John Cullum (born March 2, 1930) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in many stage musicals and dramas, including Shenandoah (1975) and On the Twentieth Century (1978), winning the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for each. In 1966 he gained his first Tony nomination as the lead in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, in which he introduced the title song, and more recently received Tony nominations for Urinetown The Musical (2002) (Best Lead Actor in a Musical) and as Best Featured Actor in the revival of 110 in the Shade (2007).
Outside the theatre world, Cullum is best known for his role as tavern owner Holling Vincoeur in the television drama series Northern Exposure, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He was featured in fifteen episodes of the NBC television series ER as Dr. Mark Greene's father. He played farmer Jim Dahlberg in the landmark television drama The Day After. He made multiple guest appearances on Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as attorney/judge Barry Moredock, and appeared as Big Mike in several episodes of The Middle. He appeared as Senator Beau Carpenter on the CBS series Madam Secretary.
Life and career Early years and personal life Cullum was born on March 2, 1930, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He attended Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee. He played on the university's Southeastern Conference championship tennis team and was a member of Phi Gamma Delta. He starred in "Chucky Jack", an outdoor drama about Tennessee Governor John Sevier, at the old Hunter Hills Theater in Gatlinburg.
Cullum was married to Emily Frankel from 1959 until her death in 2024. They have one son, JD Cullum (John David Cullum), who is also an actor.
Acting career He made his Broadway debut as Sir Dinadan in the Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe musical Camelot in 1960. He also understudied Richard Burton (King Arthur) and Roddy McDowall (Arthur's son Mordred), going on four times when Burton became ill and succeeding McDowall. He went on to play Laertes opposite Burton's 1964 Broadway performance as Hamlet (and in the film version of the production) and in Burton's final Broadway appearance in Noël Coward's Private Lives in 1983.
In 1965, he was called in to replace Louis Jourdan during the Boston tryout of the musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. It was his first starring role on Broadway, netting him a Theatre World Award and his first Tony Award nomination. The original cast album received a Grammy Award (presented to lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Burton Lane).
He portrayed Edward Rutledge of South Carolina in the Broadway musical 1776, providing a dramatic highlight with his performance of "Molasses to Rum," a tirade against the hypocrisy of some Northerners over the slave trade ("They don't keep slaves, but they are willing to be considerable carriers of slaves to others. They're willing – for the shilling.") Cullum had been the third Rutledge on Broadway, but played the role the longest and repeated it for the 1972 film.
He is well known for premiering the role of Charlie Anderson in the musical Shenandoah, which began at Goodspeed Opera House, Connecticut in 1974. Cullum won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards when the show was produced on Broadway in 1975. He also played the role at Wolf Trap, Virginia, in June 1976, opened the national tour for 3 weeks in Fall 1977 in Chicago, and starred in the limited run Broadway revival in 1989.
He followed Shenandoah by playing the maniacal Broadway producer Oscar Jaffee in the 1978 musical On the Twentieth Century, opposite Madeline Kahn and later Judy Kaye, earning his second Tony Award. He received his fourth Tony nomination in 2002 for originating the role of evil moneygrubber corporate president Caldwell B. Cladwell in Urinetown The Musical. He earned his fifth Tony nomination in the 2007 revival of 110 in the Shade, playing H.C. Curry, father to Audra McDonald's Lizzie.
Cullum was cast as Captain America in a comedic musical planned for 1986. The project was eventually canceled, though Cullum performed one of the show’s songs (“Nobody Asked Me to Lead a Parade This Year”) at Broadway Applauds Lincoln Center, a benefit concert.
In 2003, Cullum co-starred with Northern Exposure castmate Barry Corbin in Blackwater Elegy, a short film written by Matthew Porter and co-directed by Porter and Joe O'Brien.
Later Broadway appearances include the title role of William Shakespeare's Cymbeline, at Lincoln Center in 2007 and August: Osage County, by Tracy Letts for the week of September 16, 2008, and then since November 11, 2008.
In addition to enjoying a long stage career, he is well known to television audiences for his regular role as Holling Vincoeur on the quirky CBS series Northern Exposure, his extended appearances on the NBC medical drama ER as Mark Greene's father, and on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as constitutional lawyer and later judge, Barry Moredock. Cullum has also appeared as Lucky Strike executive Lee Garner, Sr. on AMC's Mad Men. He appeared as Leap Day William, the embodiment of the fictional Leap Day national holiday, in the "Leap Day" episode of the sixth season of NBC's 30 Rock.
