Son of actress Kay Johnson and director/actor John Cromwell
Step-son of actress Ruth Nelson.
Sometimes credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
Educated at Carnegie Institute of Technology
Besides his own appearances in the Star Trek series, his wife Julie Cobb played Yeoman Thompson in "By Any Other Name" and daughter Rosemary Morgan played Piri in "The Chute."
A believer in non-terrestrial intelligence.
Celebrity sponsor of the Great American Meatout, March 20, 2001.
Was arrested for trespassing during an animal rights demonstration in Virginia, targeting the Wendy's fast food chain. He and four other PETA protesters refused to leave after urging patrons to boycott the restaurant. Cromwell was released on his own recognizance after about five hours. [3 July 2001]
He is the only actor to ever utter the words "Star Trek" on Star Trek itself. In the movie Star Trek: First Contact (1996) his character said to the crew, "...and you're all astronauts, on some kind of....star trek?"
Played A US President 3 times. Fictional Prez Fowler in The Sum of All Fears, fictional Prez Newman in The West Wing, and Lyndon Johnson in the telemovie RFK.
In _The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)_ , he plays Charles Keating, a publisher. Charles Keating has the same first and last initials (CK) as Charles Kane, the character in 'Orson Wells' ' Citizen Kane (1941)". In that movie, Charles (Foster) Kane is a newspaper publisher based, in no small part, upon real life newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Cromwell portrayed Hearst in the behind the scenes look at Citizen Kane, entitled _RKO 281 (1999)_ .
Stars in the 2004 remake of _'Salem's Lot (2004)_ , based on 'Stephen King' 's novel, and his wife Julie Cobb starred in the original 1979 version.
At 6' 7", he is the tallest Oscar-nominated actor of all time (he was nominated for his Best Actor in a Support Role in Babe (1995)).
Was given the role of the Prison Warden in The Longest Yard (2005) after negotiations with Gary Oldman fell through.
His Star Trek: First Contact (1996) character (Zefram Cochrane) is the only character to be mentioned on all five 'Star Trek' series.
He struggled somewhat early in his career due to his height and the fact that few producers wanted someone towering over their leading men. Many of his early roles show him seated or leaning on something.
Shares a birthday with actress Mimi Rogers, actress Rosamund Pike, Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, actor Alan Cumming and actress Bridget Fonda.
Was a member of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s
James Cromwell Detailed Biography
Long-time character actor James Cromwell has spent much of his career on stage and television, only occasionally appearing in feature films until the early '90s, when his film work began to flourish. The tall, spare actor first became known to an international audience with his role as the taciturn but kindly Farmer Hoggett, the owner of a piglet that wants to be a sheepdog, in the smash hit Babe (1995). His work in the film earned Cromwell an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, as well as numerous opportunities for steady work in Hollywood.
The son of noted director John Cromwell and actress Kay Johnson, he originally aspired to become a mechanical engineer, attending both Vermont's Middlebury College and the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). But after a summer spent on a movie set with his father, the acting bug bit, and Cromwell decided to become an actor. He started out in regional theater, acting and directing in a variety productions for ten years, and he was a regular performer at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Cromwell made his television debut in the recurring role of "Stretch" Cunningham on All in the Family in 1974, and he subsequently spent the rest of the decade and much of the 1980s on television, as a regular on such shows as Hot L Baltimore and The Last Precinct. Cromwell also appeared in such miniseries as NBC's Once an Eagle and in such made-for-television movies as A Christmas Without Snow (1980).
Cromwell made his feature film debut in the comedy Murder By Death (1976). His film work was largely undistinguished until Babe; following the film's success, he began appearing in more substantial roles in a number of popular films, including The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996), in which he played Charles Keating; Star Trek: First Contact (1996), which cast him as the reluctant scientist responsible for Earth's first contact with alien life forms; and L.A. Confidential (1997), in which he gave a marvelously loathsome performance as a crooked police captain. Adept at playing nice guys and bottom-dwelling scum alike, Cromwell next earned strong notices for his portrayal of a penitentiary warden in The Green Mile (1999).
