James Cromwell

James Cromwell
Cromwell at 23rd Genesis Awards - Beverly Hills, California
Born	James Oliver Cromwell January 27, 1940 (1940-01-27) (age 69) Los Angeles, California, USA
Other name(s)	Jamie Cromwell
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1975-present
Spouse(s)	Anne Ulvestad (1976-1986) Julie Cobb (1986-2006)

James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American film and television actor. He has been nominated for an Oscar, three Emmy Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards during his career.

Early years

Cromwell was born in Los Angeles, California and was raised in Manhattan, New York. His mother was actress Kay Johnson and his father was actor, director and producer John Cromwell, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era.^[1][2] He was educated at The Hill School, Middlebury College and Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), where he studied engineering. Like both his parents, he was drawn to the theater, doing everything from Shakespeare to experimental plays.

Career

His first television performance was in a 1974 episode of The Rockford Files playing Terry.^[3] A few weeks later,^[4] he began a recurring role as Stretch Cunningham on All in the Family. In 1975 he took his first lead role on television as Bill Lewis in the short-lived Hot l Baltimore, and a year later made his film debut in Neil Simon's classic detective spoof Murder by Death.

In 1980, Cromwell guest-starred in the two-part pivotal episode "Laura Ingalls Wilder" of the long-running television series Little House on the Prairie. He played "Harve Miller," one of "Almanzo Wilder's" (Dean Butler) old friends. He comes to visit Almanzo, who lives with his shy sister, Walnut Grove's school teacher "Eliza Jane." Eliza Jane and Harve spend time together over the next few weeks, and she falls in love, for the first time, with Harve. Eliza, however, misunderstands some comments Harve has made, and he stuns her, at Nellie's restaurant, by announcing he wishes to marry another woman in a different town. Harve is totally unaware that she had feelings of love towards him. She takes Almanzo's wagon to the town of Sleepy Eye to seek him out before he marries someone else. She finally gathers the courage to tell him that she loves him. Instead, he tells Eliza that it is too late, he is already married. Eliza lies to everyone, and claims she is marrying Harve and moving away. This allows seventeen-year-old Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) to take over her job as school teacher, giving Laura and Almanzo desperately needed income, and allowing Laura to move into their home to marry Almanzo at last.

While he continued with regular television work for the rest of the 1980s, Cromwell made real inroads in movie business for his roles in the James Garner-Shirley Jones film Tank, as a corrupt deputy sheriff and his first appearance as Mr. Skolnick, father of main character Lewis in the comedy film Revenge of the Nerds. He would reprise this role three more times in each of the Nerds sequels.

Cromwell's notable film roles in the 1990s include his Oscar nominated performance as Farmer Arthur Hoggett in Babe (1995) and Captain Dudley Liam Smith in Curtis Hanson's film adaptation of James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential (1997), which was a breakout role for him, and made him more bankable in Hollywood. He also played Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot Broken Bow (the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" later reused some of the First Contact footage).^[5] He has appeared on other Star Trek television series The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, though not as Cochrane (his appearances on these shows predated his role in First Contact), he guest starred in episodes including "The Hunted", "Birthright, Part I and II" and "Starship Down".

Cromwell had additional success on television in the movie RKO 281, portraying newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst (and receiving his first Emmy nomination at the 2000 Emmy Awards). He was recognized again by the Emmys the following year with a nomination for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series" when he appeared as Bishop Lionel Stewart on ER. Cromwell made an appearance in an episode of The West Wing in 2004 as former President D. Wire Newman. In 2004, he also played the pivotal role Dr. Alfred Lanning , co-starring along with Will Smith, in I, Robot.

Cromwell co-starred in the last three seasons of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under, where he played George Sibley, Ruth Fisher's geologist husband (for which he received his third Emmy nomination). Along with the rest of his castmates, he was nominated for two consecutive Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2005 and 2006. He next co-starred alongside Dame Helen Mirren who plays the title role of Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' film The Queen (2006) where he played Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He guest starred in the sixth season of 24 where he played Phillip Bauer, father of lead character Jack played by Kiefer Sutherland.

In early October 2007, Cromwell played the lead role of James Tyrone Sr. in the Druid Theatre Company's production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, at the Gaiety in Dublin as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival's 50th Anniversary.^[6]

In 2007, Cromwell joined the cast of Spider-Man 3 as Gwen Stacy's father, Cpt. George Stacy.

Cromwell took on the role of 41st president George Herbert Walker Bush in Oliver Stone's W., released on October 17, 2008, and chronicles the unlikely rise to power of his son George W. Bush (played by Josh Brolin), who became president number 43. In an interview, Cromwell revealed that Stone had originally offered the role to Warren Beatty and Harrison Ford.^[7]

Personal life

He has long been an advocate of leftist causes. In an October 2008 interview, he strongly attacked the Republican Party and the George W. Bush administration, saying their pursuit of the American empire would "either destroy us or the entire planet."^[7] In the late 1960s, he was a member of "The Committee to Defend The Panthers", a group organized to defend 13 members of the Black Panther Party who had been imprisoned in New York on charges of conspiracy. All thirteen were eventually released. In a 2004 interview with CNN.com, Cromwell praised the Panthers.^[8] He became a vegetarian in 1974 after seeing a stockyard in Texas and experiencing the "smell, terror and anxiety."^[9] He became an ethical vegan while playing the character of Farmer Hoggett in the movie Babe in 1995. He frequently speaks out on issues regarding animal cruelty for PETA, largely the treatment of pigs.^[10]

Cromwell is known for his unusually tall stature; he stands at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m).^{[citation needed]}

Cromwell was married to Anne Ulvestad from 1976 to 1986. They had three children. He married his second wife, Julie Cobb, on 29 May 1986.

Filmography

Films

Television

Theatre

• Long Day's Journey into Night (2007)

References

External links

• James Cromwell at the Internet Movie Database
• James Cromwell at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• James Cromwell article at the 24 wiki