Edward Herrmann
Edward Kirk Herrmann (July 21, 1943 – December 31, 2014) was an American actor, director, and writer. He was known for his portrayals of Franklin D. Roosevelt in both the miniseries Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and 1982 film musical Annie, Richard Gilmore in Amy Sherman-Palladino's comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls (2000–2007), and a ubiquitous narrator for historical programs on The History Channel[1] and in such PBS productions as Nova.[2] He was also known as a spokesman for Dodge automobiles in the 1990s.[3][4]
For other people named Edward Herrmann, see Edward Herrmann (disambiguation).
Edward Herrmann
December 31, 2014 (aged 71)
Actor, director, writer
1971–2014
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Leigh Curran(m. 1978; div. 1992)
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Star Roman(m. 1993)
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Herrmann started working in theatre on Broadway in 1972 with his debut in Moonchildren alongside James Woods. He received two Tony Award nominations, winning for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in Mrs. Warren's Profession in 1976. Herrmann received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning for his performance in The Practice in 1999. He also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination with the ensemble for Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995). Herrmann became known as a character actor having appeared in various films such as Warren Beatty's Reds (1981), Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Garry Marshall's Overboard (1987), Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) and Chris Rock's I Think I Love My Wife (2007).
Early life[edit]
Edward Kirk Herrmann was born on July 21, 1943, in Washington, D.C., the son of Jean Eleanor (née O'Connor) and John Anthony Herrmann.[5] Of German and Irish descent, Herrmann grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and graduated from Bucknell University[6] in 1965, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on a Fulbright Fellowship.[7]
Career[edit]
Theatre[edit]
Herrmann began his career in theatre. One of the first professional productions he appeared in was the U.S. premiere of Michael Weller's Moonchildren at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in November 1971.[8] He moved with the show to New York City to make his Broadway debut the following year. Herrmann returned to Broadway in 1976 to portray Frank Gardner in the revival of Mrs. Warren's Profession. For his performance he won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.[9]
Herrmann and Dianne Wiest collaborated as directors on the Williamstown Theater Festival in its 1985 offering Not About Heroes,[10] playing Sassoon. Frank Rich praised the performance: "If Mr. Baker's Wilfred is a bit of an uncomplicated, foursquare boy scout and if Mr. Herrmann's stiff-upper-lipped Siegfried at first arouses deja vu, they form a passionate symbiosis as the darker clouds gather in Act II. Both actors also have a natural way with the rhetoric of their characters' respective canons."[11] During 1988, Herrmann appeared in the New York production Julius Caesar as Gaius Cassius Longinus.[12] Herrmann stated he had joined after becoming tired with constantly having to wear a suit in his prior roles and finding Cassius the most complex of the available roles.[13] Frank Rich opined that Herrmann was the "liveliest of the leads by far" and that he would be better suited in the role of Brutus.[14] In 1988–89, Herrmann starred with Alec Guinness in the London West End production of A Walk in the Woods. The play debuted at the Comedy Theater in November 1988, and was directed by Ronald Eyre. As the New York Times reported, "Mr. Guinness and Mr. Herrmann share the stage uninterrupted for some two hours. The fictional play is rooted in the real-life relationship between a Soviet diplomat and an American negotiator who broke protocol in 1982 and made a private limited arms control deal while taking a stroll in a forest outside Geneva."[15]