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James Cromwell

James Cromwell
Born: Jan 27, 1940
Los Angeles, CA
Career: 1974-2009
Countries: USA
Genre/Type: Comedy
Drama
Science Fiction
Thriller
Biography by Sandra Brennan
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).

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Filmography

Movie/Film Released Rating Role Buy
Surrogates 2009 Actor [Starring]
Impact 2008 Actor [Starring]
Tortured 2008 Actor [Starring]
W. 2008 Actor [Starring]
24: Season 06 2007 Actor [Starring]
Becoming Jane 2007 Actor [Starring]
Dante's Inferno 2007 Voice [Starring]
Masters of Science Fiction: Watchbird 2007 Actor [Starring]
Spider-Man 3 2007 Actor [Starring]
Your Mommy Kills Animals 2007 Participant [Starring]
Avenger 2006 Actor [Starring]
King Leopold's Ghost 2006 Voice [Starring]
The Queen 2006 Actor [Starring]
Pope John Paul II 2005 Actor [Starring]
Six Feet Under: Season 05 2005 Actor [Starring]
The Longest Yard 2005 Actor [Starring]
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Tom Hanks, others screen 'Beyond All Boundaries' (From Filmicafe. 5 November 2009, 1:14 PM, PST) Boos! and Whoop-doos!: Who Should Star in Board Game: The Movie? (From MovieWeb. 8 October 2009, 11:24 AM, PDT)
Yes, James Cromwell, who played the pig-owning Farmer Hoggett, is a vegetarian. He has been one since 1975, and became a vegan in 1994, while making "Babe." And yes, he is an animal rights activist as well. On July 3, 2001, the ac...
You science-y guys could easily get a lot more page hits if you mixed in a little celebrity gossip from time to time, you know.

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Awards

Year Movie/Film Role
1995 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Babe Best Supporting Actor (Nom)
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