
John Davis Chandler
Born January 28, 1935 · Hinton, West Virginia, USA
John Davis Chandler (1935–2010) was an American character actor renowned for his distinctive, intense onscreen presence and his prolific career playing villains, outlaws, and shady miscreants. Born in Hinton, West Virginia, and trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, he broke into film in 1961 by landing the title role of real-life 1930s gangster Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll in the biopic Mad Dog Coll. That breakout performance cemented his niche as an exceptional on-screen heavy, enabling him to carve out a nearly 40-year career spanning more than a hundred film and television credits. Throughout his career, Chandler became a familiar face in classic Westerns and gritty crime dramas, notably collaborating multiple times with director Sam Peckinpah in films such as Ride the High Country, Major Dundee, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and The Outlaw Josey Wales. Mainstream audiences also recognize him for playing the sneering gang leader Bleak in the 1987 action-comedy Adventures in Babysitting, alongside feature work in Capone, Only the Lonely, and Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead. In addition to his extensive film resume, he was a ubiquitous television guest star, appearing on classic programs ranging from The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, Adam-12, and Columbo to Murder, She Wrote. Science fiction fans also remember him for his appearance as the Orion character Flith in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine sixth-season episode "Honor Among Thieves". He passed away on February 16, 2010, at the age of 75 in Toluca Lake, California, due to cancer.
Notable Appearances
Movies

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Body of Evidence

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

Major Dundee

Adventures in Babysitting

The Sword and the Sorcerer

Only the Lonely

Ride the High Country

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys

Return of the Gunfighter

Moon of the Wolf

Capone

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead

Those Calloways

Walking Tall Part II

The Young Savages

Shoot Out

Triumphs of a Man Called Horse

Once a Thief

Chase

Love Among Thieves

Mako: The Jaws of Death

Crash and Burn

They Came from the Swamp: The Films of William Grefé

Chesty Anderson U.S. Navy

O'Hara, United States Treasury: Operation Cobra

Confessions of the D.A. Man

Barquero

The Shadow of Chikara

Mad Dog Coll

Inside Out 2

Scorchy

Double Revenge

Ricochet
TV Shows

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Quincy, M.E.

The Fugitive

Adam-12

Hill Street Blues

The Rifleman

T. J. Hooker

The Virginian

Cannon

Simon & Simon

Renegade

Airwolf

Route 66

Hart to Hart

Hunter

The Incredible Hulk

Police Woman

Walker, Texas Ranger

Fantasy Island

Matt Houston

Gunsmoke

The Rookies

Run for Your Life

The High Chaparral

Police Story

The Detectives

Judd, for the Defense

Felony Squad

B. J. and the Bear

Cassie & Co.

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters

Lucan

Straightaway













