James Cromwell Biography, Profile, Filmography, Discography and more...

James Cromwell Biography

James Cromwell
extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

For Doris Duke's first husband, see James H.R. Cromwell.

James Cromwell
Cromwell at 23rd Genesis Awards - Beverly Hills, California, March 2009
Born	James Oliver Cromwell January 27, 1940 (1940-01-27) (age 69) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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.

1 Early years
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Filmography
5 References
6 External links

Early years

Cromwell was born in Los Angeles, California and was raised in Manhattan, New York of English descent. His mother was actress Kay Johnson and his father was actor, director and producer John Cromwell, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era.¹² 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

Cromwell's 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 he 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 Prairire. 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 Cromwell continued with regular television work throughout the 1980s, he made real inroads in film business for his supporting roles in the films Tank and Revenge of the Nerds. His starring roles in the 1990s critically-acclaimed films Babe (1995), The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Green Mile, and Snow Falling on Cedars (both 1999) were 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 also had additional success on television throughout his career. His role as newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst in the television film RKO 281 earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Movie. The following year, he receive his second Emmy Award nomination for playing Bishop Lionel Stewart on the NBC medical drama series ER. In 2004, he guest-starred as former President D. Wire Newman in the The West Wing episode "The Stormy Present". From 2003 to 2005, Cromwell played George Sibley in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under, which earned him his third Emmy Award nomination in 2003. Along with the rest of his castmates, he was also nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2005 and 2006. The following year, Cromwell played Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in The Queen (2006), that earned Dame Helen Mirren an Academy Award for Best Actress. He also guest starred as Phillip Bauer, father of lead character Jack, in the sixth season of the Fox thriller drama series 24.

In 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 More recently, Cromwell played George Herbert Walker Bush in Oliver Stone's W. (2008), that chronicles the unlikely rise to power of his son up until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 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 controversial foreign policy 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

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1976	Murder by Death	Marcel
1978	The Cheap Detective	Schnell
1981	Nobody's Perfekt	Dr. Carson
1983	The Man with Two Brains	Realtor
1984	The House of God	Officer Quick
	Tank	Deputy Euclid Baker
	Revenge of the Nerds	Mr. Skolnick	Credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
	Oh, God! You Devil	Priest
1985	Explorers	Mr. Müller
1986	A Fine Mess	Detective Blist
1987	Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise	Mr. Skolnick
1988	The Rescue	Admiral Rothman
1989	The Runnin' Kind	Unknown
1989	Pink Cadillac	Motel Desk Clerk
1992	The Babe	Brother Mathias
1993	Romeo Is Bleeding	Cage
1995	Babe	Farmer Arthur Hoggett	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1996	Eraser	William Donohue
	The People vs. Larry Flynt	Charles Keating
	Star Trek: First Contact	Dr. Zefram Cochrane
1997	Owd Bob	Adam MacAdam
	L.A. Confidential	Captain Dudley Smith	Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture
	The Education of Little Tree	Granpa
1998	Species II	Senator Judson Ross
	Deep Impact	Alan Rittenhouse
	Babe: Pig in the City	Farmer Arthur Hoggett
1999	The General's Daughter	Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell
	The Bachelor	Priest
	The Green Mile	Warden Hal Moores	Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture
	Snow Falling on Cedars	Judge Fielding
2000	Space Cowboys	Bob Gerson
2002	Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron	The Colonel
	The Sum of All Fears	President J. Robert Fowler
	The Nazi	Franz
2003	Blackball	Ray Speight
2003	The Snow Walker	Walter Shepherd
2004	I, Robot	Dr. Alfred Lanning
2005	The Longest Yard	Warden Hazen
2006	The Queen	Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
2007	Dante's Inferno	Virgil
	Becoming Jane	Reverend Austen
	Spider-Man 3	Captain George Stacy
2008	Tortured	Jack
2008	W.	George H. W. Bush
2009	A Lonely Place for Dying	Howard Simons
	Flying Into Love	Lyndon B. Johnson	Pre-production
	Surrogates	Dr. Lionel Canter

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	The Rockford Files	Terry	Episode 1.3: "The Countess"
1974	All in the Family	Stretch Cunningham	Appeared in three episodes
1974, 1978	Maude	Alfie Dr. Farrington	Episode 3.9: "Last Tango in Tuckahoe" Episode 6.13: "The Obscene Phone Call"
1975	Hot L Baltimore	Bill Lewis	Main cast member
1975	Barbary Coast	Roy	Episode 1.4: "The Ballad of Redwing Jail"
1976	Stranded	Jerry Holmes	TV film
	Insight	Norman	Episode "Jesus B.C."
	The Nancy Walker Show	Glen
	Once an Eagle	J. L. Cleghorne	Mini-series
1977	Police Story	Lutz	Episode 4.20: "Ice Time"
	The Girl in the Empty Grave	Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr.	TV film
	MASH*	Captain Leo Bardonaro	Episode 6.3: "Last Laugh"
	Three's Company	Detective Lannigan	Episode 2.9: "Chrissy's Night Out"
	Deadly Game	Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr.	TV film
1977, 1979, 1981	Barney Miller	Sgt. Wilkinson Neil Spencer Jason Parrish Dr. Edmund Danworth	Episode 3.20: "Group Home" Episode 6.6: "Strip Joint" Episode 7.22: "Liquidation" Episode 8.5: "Stress Analyzer"
1978	Alice	Detective Ralph Hilton	Episode 3.9: "Who Ordered the Hot Turkey?"
1979	Eight Is Enough	Coach Pollard	Episode 3.23: "The Better Part of Valour"
1979	Diff'rent Strokes	Father O'Brien	Episode 2.7: "Arnold's Hero"
1979, 1980	The White Shadow	Mr. Hamilton Art Commings	Episode 1.13: "Mainstream" Episode 2.22: "The Death of Me Yet?"
1980	Flo	Leon	Episodes 1.1: "Homecoming" and 1.4: "Take My Sister, Please"
	Little House on the Prairie	Harve Miller	Episodes 7.1: "Laura Ingalls Wilder: Part 1" and 7.2: "Laura Ingalls Wilder: Part 2"
	A Christmas Without Snow	Reverend Lohman	TV film
1981	Barefoot in the Park	Harry Pepper	TV film
1982	The Rainmaker	Noah Curry	TV film
	Nurse	Paul Moore	Episode 2.9: "A Place to Die"
	The Wall	Francisek	TV film
	Born to the Wind	Fish Belly
	Father Murphy	Farley Webster	Episodes 2.5: "The Reluctant Runaway: Part 1" and 2.6: "The Reluctant Runaway: Part 2"
1984	Buffalo Bill	Unknown	Episode 2.2: "Jerry Lewis Week"
	Gimme a Break!	Russell Cosgrove	Episode 3.22: "Class of '84"
	Spraggue	Lieutenant Hurley	TV film
	Earthlings	Simon Ganes	TV film
1984-1985	Dallas	Gerald Kane	Appeared in three episodes
1985	Night Court	Alan	Episode 2.14: "Nuts About Harry"
	Family Ties	John Hancock	Episode 3.15: "Philadelphia Story"
	Riptide	Joey Dietz	Episode 2.17: "Girls Night Out"
	Hardcastle and McCormick	Jake Fellows	Episode 2.20: "Undercover McCormick"
	Knight Rider	Curtis	Episode 3.18: "Ten Wheel Trouble"
	Wildside	Fake Buffalo Bill	Episode 1.5: "Buffalo Who?"
	Hill Street Blues	Lowenhandler	Episode 5.23: "Grin and Bear It"
	Hunter	Seymour Robbins	Episode 1.19: "Sniper"
	The Twilight Zone	Obediah Payne	Episode 1.6: "Examination Day/A Message from Charity"
1985-1986	Scarecrow and Mrs. King	Gregory	Episodes 3.4: "Tail of the Dancing Weasel" and 3.18: "Wrong Number"
1986	Amazing Stories	Francis	Episode 1.15: "One for the Road"
	Magnum, P.I.	French Policeman	Episode 6.21: "Photo Play"; uncredited
	The Last Precinct	Chief Bludhorn
	Dream West	Major General David Hunter	TV mini-series
1987	Easy Street	Quentin Standard	Episode 1.13: "Frames and Dames"
