at Six A.M.
as Harvey Gavin · 1970
Vegas, City of Dreams
as Dylan Garrett · 2001
Wacko
as Dick Harbinger · 1982
Inside 'The Living Daylights'
as Self · 2000
Golden Needles
as Dan Mason · 1974
Getting Even
as King R. Kenderson · 1986
Framed
as Ron Lewis · 1975
To Dance with Olivia
as Horace · 1997
Inside The Living Daylights
as Self · 2000
Ring of Steel
as Man in Black · 1994
Mongo's Back in Town
as Mongo Nash · 1971
That Certain Summer
as Phil Bonner · 1972
Leonard Part 6
as Snyderburn · 1987
Complex of Fear
as Det. Frank Farrel · 1993
Welcome Home, Soldier Boys
as Danny · 1971
Mitchell
as Mitchell · 1975
The Children
as Cliffe Wheater · 1990
Final Justice
as Deputy Sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III · 1984
Defrosting the Fridge
as Hunter McCall · 1989
The Commission
as Rep. Hale Boggs · 2003
Felony
as Donovan · 1996