James Allen Whitmore, Jr. died he was 87, whitmore was an
American two-time
Academy Award-nominated,
Emmy- and
Golden Globe-winning
film actor.
James Allen Whitmore, Jr. was born on October 1, 1921 in
White Plains, New York, the son of Florence Belle (
née Crane) and James Allen Whitmore, Sr., who was a park commission official.
[1] He attended
Amherst Central High School in
Snyder, New York, and spent his senior year at the Choate School (now
Choate Rosemary Hall) in Connecticut. He then entered
Yale University, where he was a member of
Skull and Bones, and served in the
United States Marine Corps during
World War II.
(October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009)
Following World War II, Whitmore appeared on Broadway in the role of the Sergeant in
Command Decision.
MGM hired Whitmore on contract, but his role in the film adaptation was played by
Van Johnson. Whitmore's first major picture was
Battleground, in a role that was turned down by
Spencer Tracy, and for which Whitmore was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Other major films included
The Asphalt Jungle,
The Next Voice You Hear,
[2][3] Above and Beyond,
Kiss Me, Kate,
Them!,
Oklahoma!,
Black Like Me,
Guns of the Magnificent Seven,
Tora! Tora! Tora!, and
Give 'em Hell, Harry!, for which he was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of former
U.S. President Harry S Truman. In the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! he played the part of
Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey.
In the 1960-1961 television season, Whitmore starred in his own
crime drama on
ABC entitled
The Law and Mr. Jones, in the title role, with
Conlan Carter as legal assistant C.E. Carruthers and
Janet De Gore as his secretary. The program ran at the 10:30 Eastern half-hour slot on Friday. It was cancelled after one year but returned in April 1962 for thirteen additional episodes on Thursday to fill the half-hour vacated by the cancellation of the ABC
sitcom Margie.
In 1963, Whitmore played Captain William Benteen in
The Twilight Zone episode "
On Thursday We Leave for Home". In 1967 he guest starred as a security guard in
The Invaders episode, Quantity: Unknown. That same year, he appeared on an episode of ABC's
Custer starring
Wayne Maunder in the title role. In 1969, Whitmore played the leading character of Professor Woodruff in the TV series
My Friend Tony, produced by
NBC. Whitmore also made several memorable appearances on the classic ABC
western "
The Big Valley" starring
Barbara Stanwyck during the second half of the 1960s. Generally portraying a villain (corrupt sheriff or politician), his role was often that of a layered, complicated, and tormented character noted for intensity. Whitmore's natural ability to utilize the period slang terms and late 19th century language of the Old West gave a credibility to the performance seldom matched by other actors. His characters dominated the scenes and episodes in which he appeared.
Whitmore also appeared as General
Oliver O. Howard in the 1975
TV movie I Will Fight No More Forever, based on the 1877 conflict between the
United States Army and the
Nez Percé tribe, led by
Chief Joseph. In 1986, Whitmore voiced
Mark Twain in the first claymation film "
The Adventures of Mark Twain". Whitmore's last major role was that of librarian Brooks Hatlen in the critically-acclaimed and
Academy award-nominated 1994
Tim Robbins film
The Shawshank Redemption.In 2002 Whitmore played a supporting role in "The Majestic", a film that starred Jim Carey. To a younger generation, he was probably best known, in addition to his role in Shawshank, as the commercial spokesman for
Miracle-Gro plant food for many years.
In addition to his film career, Whitmore did extensive theatre work. He won a
Tony Award for "Best Performance by a Newcomer" in the
Broadway production of
Command Decision (1948). He later won the title "King of the One Man Show" after appearing in the solo vehicles
Will Rogers' USA (1970),
Give 'em Hell, Harry! (1975) (repeating the role in the film version, for which he was nominated for an
Oscar) and as
Theodore Roosevelt in
Bully (1977) although the latter production did not repeat the success of the first two.
In 1999, he played Raymond Oz in two episodes of
The Practice, earning an
Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. In 2002, Whitmore got the role of the Grandfather in the
Disney Channel original movie
A Ring of Endless Light. Whitmore has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6611 Hollywood Blvd. In April 2007, he also appeared in
C.S.I. in an episode titled "
Ending Happy" as Milton, an elderly man who provides a clue of dubious utility.
Whitmore was twice married to Nancy Mygatt. They first married in 1947 and the couple had three sons before their divorce in 1971. One of those sons, James III, has gone on to find success as a television actor and director, under the name
James Whitmore, Jr.Following the divorce from Mygatt, Whitmore was married to actress
Audra Lindley from 1972 until 1979. He later remarried Mygatt, but they divorced again after two years.
Although not always politically active, in 2007, Whitmore generated some publicity with his endorsement of
Barack Obama for U.S. President. In January 2008, Whitmore appeared in television commercials for the First Freedom First campaign, which advocates preserving "the separation of church and state" and protecting religious liberty.
[4]Whitmore resided in Malibu, California where he was known through-out the community for being neighborly and warm hearted.
[5]He
smoked a pipe.
Whitmore was diagnosed with
lung cancer in November 2008, from which he died at his
Malibu, California home on February 6, 2009. He was 87.
[6]
Lusk was rushed to the Calderon Hospital intensive care unit in San Jose, where he was treated for major brain trauma. Doctors there induced a coma to allow swelling of his brain to subside.
