Celebrity Biographies
James Whitmore
The prolific supporting actor James Whitmore –two-time Oscar nominee– has died on February 6 at his home in Malibu (California) at the age of 87. Whitmore had suffered from lung cancer for some time. Moviegoers will especially remember him for his role in The Shawshank Redemption , where he was the aging librarian, unable to adjust to life outside of prison. The director of this film, Frank Darabont, made some emotional statements after learning of his death: “He was a living legend, an icon for all of us. We couldn’t believe he was in the cast. But when he got to the set and someone called him Mr. Whitmore, he responded with a delicious growl: Hell, son, call me Jim.
Born in 1921, in White Plains (New York), James Whitmore was a great athlete during his youth. He won an athletic scholarship to Yale University, and everything indicated that he would make a career in American football. But two consecutive injuries put an end to his aspirations. After graduating from Yale, he entered the army during World War II. He was sent to the Pacific, where in the course of combat he nearly died of dysentery.
Back home, he decided to become an actor, despite the initial opposition of his parents, strict Methodists, who did not see with good eyes that their son was integrated into the frivolous world of the show. He made his film debut with an important role in Crime Story , along with Glenn Ford . Shortly after he played Fire in the Snow , for which he won the Golden Globe and an unsuccessful Oscar nomination. He would compete for a second statuette in 1975, for Give’em Hell Harry. It was an exceptional candidacy, since it was the only time that someone has opted for this award for a film performed only by him. He played President Harry Truman, in a monologue with which he also achieved great success on stage. It was not the only show that he did on solo stages, as he also played Theodore Roosevelt and Will Rogers , in similar monologues that were widely accepted.
In 1947, James Whitmore married Nancy Mygatt, with whom he had three children. After the divorce, he got together with actress Audra Lindley , with whom he appeared in several plays. Later he was also attached to fellow actress Noreen Nash . In movies, he gave a great performance as the military protagonist of Mankind in Danger , a true classic of the B series, in which some gigantic ants are about to destroy civilization. He appeared –almost always in brief roles– in more than a hundred series and films such as The Asphalt Jungle , Planet of the Apes (1968) , Homicide Squad , Tora, Tora, Tora ,The Fury of the Magnificent Seven , etc. Under the orders of Frank Darabont , he not only interpreted the aforementioned Life Sentence , but he was also one of the secondary characters in The Majestic . He was at the foot of the canyon until practically the end of his life, since his last job was an episode of CSI: Las Vegas , from 2007.