James Cromwell
Acting • Born 1940-01-27
Biography
James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. Zefram Cochrane in “Star Trek: First Contact,” as well as his roles in “Babe,” “L.A. Confidential,” and “Spider-Man 3.” He has been nominated for an Oscar, three Emmy Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards during his career. Cromwell was born in Los Angeles, California and was raised in Manhattan, New York. He was adopted by actress Kay Johnson and 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 (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. 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." 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 was married to Anne Ulvestad from 1976 to 1986. They had three children. He married his second wife, Julie Cobb, on May 29, 1986.
Filmography
196 credits
Star Trek: First Contact
Movie • 1996
Dr. Zefram Cochrane
The Green Mile
Movie • 1999
Warden Hal Moores
The Queen
Movie • 2006
Prince Philip
Spider-Man 3
Movie • 2007
Captain Stacy
I, Robot
Movie • 2004
Dr. Alfred Lanning
Romeo Is Bleeding
Movie • 1993
Cage
L.A. Confidential
Movie • 1997
Dudley Smith
The People vs. Larry Flynt
Movie • 1996
Charles Keating
W.
Movie • 2008
George H.W. Bush
Species II
Movie • 1998
Senator Ross
Snow Falling on Cedars
Movie • 1999
Judge Fielding
The General's Daughter
Movie • 1999
General Joseph Campbell
The Bachelor
Movie • 1999
Priest
Becoming Jane
Movie • 2007
Mr. Austen
The Sum of All Fears
Movie • 2002
President Fowler
Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love
Movie • 1994
Mr. Skolnick
Space Cowboys
Movie • 2000
Bob Gerson
Tank
Movie • 1984
Deputy Euclid
Fail Safe
Movie • 2000
Gordon Knapp
Murder by Death
Movie • 1976
Marcel Cassette
Deep Impact
Movie • 1998
Alan Rittenhouse
Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde
Movie • 2004
Self
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Movie • 2002
The Colonel (voice)
Babe: Pig in the City
Movie • 1998
Farmer Arthur Hoggett
Eraser
Movie • 1996
William Donohue
The Longest Yard
Movie • 2005
Warden Hazen
The Cheap Detective
Movie • 1978
Schnell
Babe
Movie • 1995
Farmer Hoggett
Explorers
Movie • 1985
Mr. Müller
Tortured
Movie • 2008
Jack
The Rescue
Movie • 1988
Adm. Rothman
Revenge of the Nerds
Movie • 1984
Mr. Skolnick
The Snow Walker
Movie • 2003
Walter "Shep" Shepherd
A Slight Case of Murder
Movie • 1999
John Edgarson
The Babe
Movie • 1992
Brother Mathias
Blackball
Movie • 2003
Ray Speight
Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
Movie • 2005
Narrator
The Education of Little Tree
Movie • 1997
Nonno
A Christmas Without Snow
Movie • 1980
Reverend Lohman
Avenger
Movie • 2006
Paul Devereaux
Secretariat
Movie • 2010
Ogden Phipps
RFK
Movie • 2002
President Lyndon Baines Johnson
A Lonely Place for Dying
Movie • 2009
Howard Simons
RKO 281
Movie • 1999
William Randolph Hearst
Surrogates
Movie • 2009
Dr. Lionel Canter
Pope Pius XII
Movie • 2010
Pope Pius XII
In Between Songs
Movie • 2014
Narrator
Project Viper
Movie • 2002
MP 1
The Artist
Movie • 2011
Clifton
The House of God
Movie • 1984
Officer Quick
The Last Days of Lehman Brothers
Movie • 2009
Hank Paulson
Cowgirls n' Angels
Movie • 2012
Terence Parker
Memorial Day
Movie • 2011
Bud Vogel
Hide Away
Movie • 2011
The Ancient Mariner
Soldiers of Fortune
Movie • 2012
Haussman
Still Mine
Movie • 2012
Craig Morrison
Nobody's Perfekt
Movie • 1981
Dr. Carson
The Girl in the Empty Grave
Movie • 1977
Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr.