John Cullum appeared on Broadway in The Scottsboro Boys (2010), a musical by Kander and Ebb about a notorious miscarriage of justice in the American South in the 1930s. The Scottsboro Boys was directed by Susan Stroman, with Cullum as the only non-African-American member of the cast.
John Cullum was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007.
In 2015 Cullum appeared and sang in the satirical B&W period movie-musical footage of Daddy's Boy on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The "forgotten footage" features comically incestuous lyrics set in an innocent context that apes classic 1930's films.
Cullum, then an octogenarian, joined the cast of Waitress as Joe on October 12, 2017, replacing Larry Marshall.
Acting credits Theater Year Title Role Notes 1956-1957 Saint Joan Ensemble Broadway1960-1962Camelot Sir Dinadanu/s King ArthurBroadway Mordredu/s King Arthur 1962 Infidel Caesar Cassios Broadway 1963 The Rehearsal u/s for The Count, Hero Broadway 1964 Hamlet Laertes Broadway 1965-1966 On a Clear Day You Can See Forever Dr. Mark Bruckner Broadway 1967 Man of La Mancha Miguel Cervantes/Don Quixote Broadway Replacement 1970-1972 1776 Edward Rutledge Broadway Replacement 1972 Vivat! Vivat Regina! Lord Bothwell Broadway Replacement 1973 Carousel Billy Bigelow 1974-1977 Shenandoah Charlie Anderson Broadway 1977 The Trip Back Down Bobby Horvath Broadway 1978-1979 On the Twentieth Century Oscar Jaffee Broadway 1979-1982 Deathtrap Sidney Bruhl Broadway Replacement 1982 Whistler James McNeill Whistler One-man show at Provincetown Playhouse 1983 Private Lives Victor Prynnes/b Elyot Chase Broadway 1985-1986 Doubles Guy Broadway 1986 The Boys in Autumn Huck Broadway 1986-1987 You Never Can Tell Waiter Broadway Replacement 1989 Shenandoah Charlie Anderson Broadway Revival 1990-1991 Aspects of Love George Dillingham Broadway Replacement 1993 Camelot King Arthur 1995 Man of La Mancha Miguel Cervantes/Don Quixote US Tour 1995 All My Sons Joe Keller Off-Broadway 1996 Show Boat Cap'n Andy Hawkes Broadway Replacement 1999 South Pacific Emile de Becque 2001-2003 Urinetown Caldwell B. Cladwell Broadway 2004 Sin: a Cardinal Deposed Cardinal Law 2005 Purlie Ol' Cap'n Cotchipee Off-Broadway 2006-2007 Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Old Max Broadway 2007 110 in the Shade H.C. Curry Broadway 2007-2008 Cymbeline King Cymbeline Broadway 2008-2009 August: Osage County Beverly Weston Broadway Replacement 2010 The Scottsboro Boys The Interlocutor / Judge / Governor of Alabama Broadway 2011 Measure for Measure Vincentio Shakespeare in the Park 2011 All's Well That Ends Well The Duke Shakespeare in the Park2013 Carousel Starkeeper / Dr. SeldonConcert She Loves Me Mr. Maraczek 2014 Casa Valentina Terry Broadway 2017-2018 Waitress Old Joe Broadway Replacement2019 Into the Wild Performer Playwrights Horizons 2021 An Accidental Star Himself Vineyard Theatre
Film Year Title Role Notes 1963 All the Way Home Andrew 1964 Richard Burton's Hamlet Laertes 1966 Hawaii Rev. Immanuel Quigley 1972 1776 Edward Rutledge 1983 The Act The President 1983 The Prodigal Elton Stuart 1983 Marie Deputy Attorney General 1987 Sweet Country Ben 1998 The Secret Life of Algernon Algernon Pendleton 1998 Ricochet River Link Curren 1999 Held Up Jack 1999 Inherit the Wind Judge Merle Coffey 2003 Blackwater Elegy J.T. 2006 The Notorious Bettie Page Preacher in Nashville 2006 The Night Listener Pap Noone 2010 All Good Things Richard Panatierre 2011 The Conspirator Justice Wylie 2013 Kill Your Darlings Professor Steeves 2013 Kilimanjaro Milton Sr 2013 Adult World Stan 2014 Before We Go Harry 2014 Love Is Strange Father Raymond 2014 The Historian Brigston Hadley 2016 Christine Bob Anderson 2019 Jungleland Yates 2021 The Acolyte Arch Pontifex Short film 2022 Simchas and Sorrows Nate
Television