A rugged, burly character actor with a deceptively benign Southern twang, Texas-born Joe Don Baker made his Broadway debut in "Marathon 33" (1963) and followed with a critically-acclaimed performance in James Baldwin's "Blues For Mister Charlie" (1964), directed by Burgess Meredith. His first feature film appearance came as Fixer in "Cool Hand Luke" (1967), but he really attracted attention as Steve McQueen's wheeler-dealer brother in Sam Peckinpah's "Junior Bonner" (1972). Baker's most memorable turn came as the real-life avenging Sheriff Buford Pusser in the excessively violent and
