Ape Chronicles #045 - Hunter's Planet of the Apes Archive

JAMES WHITMORE
BIOGRAPHY
www.imdb.com
James Whitmore (October 1, 1921 – February 6,
2009) was an American two-time Academy Awardnominated,
Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning film
actor.
He played the President of the Assembly in Planet
Of The Apes (1968)
Born as James Allen Whitmore, Jr. in White Plains,
New York, to Florence Belle (née Crane) and
James Allen Whitmore, Sr., a park commission
official, Whitmore 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 went on to study at Yale University, where he
was a member of Skull and Bones, and served in
the United States Marine Corps during World War
II.
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, 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.
Whitmore 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 Carrey. 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.
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.