He was the only notable person I ever heard of who actually “played” the gong. It was a meditation-thing he picked up in the 60s.

A cool dude. I think I liked him best in:
* The Magnificent Seven (1960)
* The Great Escape (1963)
* Charade (1963)
* Our Man Flint (1966)
* In Like Flint (1967)
* The President's Analyst (1967)
* Giù la testa (AKA Duck You Sucker) (1971)
* The Cary Treatment (1972)
* Bite the Bullet (1975)
* Midway (1976)
* The Baltimore Bullet (1980)
* Draw (1984)
* Maverick (1994)
* Eraser (1996)
* Payback (1999)

You know he was one of the original directors (c 1974) for The Rockford Files with James Garner? Also the cowriter for Bruce Lee’s incredible Circle of Iron (1979).

Not an easy man to keep up with. He was busy throughout his career, though arthritis did take him from center stage for a decade or so, only to return for an Oscar performance in the movie Affliction (1997).

James Coburn donned padding and a putty nose to play Nick Nolte’s abusive father in the film “Affliction”.

(More about the man.)

A copy of his filmography is here.

His comments last year with Jay Leno, on The Tonight Show, regarding Steve McQueen, during the filming of The Magnificent Seven, are memorable as well, and paraphrased from that faulty memory:

“He was a nut. The guy was certifiable. We’re driving down the highway, heading to the set -- and he just veers off into the desert. Just plowing along for a couple hundred feet, then he throws it into reverse, and we’re back on the highway. It was insane. I think he went through six cars during the filming.”

Overall, a truly nice guy.

Dan