Jul 18, 1940

Los Angeles, California, USA

James Brolin (born July 18, 1940) is a two-time Golden Globe Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning American television, film, character actor, producer, and director.<br/><br/>

The eldest of two brothers and two sisters, Brolin was born Craig Kenneth Bruderlin in Los Angeles, California to Henry Bruderlin, a building contractor, and Helen Sue (née Mansur), a homemaker. The family settled in Westwood after his birth. As a young child, he was apparently more interested in animals and airplanes, th... ... (read more...) an he was in acting. When young Bruderlin was 10 in 1950, he began building model airplanes and was taught to fly them. As a teenaged moviegoer in the mid-1950s he was particularly fascinated with actor James Dean. When his parents invited a director over to his family's house for dinner before auditioning, he met another fellow actor and classmate, Ryan O'Neal, who was about a year younger than Brolin, and the two clicked. However, Bruderlin's own acting exposed his stifling shyness. His assurance grew when O'Neal invited him to a casting agency. Brolin graduated in 1958, and his family was already encouraging him to become an actor like O'Neal.<br/><br/>

Prior to taking acting classes in school, Brolin started out as a character actor on an episode of Bus Stop in 1961. The part led to parts in other television productions such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Margie, Love, American Style, Twelve O'Clock High and The Long, Hot Summer. He made 3 guest appearances on the popular 1960s series Batman, alongside Adam West and Burt Ward, as well as roles in The Virginian, and Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law alongside Arthur Hill and Lee Majors. He also had a recurring role on the short-lived television series The Monroes.<br/><br/>

At the age of 20 he changed his last name from "Bruderlin" to "Brolin" to become James Brolin. He accepted a contract with 20th Century Fox. While in school struggling to make it big, he met future young actor Clint Eastwood. Brolin also had small roles in several movies including Take Her, She's Mine (1963), Dear Brigitte (1965), Fantastic Voyage (1966). The following year, his first big role was in The Cape Town Affair (1967), but it did not receive any success at the box office. Brolin was ultimately fired by 20th Century Fox.<br/><br/>

During the 1970s, the 6 ft 4 inch Brolin began appearing in leading roles in films, including Skyjacked (1972), and Westworld (1973). By the mid-1970s, he was a regular leading man in films, starring in Gable and Lombard (1976), The Car (1977), Capricorn One (1978), High Risk (1981), and The Amityville Horror (1979). When Roger Moore expressed his desire to leave the role of James Bond, Brolin screen tested for the role in the next film Octopussy (1983). Ultimately, however, Moore decided to continue in the series.<br/><br/>

In 1985, Brolin parodied his near-hiring as James Bond in the film Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. In a film within the film, he merged the characters of Bond and Pee-Wee Herman, the "real" version of whom was played by Paul Reubens. He is referred to as "PW" and the role of Pee-Wee Herman's girlfriend "Dottie" is played by Morgan Fairchild.<br/><br/>

Brolin has starred in three television series in a career which has spanned four decades. He became widely-known for his roles as Robert Young's, youthful skilled and professional physician, Dr. Steven Kiley on Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969–1976), Peter McDermott on Hotel (1983–1988), and Lt. Col. Bill "Raven" Kelly on Pensacola: Wings of Gold (1997–2000). He also had a recurring role as Governor and presidential candidate Robert Ritchie in The West Wing.<br/><br/>

In 1968, Brolin transferred to Universal Studios, where he auditioned for a co-starring role opposite longtime actor Robert Young in the popular medical drama Marcus Welby, M.D.. The series was one of the top-rated television shows of the day. Brolin won the role of Dr. Steven Kiley, a young doctor working with another more experienced doctor, and the chemistry between Young & Brolin clicked, and even came to attractive young women on medical terms, throughout the show's run. In its first season in 1970, Brolin won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, and was subsequently nominated three more times. He was also nominated for Golden Globes three times for Best Supporting Actor, and won twice between 1971 and 1973.<br/><br/>

