James Cromwell — Movies, TV Shows & Roles

Actor

1940-01-27 · Los Angeles, California, USA · Male

65 series in the catalog

James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Babe (1995). Other film roles include Star Trek: First Contact (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), Deep Impact (1998), The Green Mile (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), I, Robot (2004), The Longest Yard (2005), The Queen (2006), Spider-Man 3 (2007), W. (2008), Secretariat (2010), The Artist (2011), Still Mine (2012), The Promise (2016), Marshall (2017), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and Emperor (2020). He has also voiced characters in several animated films and TV shows, including Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and Big Hero 6 (2014).
Cromwell is also well known for his roles in television including guest starring in 4 episodes of ER (2001), Angels in America (2003), Six Feet Under (2003–2005), The West Wing (2004), American Horror Story: Asylum (2012–2013), for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, Boardwalk Empire (2012–2013), The Young Pope (2016), Counterpart (2018–2019), Succession (2018–2023), for which he earned three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor, and Sugar (2024).
Cromwell is an activist for causes including animal rights and environmentalism. He has been arrested several times at protests, and served a jail sentence after refusing to pay a fine following a 2015 sit-in protest at a power plant.
Early life and education
James Oliver Cromwell was born in Los Angeles, California on January 27, 1940. He is the son of actress Kay Johnson and actor and director John Cromwell, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. His parents divorced in 1946. He has English, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. He was raised in Manhattan, New York City. Cromwell graduated from The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1958, and went on to Middlebury College, and Carnegie Mellon University, where he graduated with a B.F.A. in 1964. He received his acting training at HB Studio.
Career
Cromwell's first television performance was in a 1974 episode of The Rockford Files playing Terry, a tennis instructor. A few weeks later, 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 appeared on M*A*S*H as Captain Leo Bardonaro in the episode "Last Laugh". A year later, he made his film debut in Neil Simon's classic detective spoof Murder by Death. Cromwell portrayed four different characters in four episodes of Barney Miller (1977–1981). In 1977, he appeared in the Three's Company episode "Chrissy's Night Out" as Detective Lannigan.
In 1980, Cromwell guest-starred in the two-part episode "Laura Ingalls Wilder" of the long-running television series Little House on the Prairie. He played Harve Miller, one of Almanzo Wilder's old friends.
While Cromwell continued with regular television work throughout the 1980s, he made appearances in films with supporting roles in Tank, Revenge of the Nerds, and Oh, God! You Devil (all 1984). He guest-starred on the sitcom Night Court, playing a mental patient, along with Kevin Peter Hall. He had a starring role in the critically acclaimed film Babe (1995), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and reprised his role in the sequel, Babe: Pig in the City (1998). Subsequent roles included Eraser (1996), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The Education of Little Tree (1997), L.A. Confidential (1997), Deep Impact (1998), The Green Mile (1999), The General's Daughter, (1999), Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), The Sum of All Fears (2002), I, Robot (2004), and The Longest Yard (2005). He also voiced the Colonel in DreamWorks' Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002).
Cromwell's first Star Trek role was on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1990, in the season 3 episode "The Hunted", followed by the 1993 episode "Birthright, Part 1" as Jaglom Shrek. He also played Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996), the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot episode "Broken Bow", and the 2022 Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3 premiere episode, "Grounded". The Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" reused some of the First Contact footage. Cromwell also appeared in a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, "Starship Down", as Hanok.
Cromwell's role as newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst in the television film RKO 281 (1999) earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Movie. The following year, he received his second Emmy Award nomination for playing Bishop Lionel Stewart on the NBC medical drama series ER. In 2003, he appeared in the HBO miniseries Angels in America. In 2004, he guest-starred as former president D. Wire Newman in 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 Awards 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 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. That same year he received the King Vidor Memorial Award from the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival for his artistic achievements in film. He also starred as Captain George Stacy in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 (2007). Cromwell played George H. W. Bush in Oliver Stone's W. (2008), that chronicles the rise to power of Bush's son up until the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Cromwell played the Older Canter in the sci-fi thriller Surrogates (2009), starred as horse owner Ogden Phipps in Disney's Secretariat (2010), portrayed Clifton in the Academy Award-winning The Artist (2011), and starred in the romantic drama Still Mine (2012). From 2012 to 2013, he appeared in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Cromwell also provided the voice of the main villain Professor Robert Callaghan/Yokai in the Disney movie Big Hero 6 (2014). His subsequent film roles have included The Promise (2016), Marshall (2017), and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018).
In 2015, Cromwell executive produced the documentary Imminent Threat which tackles the War on Terror's impact on civil liberties. In 2016, Cromwell starred in HBO's series The Young Pope alongside Jude Law and Diane Keaton. In 2018, he appeared in HBO's Succession, and Starz's Counterpart. In 2020, Cromwell starred in the Australian comedy-drama film Never Too Late, and in the historical drama film Emperor. Cromwell starred in Operation Buffalo, an Australian television comedy-drama series about the atomic bomb tests in outback Australia, which screened on ABC from 31 May 2020. He is currently featured in the HBO Max show Julia, as Julia Child's father, John McWilliams. In 2021, Cromwell executive produced the psychedelic comedy Mondo Hollywoodland, directed by Janek Ambros, who also directed Imminent Threat.
Activism
Cromwell has long been an advocate of progressive causes, particularly regarding animal rights. He became a vegetarian in 1974 after seeing a stockyard in Texas and experiencing the "smell, terror and anxiety". He became vegan while playing the character of Farmer Hoggett in the 1995 film Babe. He frequently speaks out on issues regarding animal cruelty for PETA, largely on the treatment of…