1949
Battleground
A war-weary sergeant
FLM.REDJAMES
WHITMORE
เจมส์ วิทมอร์
A life on stage and screen
From Broadway and Harry Truman to Brooks in The Shawshank Redemption.
White Plains, New York, USA
The actor behind Brooks Hatlen
James Whitmore was an American actor born on 1 October 1921 in White Plains, New York. After serving in the Marines during World War II, he studied acting at the American Theatre Wing. He died on 6 February 2009.
His Broadway work in Command Decision brought him a Tony Award. Film audiences soon saw him as a weary sergeant in Battleground (1949), a performance nominated for the Academy Award for supporting actor.
Whitmore also built a distinctive stage career with solo performances as American figures. His portrayal of President Harry S. Truman in the film Give ’em Hell, Harry! (1975) earned him an Academy Award nomination for leading actor.
In The Shawshank Redemption (1994), he plays Brooks Hatlen, the prison librarian whose life changes after parole. His understated performance gives the larger prison story a deeply personal perspective on the difficulty of returning to an unfamiliar world.
The film list below reflects titles currently available on FLM.RED, rather than his complete filmography.
A career in three performances
1975
Give ’em Hell, Harry!
Harry S. Truman
1994
The Shawshank Redemption
Brooks Hatlen
Performance readings are FLM.RED editorial interpretation.
Films in FLM.RED
Titles in this collection; not a complete filmography.
Sources & image notes
- Los Angeles Times — career
- Associated Press — life and stage work
- Historic Elitch Theatre — selected performances
- IMDb — credits
Portrait illustration: FLM.RED.