The Shaggy Dog
Movie • 1994
Charlie Mulvihill
Starz Inside - Unforgettably Evil
Movie • 2009
Self
Owd Bob
Movie • 1998
Adam MacAdam
The Trials of Cate McCall
Movie • 2013
Justice Sumpter
Merry Little Batman
Movie • 2023
Alfred Pennyworth (voice)
Countdown to Year Zero
Movie • 2019
Miracle Landing
Movie • 1990
B.J. Cocker
Big Hero 6
Movie • 2014
Professor Robert Callaghan (voice)
The Last Precinct
Movie • 1986
Chief Bludhorn
Deadly Game
Movie • 1977
Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr.
Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation
Movie • 1992
Mr. Skolnick
Prancer: A Christmas Tale
Movie • 2022
Bud
Walking the Mile
Movie • 2014
Self
The Promise
Movie • 2016
Henry Morgenthau Sr.
Get Lost
Movie
Frederick (Red King)
Indictment: The McMartin Trial
Movie • 1995
Judge Pounders
Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise
Movie • 1987
Mr. Skolnick
Barefoot In the Park
Movie • 1982
Harry Pepper
50 Years of Star Trek
Movie • 2016
Self
The Immortal
Movie • 2019
Grandfather
China Beach: Pilot
Movie • 1988
Ambassador at Large Roland Weymouth
Marshall
Movie • 2017
The Judge
Daddy Long Legs
Movie • 1955
Extra (uncredited)
The Man with Two Brains
Movie • 1983
Realtor
Night Vet
Movie
Dr. Abel Evergood
The Perfect Crime: Leopold & Loeb
Movie • 2016
Self - Narrator (voice)
The Rainmaker
Movie • 1982
Noah Curry
Farm to Fridge
Movie • 2011
Narrator
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Movie • 2018
Benjamin Lockwood
King Leopold's Ghost
Movie • 2006
Peeping Times
Movie • 1978
Bernard Mantee
A Death in the Family
Movie • 2002
Joel Lynch
The Laundromat
Movie • 2019
Joseph David Martin
Dante's Inferno
Movie • 2007
Virgil (voice)
The Runnin' Kind
Movie • 1989
Uncle Phil
Beyond All Boundaries
Movie • 2009
Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift / Fleet Admiral William Halsey
A Night at the Movies: Hollywood Goes to Washington
Movie • 2012
Self - Interviewee
The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird
Movie • 2006
Self
Pink Cadillac
Movie • 1989
Motel Desk Clerk
Emperor
Movie • 2020
John Brown
Never Too Late
Movie • 2020
Jack Bronson
Walking the Mile: The Making of The Green Mile
Movie • 2000
Self / Warden Hal Moores
The Artist: The Making of an American Romance
Movie • 2012
Self
Hollywood as Character: The Locations of The Artist
Movie • 2012
Himself
A Fine Mess
Movie • 1986
Detective Blist
Looking For Else
Movie • 2007
Self
The Wall
Movie • 1982
Francisek
La Classe américaine
Movie • 2012
Self
A Carol Christmas
Movie • 2003
Ghost of Christmas Future (uncredited)
Oh, God! You Devil
Movie • 1984
Priest
The John Garfield Story
Movie • 2003
Self
Spraggue
Movie • 1984
Lt. George Hurley
That Guy... Who Was In That Thing 3: Trek Stars
Movie • 2019
Self
Rebel Ridge
Movie • 2024
Judge
Whatever You Desire: Making 'L.A. Confidential'
Movie • 2008
Self
The Magnificent Ambersons
Movie • 2002
Major Amberson
Admissions
Movie • 2011
The Clerk
The Making of 'The Queen'
Movie • 2007
Self
Living With A Visionary
Movie • 2026
Narrator (voice)
Pope John Paul II
Movie • 2005