1987	Alison's Demise	Humboldt Hobson	TV film
1988	China Beach	Ambassador at Large Roland Weymouth	Pilot
	Mr. Belvedere	Roy Gallagher	Episode 5.1: "Fat Cats"
	Mama's Boy	Unknown
1989	Christine Cromwell	Arthur	Episode 1.1: "Things That Go Bump in the Night"
1990	Life Goes On	Bill Henderson	Episode 1.13: "Thacher and Henderson"
	Miracle Landing	B.J. Cocker	TV film
	Matlock	Judge Raymond Price	Episode 5.2: "Nowhere to Turn"
1990, 1993	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Prime Minister Nayrok Jaglom Shrek	Episode 3.11: "The Hunted" Episodes 6.16: "Birthright: Part 1" and 6.17: "Birthright: Part 2"
1991	The Young Riders	Jacob	Episode 2.14: "The Peacemakers"
	Jake and the Fatman	Havilland	Episode 4.19: "It Never Entered My Mind"
	In a Child's Name	Unknown	TV film
1992	Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation	Mr. Skolnick	TV film; credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
1994	Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love	Mr. Skolnick	TV film; credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
	The Shaggy Dog	Charlie 'the Robber' Mulvihill	TV film
	Home Improvement	Fred	Episode 4.9: "My Dinner with Wilson"
1995	Renegade	Jeremy Sullivan	Episode 3.15: "Stalker's Moon"
	Picket Fences	The Bishop	Episode 3.20: "Saint Zach"
	Indictment: The McMartin Trial	Judge Pounders	TV film
	Hawkeye	Unknown	Episode 1.17: "The Visit"
	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Hanok	Episode 4.6: "Starship Down"
1995-1996	Partners	Mr. Saxonhouse	Episodes 1.11: "Do We Have to Write You a Check?" and 1.18: "Can We Keep Her, Dad?"
1996	Strange Luck	Minister	Episode 1.13: "Healing Hands"
1996	The Client	Officer Joe Denton	Episode 1.17: "The High Ground"
1999	A Slight Case of Murder	John Edgerson	TV film
1999	RKO 281	William Randolph Hearst	TV film Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
2000	Fail Safe	Gordon Knapp	TV play
2001	ER	Bishop Stewart	Appeared in four episodes Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
	Star Trek: Enterprise	Dr. Zefram Cochrane	Episode 1.1: "Broken Bow: Part 1" Cromwell also appeared in archive footage in Episode 4.18: "In a Mirror, Darkly"
	Citizen Baines	Senator Elliot Baines	Appeared in all seven episodes
2002	A Death in the Family	Joel Lynch	TV film
	The Magnificent Ambersons	Major Amberson	TV film
	RFK	President Lyndon B. Johnson
2003	Angels in America	Henry	TV mini-series; chapters 1 and 4
2003-2005	Six Feet Under	George Sibley	Appeared in 27 episodes Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series (2005, 2006)
2004	The West Wing	President D. Wire Newman	Episode 5.10: "The Stormy Present"
2004	'Salem's Lot	Father Donald Callahan	TV mini-series
2005	Pope John Paul II	Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha
2006	Avenger	Paul Devereaux	TV film
2007	24	Phillip Bauer	Appeared in eight episodes
2007	Masters of Science Fiction	Randolph Ludwin	Episode 1.6: "Watchbird"
2008	Hit Factor	Orson Fierce	Also producer
2008	My Own Worst Enemy	Alistar Trumble	Appeared in six episodes
2009	Strikeout	Director	TV film
	Impact	Lloyd	TV mini-series
	The Last Days of Lehman Brothers	Hank Paulson	Docu-drama