RIP: Joe Don Baker
It was announced today that Joe Don Baker died on May 7, 2025. No cause of death was given. Mr. Baker was 89.
Joe Don Baker was a high school standout in football and basketball. He attended North Texas State College on a sports scholarship. Mr. Baker graduated with a BA in Business Administration. Joe Don Baker then served two years in the US Army. After his enlistment, Mr. Baker moved to New York City to attend the Actors Studio.
Joe Don Baker began getting stage work as well as guest appearances on television shows. Mr. Baker’s big break came when he played Buford Pusser in Walking Tall. By this point, Joe Don Baker was alternating between feature films and television roles, but Walking Tall was the film that made him famous.
Some of the television projects that feature Joe Don Baker include: Honey West; Iron Horse; Judd for the Defense; The Felony Squad; Bonanza; Gunsmoke (2 episodes); The Big Valley; Mod Squad; Bracken’s World; Lancer (3 episodes); The F.B.I.; The Most Deadly Game; The High Chaparral; Mission Impossible; Welcome Home Soldier Boys; Ironside; That Certain Summer; Doc Elliott; The Streets of San Francisco; To Kill a Cop; Power; Eischied (13 episodes); Edge of Darkness (6 episodes); In the Heat of the Night (4 episodes); Citizen Cohen; The Wild West; Traps; The Siege at Ruby Ridge; George Wallace; Poodle Springs and The Cleaner.
Some of Joe Don Bakers’ feature film appearances include: Cool Hand Luke; Guns of the Magnificent Seven; Wild Rovers; Junior Bonner; The Valachi Papers; Walking Tall; Charley Varrick; The Outfit; The Natural; Fletch; The Living Daylights; Cape Fear; Reality Bites; Congo; Goldeneye; Mars Attacks!; Tomorrow Never Dies; Joe Dirt; The Commission; The Dukes of Hazzard and Mud.
It’s impossible for me to pinpoint when I first saw Joe Don Baker because he appeared in so many of the shows I watched as a kid. I do remember how much buzz he got for starring as Buford Pusser in Walking Tall. I always enjoyed seeing Joe Don Baker show up in a show or movie, because he made everything he was in better.
Out thoughts and prayers go out to Joe Don Baker’s family, friends and fans.
