Edward Herrmann

Edward Kirk Herrmann (born July 21, 1943) is an Emmy Award winning and Tony Award nominated American television and film actor. He is best known for his role as Richard Gilmore in Gilmore Girls.

Biography

Early life

Herrmann was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Jean Eleanor (née O'Connor) and John Anthony Herrmann.^[1] He has German ancestry on his father's side.^[2] Herrmann grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and graduated from Bucknell University in 1965, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art^[3] on a Fulbright Fellowship.

Career

Herrmann began his career in theatre. One of the first professional productions he appeared in was the American premiere of Michael Weller's Moonchildren at the Arena Stage in Washington D.C. in November 1971. He moved with the show to New York City to make his Broadway debut the following year. Herrmann returned to Broadway in 1976 to portray Frank Gardner in the revival of Mrs. Warren's Profession. For his performance he won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.

He is known for his portrayal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the made-for-TV movie, Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and the sequel, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977) (both of which earned him Best Actor Emmy nominations), as well as in the first feature film adaptation of the Broadway musical Annie (1982). Herrmann portrayed Herman Munster in the Fox telefilm Here Come The Munsters which aired on Halloween 1995.

Herrmann also earned an Emmy in 1999 for his guest appearances on The Practice. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Plenty in 1983 and Emmys in 1986 and 1987 for his guest-starring role as Father Joseph McCabe on St. Elsewhere. Herrmann also played Tobias Beecher's father on the HBOs series Oz. From 2000 to 2007, he portrayed Richard Gilmore on the CW's Gilmore Girls.

Herrmann's film career began in the mid-1970s, playing supporting roles as Robert Redford's partner in The Great Waldo Pepper, a law student in The Paper Chase, the idle, piano-playing Klipspringer in The Great Gatsby and opposite Laurence Olivier in The Betsy (1978). Among Herrmann's better known roles are as the title character in Harry's War (1981), Goldie Hawn's rich husband in Overboard, Reverend Michael Hill in Disney's The North Avenue Irregulars, one of the characters in the film-within-a-film in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, and as Max, the mild-mannered head vampire in the teen vampire film The Lost Boys.

Herrmann is also known for his voluminous voice work for The History Channel and various PBS specials, and has been the "voice of Dodge" for 12 years. His voice work also includes dozens of audio books, for which he's won several Audie awards. He played Gutman in Blackstone Audio's dramatization of The Maltese Falcon and is scheduled to play Cauchon in Blackstone's version of Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan. Herrmann is a well-known automotive enthusiast and restores classic automobiles. He is the MC for the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance every August and hosts the television show Automobiles on The History Channel. Since his well-received portrayal of J. Alden Weir in My Dearest Anna at the Wilton Playshop in Wilton, Connecticut, he has been announced as a special guest of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in their Ring Christmas Bells holiday concert in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 11-14, 2008.

Family

Edward's son, Rory Herrmann, is the chef de cuisine at Bouchon Bistro in Beverly Hills, California. The restaurant is chef Thomas Keller's (of French Laundry and Per Se (restaurant) fame) latest venture under the successful Bouchon name.

Filmography

His papers are currently housed at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.

References

External links

• Edward Herrmann at the Internet Broadway Database
• Edward Herrmann at the Internet Movie Database
• Edward Herrmann at TV.com
• Golden Voices Herrmann
• Edward Herrmann cast bio on The CW
• Edward Herrmann interviewed for Working in the Theatre: Performance video seminar at American Theatre Wing, April 1998