The History of James Cromwell

I am proud to realize that I have been a fan of James Cromwell (b. 1940) for over 50 years now.

The 6’7″ actor played practical joker Stretch Cunningham on All in the Family starting in 1974. He then went on to be a regular on both Hot L Baltimore and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and to be in the Neil Simon comedies Murder by Death (1976) and The Cheap Detective (1978). He continued acting right along, mostly in guest shots on television, and then rose to prominence again as the farmer in Babe (1995), over 20 years later at the age of 55. What a remarkable career! In a way, his career as we know it seems to START at that late date, for from then on he has worked nonstop in high profile movies and tv shows including The People Vs. Larry Flint (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Green Mile (1999), Angels in America (2003), lots of Star Trek projects, I, Robot (2004), The Queen (2006), W. (2008), The Artist (2011), American Horror Story: Asylum (2012-2013), and Succession (2018-2023). He was also married to Lee J. Cobb’s daughter for about 20 years.

It’s an amazing career and like I said I’m a fan, but notwithstanding I’m not sure I’d have done a post on him had I not learned about his parents.

His folks were actor and director John Cromwell (Elwood Dager, 1886-1979) and actress Kay Johnson (1904-1975).

So, yes, unfortunately, these Cromwells are unrelated to the Lord Protector of England, else they’d also be related to me. After acting with stock companies in the midwest, young Elwood Dager changed his name so as not to embarrass his family, who’d made a pile of money in iron and steel. He made his Broadway debut in William Brady’s hit production of Little Women in 1912. Thereafter he would work frequently on Brady productions, often as director. Over 50 Broadway shows followed, including the American debut of Shaw’sMajor Barbara (1915), and the original production of Sidney Howard’sThe Silver Cord(1926).

Cromwell came to Hollywood with the coming of sound, as stage directors were being sought at the time. He directed 50 movies including the 1930 version of Tom Sawyer with Jackie Coogan, the 1933 screen adaptation of The Silver Cord, Ann Vickers (1933), Of Human Bondage (1934), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Algiers (1938), Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), Dead Reckoning (1947), Caged (1950) and The Goddess (1958). Very late in life he appeared in two Robert Altman films, 3 Women (1977) and A Wedding (1978).

Cromwell’s marriage to Kay Johnson lasted from 1928 to 1946, basically the first phase of his Hollywood career. Johnson had nine Broadway credits, including the original productions of Beggar on Horseback (1924) and State of the Union (1945). Her two dozen Hollywood credits are also impressive. She’s the title character in DeMille’sMadame Satan (1930), and is also in the 1930 version of The Spoilers, as well as Billy the Kid (1930), Capra’sAmerican Madness (1932), the wonderfully bizarre Thirteen Women (1933) and her husband’s version of Of Human Bondage (1934). By the late ’30s she was reduced to supporting parts. Her career was mostly over by 1944 although she did return in a bit part in Jivaro (1954).

John Cromwell ran into trouble with HUAC in the early ’50s resulting in a career drought lasting a few years. His son would later take up many left-wing causes, making his character on Succession somewhat self-referential, for those in the know!