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Met Gala 2025

See all of the incredible fashion at this year&#39;s Met Gala.

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IMDb celebrates the cinematic contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders with a list of some iconic films, new classics, and hidden gems to add to your Watchlist.

IMDb's Picks For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

James Coburn, Tom Adams, Robert Desmond, and Lawrence Montaigne in The Great Escape (1963)

James Coburn, James Hong, and Dan O'Herlihy in The Carey Treatment (1972)

James Coburn, James Hong, and Jennifer O'Neill in The Carey Treatment (1972)

James Coburn and James Hong in The Carey Treatment (1972)

Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Yul Brynner, Robert Vaughn, Horst Buchholz, and Brad Dexter in The Magnificent Seven (1960)

James Coburn in The President's Analyst (1967)

Henry Fonda and James Coburn in Midway (1976)

James Coburn, Leonard P. Geer, Frank Watkins, and Don Wilbanks in The Twilight Zone (1959)

James Coburn, John Anderson, John Craven, Leonard P. Geer, John Marley, and Don Wilbanks in The Twilight Zone (1959)

James Coburn and John Marley in The Twilight Zone (1959)

James Coburn, Frank Watkins, and Don Wilbanks in The Twilight Zone (1959)

James Coburn and Carroll O'Connor in Waterhole #3 (1967)

James Coburn in The Americanization of Emily (1964)

James Coburn and Robert Wuhl in Arli$$ (1996)

James Coburn and Lee Remick in Hard Contract (1969)

James Coburn, Lloyd Corrigan, Hugh O'Brian, and Morgan Woodward in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955)

James Coburn, Robert Fuller, Edmond O'Brien, and John Smith in Laramie (1959)

James Coburn and Ida Lupino in Death Valley Days (1952)

James Coburn in The Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)

Raquel Welch and James Coburn in The Last of Sheila (1973)

James Coburn in The Last of Sheila (1973)

James Coburn, Sergio Fantoni, Art Lewis, Giovanna Ralli, Aldo Ray, and Dick Shawn in What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966)

James Coburn, James Best, Pernell Roberts, and Karen Steele in Ride Lonesome (1959)

James Coburn and Gene Hackman in Bite the Bullet (1975)

James Coburn and Shirley MacLaine in Loving Couples (1980)

James Mason, Raquel Welch, James Coburn, Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, Joan Hackett, and Ian McShane in The Last of Sheila (1973)

Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Robert Vaughn, Horst Buchholz, and Brad Dexter in The Magnificent Seven (1960)

James Coburn and Sabine Sun in Hard Contract (1969)

Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, James Coburn, Ned Glass, and Jacques Marin in Charade (1963)

Lanky, charismatic and versatile actor with an amazing grin that put everyone at ease, James Coburn studied acting at UCLA, and then moved to New York to study under noted acting coach Stella Adler. After being noticed in several stage productions, Coburn appeared in a handful of minor westerns before being cast as the knife-throwing, quick-shooting Britt in the John Sturges mega-hit The Magnificent Seven (1960). Sturges remembered Coburn's talents when he cast his next major film project, The Great Escape (1963), where Coburn played the Australian POW Sedgwick. Regular work now came thick and fast for Coburn, including appearing in Major Dundee (1965), the first of several films he appeared in directed by Hollywood enfant terrible Sam Peckinpah.

Coburn was then cast, and gave an especially fine performance as Lt. Commander Paul Cummings in Arthur Hiller's The Americanization of Emily, where he demonstrated a flair for writer Paddy Chayefsky's subtle, ironic comedy that would define his performances for the rest of his career.

The next two years were a key period for Coburn, with his performances in the wonderful 007 spy spoof Our Man Flint (1966) and the eerie Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966). Coburn followed up in 1967 with a Flint sequel, In Like Flint (1967), and the much underrated political satire The President's Analyst (1967). The remainder of the 1960s was rather uneventful for Coburn. However, he became associated with martial arts legend Bruce Lee and the two trained together, traveled extensively and even visited India scouting locations for a proposed film project, but Lee's untimely death (Coburn, along with Steve McQueen, was a pallbearer at Lee's funeral) put an end to that.

The 1970s saw Coburn appearing again in several strong roles, starting off in Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), alongside Charles Bronson in the Depression-era Hard Times (1975) and as a disenchanted German soldier on the Russian front in Peckinpah's superb Cross of Iron (1977). Towards the end of the decade, however, Coburn was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which severely hampered his health and work output for many years. After conventional treatments failed, Coburn turned to a holistic therapist, and through a restructured diet program, made a definite improvement. By the 1990s he was once again appearing regularly in both film and TV productions.

No one was probably more surprised than Coburn himself when he was both nominated for, and then won, the Best Supporting Actor Award in 1997 for playing Nick Nolte's abusive and alcoholic father in Affliction (1997). At 70 years of age, Coburn's career received another shot in the arm, and he appeared in another 14 films, including Snow Dogs (2002) and The Man from Elysian Fields (2001), before his death from a heart attack in November of 2002. Coburn's passions in life included martial arts, card-playing and enjoying Cuban cigars (which may have contributed to his fatal heart attack).

James Coburn in The Magnificent Seven (1960)

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James Coburn

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