In 1983, Brolin returned to television to star in another popular series. He teamed up with producer Aaron Spelling for the pilot episode of a prime-time soap opera, Hotel, for ABC. On this show, he played Peter MacDermott, a hotel manager who tried to help everybody solve their own problems and to let love in his own life at the same time. Co-starring on the show was an unfamiliar actress, Shari Belafonte as Peter's receptionist, Julie Gillette, familiar actress, Connie Sellecca, as Brolin's promotions manager and later girlfriend, Christine Francis, and the late Nathan Cook as Billy Griffin, an ex-con who later became Peter's best friend. Together, they each had a wonderful chemistry with Brolin, on the set. As with Marcus Welby, this show was a ratings winner. In his first year, Brolin was nominated twice for Golden Globes between 1983 and 1984 for Best Performance By an Actor in a TV Series, but didn't win. He would also serve as a director on the show, giving him more input into the direction of the series. On one episode of Hotel, he even invited his future wife Jan Smithers to guest-star on the show as the writers suggested that they developed a storyline for them, as Brolin was going through a difficult divorce. By 1988, after 5 seasons, Hotel was about to close its doors for good and the show was cancelled. That same year, his co-star, Cook had died of an allergic reaction to penicillin, and Brolin among the rest of his cast attended his funeral.<br/><br/>

Sellecca said of Brolin's on-screen chemistry with him on Hotel, "I remember instantly feeling comfortable with Jim, and that's the thing that Jim has is to women, most women, they need to feel safe, and Jim gets that." She also said, "To have him in a different role and have that confidence, it was a wonderful experience." The 1995 death of Brolin's first wife, Jane, had drawn the relationship closer between the actor himself & Sellecca, as Connie was one of the people to find out about this.<br/><br/>

As the new decade approached, Brolin starred in both Angel Falls for CBS and Extreme for ABC, although neither matched the popularity of his earlier series.<br/><br/>

In 1997, Brolin's luck changed with the syndicated television series Pensacola: Wings of Gold. He played the role of Lt. Col. Bill "Raven" Kelly, whose job was to teach young marines in a special unit, before being promoted to work with a group of talented Marine fighter pilots. Brolin served as an executive producer and director on the series. In 2000, however, the show was cancelled after 66 episodes due to low ratings.<br/><br/>

In late 2003, he was supposed to play Ronald Reagan in the TV movie The Reagans. After creative differences, bad scripts, and high rising costs, CBS decided to scrap The Reagans, but then chose to move it to cable channel Showtime, also owned by Viacom. Brolin was nominated for another Emmy Award, making it his fifth Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe making it also his fifth, although he didn't win. He co-starred with Jason Lee and Selma Blair in the comedy movie A Guy Thing (2003), and made two films in 2005, The Alibi and The American Standards.<br/><br/>

In 2002, Brolin played Governor Robert Ritchie of Florida, the Republican opponent of President Jed Bartlet on the TV series The West Wing. In Bartlet's words, he'd "turned being unengaged into a Zen-like thing," and seemed to enjoy it. The character seemed to be a parody of real-life President George W. Bush, whose brother, John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, was the Governor of Florida at the time.<br/><br/>

In 2006, Brolin played the Governor of Maine, who in order to get re-elected, opposes the legalization of gay marriage, in the A&E Network movie Wedding Wars.<br/><br/>

James has 12 hobbies: watching movies, riding horses, sailing, fishing, farming, playing guitar, photography, auto racing, petting animals, spending time with his family and riding motorcycles. According to an A&E Biography, it was mentioned that Brolin also did a lot of flying in real-life, and on Pensacola: Wings of Gold.<br/><br/>

Brolin resides in Malibu, California with his wife, Barbra Streisand. He has been married three times. In 1966, he married Jane Cameron Agee, an aspiring actress at Twentieth Century Fox. The couple had 2 children, (Josh Brolin, b. February 12, 1968), and (Jesse, b. 1972). They were divorced in 1984, after 18 years of marriage. Jane died in a car accident on February 13, 1995, one day after son Josh's 27th birthday.<br/><br/>

In 1985, he met Jan Smithers, an actress, on the set of Hotel, and they married in 1986. The couple had a daughter (Molly Elizabeth, born 1987). Jan Smithers filed for divorce from Brolin in 1995, a few weeks after the death of his first wife, Jane. In 1996, he met the singer and actress Barbra Streisand through a friend, and the two were married on July 1, 1998.<br/><br/>