Six Feet Under trivia: James Cromwell (George) & Black Panther Party

[Maddy McCall]

On screen, the actor's varied roles include the gentle farmer in "Babe," the shifty police captain in "L.A. Confidential," the clever warp drive inventor Zefrem Cochran in "Star Trek: First Contact" and President Lyndon B. Johnson in the TV movie "RFK."

(And George on Six Feet Under.)

snip/

Off screen, Cromwell has participated in a number of civil rights and liberal causes. He traveled into the American South in the 1960s with an integrated acting group to encourage voting and civic participation; speaks out on aboriginal and Native American causes; and joined the Black Panthers at one time.

The Black Panthers?

Well, the story goes like this: In the late '60s Cromwell, a self-described "bourgeois white boy," joined the radical Black Panther Party by becoming a member of "The Committee to Defend the Panthers." Their focus was to free 13 Panther members who had been jailed in New York on conspiracy charges.

"The goal of the government was to get all the leaders of the Black Panther Party in jail so that they could be killed systematically through prison violence, and that way they could stop what was a very powerful and evolving movement," Cromwell maintains. The Panther 13 were acquitted in 1971 after two years in jail; a jury found them innocent of all 156 charges against them.

Cromwell believes strongly that if given a chance the group, which inspired passion from friends and foes alike, would have changed the world for the better.

"I don't think we would have the kind of prison population now and what happens in this country with the gangs if the Panthers had been allowed to continue what they decided to do, which was basically empower black communities to take back their self control ... and reestablish the dignity of being a black person in this country," said Cromwell.


http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/18/james.cromwell/

Here he is at an anti-war protest in LA, 2004:



And here he is with Mike Farrell, protesting the death penalty:



He's also an animal rights activist, a vegetarian, and was a Kucinich supporter in 2004:

[Bossy Monkey]

1. Cue the Mr. Skolnick laugh; he was also the dad in Revenge of the Nerds

Seems like a terrific fella.

[Maddy McCall]

2. Kick for Kathy in Cambridge and my other 6fU DU friends.

[Aristus]

3. He was also the chauffeur in "Murder By Death". He had a hilarious

Belgian accent. He was the funniest thing about that movie.

I'm so glad he's on our side. He's the best! B-)

[mockmonkey]

4. Stretch Cunningham

on "ALL in the Family"

[faithnotgreed]

5. love love this man

and also 6fu
im so glad he is on that show and look forward to seeing him in his next role

and babe is just about a perfect movie

on edit: thank you maddy for posting this

[Maddy McCall]

6. Babe is such a cute movie.

"'At'll do, pig. At'll do." LOL!

[faithnotgreed]

7. and none of the typical

kicks in the crotch that everyone else in movies does
ugh

as a long time vegetarian i know im biased
i also love (the idea of) movies but actually like very few and certainly not much from the past 20 years
but babe is a simple intelligent gem (both the pig and the movie now that i think about it)

i could do without the cutesy mice but other than that i thought it was just about perfect

[Maddy McCall]

8. I so agree.

I told my son, when we went to see the movie version of Scooby Doo, that it was disgusting, with all of the burps and farts. Bad writing needs such stunts and tasteless humor to save a mediocre movie.

But Babe was perfectly written. You are right. It's a gem.

[faithnotgreed]

9. thats right

you have a wonderful active son so you get to know about these movies first hand

thats one aspect i dont envy you but glad to know you point that stuff out

do you dare say to him
"when i was a kid and going to the movies",,,

ha i can just imagine
i know i would be tempted
im just in my 30s but i adore the old movies up until roughly the harold and maude
lovers and other strangers timeline of the early 70s
after that it goes downhill for me

funny how much of what i enjoy is from the time before i was born

[stlsaxman]

10. "That'll do, pig!"

those 3 words at the end of "Babe" 'bout makes me weep...

at work we test VCRs with Babe, and when something is done really, really well or is the best that can be done- that's the phrase we use as the ultimate compliment.

"That'll do, pig."

on edit: wow! he's stated what I have always felt about The Black Panther Party. i never knew Cromwell was involved in this sort of thing... wow!

Thanks for the post Maddy- i now have a new hero!