Takara_Soong 4 Posted January 27, 2005 HAPPY BIRTHDAYJAMES CROMWELL James Cromwell, the veteran actor of stage and screen (both big and small) turns 65 today. An imposing figure both in a physical and performance sense, the 6'7" LA born actor is well known and respected by Trek fans everywhere. His appearances on Trek include playing: Zephram Cochran in Star Trek First Contact and in an uncredited appearance in the series premiere of Enterprise; Nayrok in the TNG episode The Hunted; Jaglom Shrek in the TNG two-parter Birthright; and Minister Hanok in the DS9 episode Starship Down His non-Trek list of credits is quite inpressive including his SAG nominated performances as Capt. Dudley Liam Smith in LA Confidential (1998), Warden Hal Moores in The Green Mile (2000) and George Sibley on Six Feet Under (2005); his Emmy nominated performances as William Randolph Hearst in RKO 281 (2000), Bishop Lionel Stewart on ER (2001) and George Sibley on Six Feet Under (2005); as well as his Academy Award nominated performance as Farmer Arthur Hoggett in Babe. 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). Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Some James Cromwell trivia: Besides his own appearances in the Star Trek series, his wife Julie Cobb (who he is in the process of divorcing) played Yeoman Thompson in TOS' "By Any Other Name" and daughter Rosemary Morgan played Piri in Voyager's "The Chute." A believer in non-terrestrial intelligence. He is the only actor to ever utter the words "Star Trek" on Star Trek itself. In the movie Star Trek: First Contact his character said to the crew, "...and you're all astronauts, on some kind of....star trek?" His Star Trek: First Contact character (Zefram Cochrane) is the only character to be mentioned on all five 'Star Trek' series. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites