Detailed Biography

James Oliver 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 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. He was educated at The Hill School, Middlebury College and Carnegie Institute of Technology , 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. 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 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" 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 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 , The People Vs. Larry Flynt , L.A. Confidential , The Green Mile, and Snow Falling on Cedars were a breakout role for him, and made him more bankable in Hollywood. He also played Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact and the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot Broken Bow . He has appeared on other Star Trek television series The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, though not as Cochrane , 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 , 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. More recently, Cromwell played George Herbert Walker Bush in Oliver Stone's W. , 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.

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." 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. He became a vegetarian in 1974 after seeing a stockyard in Texas and experiencing the "smell, terror and anxiety." 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.

Cromwell is known for his unusually tall stature; he stands at 6 ft 7 in .

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.