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.

Filmography

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

Appearances as themselves (4)

• 2007The 50 Greatest Television Dramas — Self
• 2004Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade — Self (archive footage)
• 2000Inside 'The Living Daylights' — Self
• 2000Inside The Living Daylights — Self