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James Cromwell
James Cromwell in 2005
Born	James Oliver Cromwell January 27, 1940 (1940-01-27) (age 68) Los Angeles, Calif., 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), sometimes credited as Jamie Cromwell, 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 life

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

Early career

His first television performance was in a 1974 episode of The Rockford Files playing Terry.^[3] A few weeks later,^[4] he had a brief 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.

While he continued with regular television work for the rest of the 1980s, he 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.

1990s

His 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".

2000s

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. He 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, he 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 October 2008 he will be starring in Oliver Stone's W. as former President George H. W. Bush.

Personal life

He has three children and has been married twice.

Height

Cromwell is known for his unusually tall stature; he stands at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), making him the tallest person to ever be nominated for an Academy Award.

Beliefs

He has long been an advocate of leftist causes. 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.^[7] He became a vegetarian in 1974 after seeing a stockyard in Texas and experiencing the "smell, terror and anxiety."^[8] 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.^[9]

For the 2008 Presidential Election, Cromwell has endorsed Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Award nominations

• 1995 - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Babe
• 1997 - Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture for L.A. Confidential
• 1999 - Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture for The Green Mile
• 2000 - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for RKO 281
• 2001 - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for ER
• 2003 - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Six Feet Under
• 2005, 2006 - Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series for Six Feet Under

Filmography

Films

References

External links

• James Cromwell at the Internet Movie Database
• James Cromwell article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki