How Yellowstone's Dabney Coleman Landed His Memorable Role As John Dutton, Sr.

Taylor Sheridan's "Yellowstone" has always had a terrific cast, but a particular masterstroke of casting came in the show's second season finale, during a flashback in which John Dutton III (Kevin Costner) takes his dying father, John Dutton, Jr., up to the mountains for one last ride. The patriarch is played by the great Dabney Coleman, an actor partially known for playing hard-ass characters in things like "WarGames" and "Cloak and Dagger." We don't see him for long in "Yellowstone," but in his short amount of screen time, he leaves a tremendous impact — not only in the emotional conversation he has with his son, but his edict to never give up an inch of the Dutton Ranch fuels Costner's character throughout the whole series. 

Coleman's history of playing tenacious characters on screen is an excellent example of what can happen when actors carry the right kind of baggage with them into fresh roles. But how did Coleman actually score that role? Even back in season 2, "Yellowstone" was one of the most popular shows on TV, so presumably there were tons of actors vying for the chance to be even a tiny part of the successful series. It turns out Coleman shared a connection with creator Taylor Sheridan from years earlier.

Before Sheridan became a powerhouse writer and producer, he was scraping by in Hollywood as an actor, and in 2003, early in his career, he appeared in a one-episode arc on a legal drama called "The Guardian." (For the Sheridan completists among you, the episode was season 2, episode 19, "Back in the Ring.") Coleman was one of the stars of that show, and the two of them got along so well at the time that they remembered each other nearly two decades later and jumped at the chance to work together again. As Sheridan explained to Deadline:

"I'd written [the "Yellowstone" episode] but I believe I was prepping a movie in New Mexico and I think [Dabney Coleman] reached out and said he would be really interested in doing something. I had worked with Dabney many, many years ago, almost 20 years ago, as one of the young pups. He's a Texas guy and was such a gifted, giving actor and I was really struck by how good he was, and how kind he was, to this kid who was guest starring on his deal. Its funny; I've employed a lot of people who were good to me when I was a young actor. Buck Taylor was in the first thing I ever did. I put him in Yellowstone. There's something about that show that lends itself to hiring friends and family."

So let that be a lesson to all of you actors out there: Be nice to your fellow cast members, if for no other reason than the potential longevity of your own career. You never know if that pipsqueak kid on set who only has a handful of lines might go on to one day become one of the most successful showrunners in the entertainment industry, armed with the power to keep you employed!