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Birthright
Movie • 1993
Jaglom Shrek
Family Ties
TV • 1982
John Hancock
Alice
TV • 1976
Night Court
TV • 1984
Alan
Six Feet Under
TV • 2001
George Sibley
American Dreamer
TV • 1990
M*A*S*H
TV • 1972
American Horror Story
TV • 2011
Dr. Arthur Arden
Flo
TV • 1980
Star Trek: The Next Generation
TV • 1987
Prime Minister Nayrok
Home Improvement
TV • 1991
Fred
Little House on the Prairie
TV • 1974
Harve Miller
Matlock
TV • 1986
Judge Raymond Price
China Beach
TV • 1988
The Twilight Zone
TV • 1985
(segment "A Message From Charity")
All in the Family
TV • 1971
Stretch Cunningham
Knight Rider
TV • 1982
Curtis
Diff'rent Strokes
TV • 1978
Barney Miller
TV • 1975
Sgt. Wilkinson
Hill Street Blues
TV • 1981
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
TV • 1983
Three's Company
TV • 1977
Detective Lannigan
All's Fair
TV • 1976
Jake and the Fatman
TV • 1987
Eight Is Enough
TV • 1977
Hunter
TV • 1984
Seymour Robbins
Dallas
TV • 1978
Gerald Kane
Hot l Baltimore
TV • 1975
The Nancy Walker Show
TV • 1976
Glen
The White Shadow
TV • 1978
Mr. Hamilton
Police Story
TV • 1973
Partners
TV • 1995
Citizen Baines
TV • 2001
Angels in America
TV • 2003
Roy's Doctor
Barbary Coast
TV • 1975
Roy
Foul Play
TV • 1981
Bebet
Wildside
TV • 1985
The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn
TV • 1999
Self - Guest
Easy Street
TV • 1986
Impact
TV • 2009
Lloyd
24
TV • 2001
Phillip Bauer
Masters of Science Fiction
TV • 2007
Amazing Stories
TV • 1985
Francis
The Client
TV • 1995
Officer Joe Denton
ER
TV • 1994
Bishop Stewart
Law & Order: Organized Crime
TV • 2021
Miles Darman
The Young Pope
TV • 2016
Cardinal Michael Spencer
The Detour
TV • 2016
J.R.
Once an Eagle
TV • 1976
J.L. Cleghorne
The West Wing
TV • 1999
President D. Wire Newman
Pope John Paul II
TV • 2005
Cardinal Adam Sapieha
Salem's Lot
TV • 2004
Donald Callahan
The Rockford Files
TV • 1974
Terry
Star Trek: The Next Generation
TV • 1987
Jaglom Shrek
Star Trek: Lower Decks
TV • 2020
Dr. Zefram Cochrane (voice)
Counterpart
TV • 2017
Yanek
My Own Worst Enemy
TV • 2008
Alistair Trumbull
Sugar
TV • 2024
Jonathan Siegel
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
TV • 1993
Hanok
Halt and Catch Fire
TV • 2014
Jacob Wheeler
The Family
TV • 2019
Douglas Coe
The White Shadow
TV • 1978
Art Commings
Succession
TV • 2018
Ewan Roy
Barney Miller
TV • 1975
Neil Spencer
Barney Miller
TV • 1975
Dr. Edmund Danworth
Berlin Station
TV • 2016
Gilbert Dorn
Operation Buffalo
TV • 2020
Cranky
Barney Miller
TV • 1975
Jason Parrish
Murder in the First
TV • 2014
Warren Daniels
Boardwalk Empire
TV • 2010
Andrew W. Mellon
Murder in a Small Town
TV • 2024
George Wilcox
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Audience Member
Christine Cromwell
TV • 1989
Sotto il cielo di Roma
TV • 2010
Pope Pius XII
BAT-FAM
TV • 2025
Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth (voice)
Picket Fences
TV • 1992
The Bishop
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
TV • 1976
Reverend Buryfield
Star Trek: Enterprise
TV • 2001
Dr. Zefram Cochran (uncredited)