James Cromwell
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.
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Movies (120)
Living with a Visionary
2026 · Narrator (voice)
Rebel Ridge
2024 · Judge
Un pequeño Batman Navideño
2023 · Alfred Pennyworth (voice)
Prancer: un cuento de Navidad
2022 · Bud
Mondo Hollywoodland
2021 · Executive Producer
Héroe de la libertad
2020 · John Brown
Never Too Late
2020 · Jack Bronson
The Immortal
2019 · Grandfather
La lavandería
2019 · Joseph David Martin
That Guy... Who Was In That Thing 3: Trek Stars
2019 · Self
Countdown to Year Zero
2019
Running for Good: The Fiona Oakes Documentary
2018 · Executive Producer
Jurassic World 2: El Reino Caído
2018 · Benjamin Lockwood
Marshall: El origen de la justicia
2017 · The Judge
La promesa
2016 · Henry Morgenthau Sr.
50 Years of Star Trek
2016 · Self
The Perfect Crime: Leopold & Loeb
2016 · Self - Narrator (voice)
Imminent Threat
2015 · Executive Producer
Walking the Mile
2014 · Self
Grandes Héroes
2014 · Professor Robert Callaghan (voice)
In Between Songs
2014 · Narrator
Star Trek: Enterprise - In a Mirror, Darkly
2014 · Zefram Cochrane (archive footage)
Night Vet
2014 · Dr. Abel Evergood
Los límites de la verdad: El engaño
2013 · Justice Sumpter
A Night at the Movies: Hollywood Goes to Washington
2012 · Self - Interviewee
La Classe américaine
2012 · Self
Still Mine
2012 · Craig Morrison
The Artist: The Making of an American Romance
2012 · Self
Hollywood as Character: The Locations of The Artist
2012 · Himself
Soldiers of Fortune
2012 · Haussman
Vaqueras y ángeles
2012 · Terence Parker
Hide Away
2011 · The Ancient Mariner
Admissions
2011 · The Clerk
El artista
2011 · Clifton
Día de los caídos
2011 · Bud Vogel
Farm to Fridge
2011 · Narrator
Pope Pius XII
2010 · Pope Pius XII
Secretariat
2010 · Ogden Phipps
Beyond All Boundaries
2009 · Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift / Fleet Admiral William Halsey
Identidad Sustituta
2009 · Dr. Lionel Canter
The Last Days of Lehman Brothers
2009 · Hank Paulson
Starz Inside - Unforgettably Evil
2009 · Self
A Lonely Place for Dying
2009 · Howard Simons
W.
2008 · George H.W. Bush
Whatever You Desire: Making 'L.A. Confidential'
2008 · Self
La Tortura
2008 · Jack
El hombre araña 3
2007 · Captain Stacy
Amor Verdadero
2007 · Mr. Austen
Dante's Inferno
2007 · Virgil (voice)
The Making of 'The Queen'
2007 · Self
Looking For Else
2007 · Self
The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird
2006 · Self
La Reina
2006 · Prince Philip
King Leopold's Ghost
2006
Avenger
2006 · Paul Devereaux
Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
2005 · Narrator
Golpe Bajo: El Juego Final
2005 · Warden Hazen
Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde
2004 · Self
Yo, Robot
2004 · Dr. Alfred Lanning
A Carol Christmas
2003 · Ghost of Christmas Future (uncredited)
The Snow Walker
2003 · Walter "Shep" Shepherd
Blackball
2003 · Ray Speight
The John Garfield Story
2003 · Self
RFK
2002 · President Lyndon Baines Johnson
La Suma de Todos los Miedos
2002 · President Fowler
Spirit: El corcel indomable
2002 · The Colonel (voice)
Project Viper
2002 · MP 1
A Death in the Family
2002 · Joel Lynch
The Magnificent Ambersons
2002 · Major Amberson
Jinetes Del Espacio
2000 · Bob Gerson
Walking the Mile: The Making of The Green Mile
2000 · Self / Warden Hal Moores
Fail Safe
2000 · Gordon Knapp
Snow Falling on Cedars
1999 · Judge Fielding
Milagros Inesperados
1999 · Warden Hal Moores
RKO 281
1999 · William Randolph Hearst
The Bachelor
1999 · Priest
A Slight Case of Murder
1999 · John Edgarson
The General's Daughter
1999 · General Joseph Campbell
Babe: Pig in the City
1998 · Farmer Arthur Hoggett
Deep Impact
1998 · Alan Rittenhouse
Species II
1998 · Senator Ross
Owd Bob
1998 · Adam MacAdam
The Education of Little Tree
1997 · Nonno
L.A. Confidential
1997 · Dudley Smith
The People vs. Larry Flynt
1996 · Charles Keating
Star Trek: First Contact
1996 · Dr. Zefram Cochrane
Eraser
1996 · Donahue
Babe
1995 · Farmer Hoggett
Indictment: The McMartin Trial
1995 · Judge Pounders
The Shaggy Dog
1994 · Charlie Mulvihill
Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love
1994 · Mr. Skolnick
Romeo Is Bleeding
1993 · Cage
Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation
1992 · Mr. Skolnick
The Babe
1992 · Brother Mathias
Miracle Landing
1990 · B.J. Cocker
The Runnin' Kind
1989 · Uncle Phil
Pink Cadillac
1989 · Motel Desk Clerk
The Rescue
1988 · Adm. Rothman
China Beach: Pilot
1988 · Ambassador at Large Roland Weymouth
Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise
1987 · Mr. Skolnick
A Fine Mess
1986 · Detective Blist
The Last Precinct
1986 · Chief Bludhorn
Explorers
1985 · Mr. Müller
Oh, God! You Devil
1984 · Priest
Revenge of the Nerds
1984 · Mr. Skolnick
Spraggue
1984 · Lt. George Hurley
Tank
1984 · Deputy Euclid
The House of God
1984 · Officer Quick
The Man with Two Brains
1983 · Realtor
The Rainmaker
1982 · Noah Curry
Barefoot In the Park
1982 · Harry Pepper
The Wall
1982 · Francisek
Nobody's Perfekt
1981 · Dr. Carson
A Christmas Without Snow
1980 · Reverend Lohman
The Cheap Detective
1978 · Schnell
Peeping Times
1978 · Bernard Mantee
Deadly Game
1977 · Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr.
