Hard-strong actor Joe Don Baker is a prolific performer in films such as Goldeneye, Cape Fear and Mud, as well as the BBC TV series The Edge of Darkness at the age of 89.

Born in 1936, Baker grew up in a small town in Texas and studied business administration at North Texas State University. After some time, Baker moved to New York and joined the actors studio in the early 1960s, where he was a contemporary of Rip Torn. Baker made his debut with the Studio Company in 1963 and at the 33 Marathon, Baker tells the dance marathon of the Great Depression, and played his films in Cool Hand Luke in 1967, and played numerous roles in 1967. He has also appeared in many TV series, including the Pilot series for the 1968 Western Performance, in which the production was fictionalized by Quentin Tarantino, once in Hollywood, in which Leonardo DiCaprio's Rick Dalton played the role of Baker.

However, it was the role of Steve McQueen’s brother Curley in Sam Peckinpah’s 1972 rodeo drama Bonner Bonner, which caught Baker’s attention. He was then played as a rare lead character as a real-life lawyer/Vigilante Buford Pusser in the 1973 film The Walking Tall, directed by Phil Karlson; a surprising hit, with Baker ending with other hard bite crime movies, including Charley Varrick directed by Don Siegel, and costumes opposite Robert Duvall and Karen Black.

Baker played more lead roles in the late 1970s, but remained a reliable auxiliary actor for the next decade, appearing in the baseball drama The Natural (with Babe Ruth as the imitation "Whip"), Chevrolet Chase Detective Comedy, Thriller and Thriller became even. In 1985, Baker served as CIA agent Darius Jedburgh on the edge of the darkness, a landmark political thriller TV series starring Bob Peck and Joanne Whalley.

Baker's performance in "The Edge of Darkness" has attracted his attention, from the producers of the 1987 Bond film "The Living Sun" where he was played as weapons dealer Brad Whitaker. Baker turned from Bond Villain to Bond Good when he worked as a helpful CIA agent Jack Wade in 1995 at Goldeneye, his role that never dies tomorrow.

A series of smaller characters keep him busy, appearing in Martin Scorsese's Caped Fear Remake, X-Sarcastic Reality Bites and Steven Soderbergh's Black Drama Below. He later appeared in Duke Hazzard's feature film version, as well as his final film role in Mud, later starring Matthew McConaughey, before he retired.

Baker married Marlo Baker between 1969 and 1980 and has no children yet.