The Girl in the Empty Grave
1977 · Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr.
Murder by Death
1976 · Marcel Cassette
Get Lost
· Frederick (Red King)
TV shows (72)
La Batifamilia
2025 · Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth (voice)
Murder in a Small Town
2024 · George Wilcox
Sugar
2024 · Jonathan Siegel
La ley y el orden: crimen organizado
2021 · Miles Darman
Viaje a las Estrellas: Rangos Inferiores
2020 · Dr. Zefram Cochrane (voice)
Operation Buffalo
2020 · Cranky
The Family
2019 · Douglas Coe
Succession
2018 · Ewan Roy
Counterpart
2017 · Yanek
The Young Pope
2016 · Cardinal Michael Spencer
Berlin Station
2016 · Gilbert Dorn
Desviados
2016 · J.R.
Murder in the First
2014 · Warren Daniels
Halt and Catch Fire
2014 · Jacob Wheeler
American Horror Story
2011 · Dr. Arthur Arden
Sotto il cielo di Roma
2010 · Pope Pius XII
Boardwalk Empire
2010 · Andrew W. Mellon
Impact
2009 · Lloyd
My Own Worst Enemy
2008 · Alistair Trumbull
Pope John Paul II
2005 · Cardinal Adam Sapieha
El misterio de Salem's Lot
2004 · Donald Callahan
Ángeles en América
2003 · Roy's Doctor
24
2001 · Phillip Bauer
Citizen Baines
2001 · Elliott Baines
Star Trek: Enterprise
2001 · Dr. Zefram Cochran (uncredited)
Six Feet Under
2001 · George Sibley
The West Wing
1999 · President D. Wire Newman
The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn
1999 · Self - Guest
The Client
1995 · Officer Joe Denton
Partners
1995
ER
1994 · Bishop Stewart
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
1993 · Hanok
Picket Fences
1992 · The Bishop
Home Improvement
1991 · Fred
American Dreamer
1990
Christine Cromwell
1989
China Beach
1988
Star Trek: The Next Generation
1987 · Prime Minister Nayrok, Jaglom Shrek
Jake and the Fatman
1987
Easy Street
1986
Matlock
1986 · Judge Raymond Price
Amazing Stories
1985 · Francis
The Twilight Zone
1985 · (segment "A Message From Charity")
Wildside
1985
Hunter
1984 · Seymour Robbins
Night Court
1984 · Alan
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
1983
Buffalo Bill
1983 · Staunton McMoller
Knight Rider
1982 · Curtis
Family Ties
1982 · John Hancock
Foul Play
1981 · Bebet
Hill Street Blues
1981
Flo
1980
The White Shadow
1978 · Mr. Hamilton, Art Commings
Diff'rent Strokes
1978
Dallas
1978 · Gerald Kane
Three's Company
1977 · Detective Lannigan
Eight Is Enough
1977
Once an Eagle
1976 · J.L. Cleghorne
The Nancy Walker Show
1976 · Glen
All's Fair
1976
Alice
1976
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
1976 · Reverend Buryfield
Barbary Coast
1975 · Roy
Hot l Baltimore
1975
Barney Miller
1975 · Wilkinson, Neil Spencer, Dr. Edmund Danworth, Jason Parrish
The Rockford Files
1974 · Terry
Little House on the Prairie
1974 · Harve Miller
Police Story
1973
M*A*S*H
1972
All in the Family
1971 · Stretch Cunningham
Golden Globe Awards
1944 · Self - Audience Member