John Cullum
Cullum in 1953
Born	(1930-03-02)March 2, 1930 (age 95)[1] Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Alma mater	Knoxville High School University of Tennessee
Occupations	Actor, singer
Years active	1956–present
Spouse	Emily Frankel ​ ​ (m. 1959; died 2024)​
Children	JD Cullum

John Cullum (born March 2, 1930)^[2] is an American actor and singer.^[3] He has appeared in many stage musicals and dramas, includingShenandoah (1975) andOn the Twentieth Century (1978), winning theTony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for each. In 1966 he gained his firstTony nomination as the lead inOn a Clear Day You Can See Forever, in which he introduced thetitle song, and more recently received Tony nominations forUrinetown The Musical (2002) (Best Lead Actor in a Musical) and asBest Featured Actor in the revival of110 in the Shade (2007).

Outside the theatre world, Cullum is best known for his role as tavern owner Holling Vincoeur in the television drama seriesNorthern Exposure, for which he was nominated for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He was featured in fifteen episodes of the NBC television seriesER asDr. Mark Greene's father. He played farmer Jim Dahlberg in the landmark television dramaThe Day After. He made multiple guest appearances onLaw & Order andLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit as attorney/judgeBarry Moredock, and appeared as Big Mike in several episodes ofThe Middle. He appeared as Senator Beau Carpenter on the CBS seriesMadam Secretary.

Cullum was born on March 2, 1930,^[4] inKnoxville, Tennessee.^[5] He attendedKnoxville High School and theUniversity of Tennessee.^[6][7] He played on the university'sSoutheastern Conference championshiptennis team^[8] and was a member ofPhi Gamma Delta. He starred in "Chucky Jack", an outdoor drama about Tennessee GovernorJohn Sevier, at the old Hunter Hills Theater inGatlinburg.^[9]

Cullum was married to Emily Frankel from 1959 until her death in 2024.^{[citation needed]} They have one son,JD Cullum (John David Cullum), who is also an actor.^[10]

He made hisBroadway debut as Sir Dinadan in theAlan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe musicalCamelot in 1960. He also understudiedRichard Burton (King Arthur) andRoddy McDowall (Arthur's son Mordred),^[11] going on four times when Burton became ill and succeeding McDowall. He went on to playLaertes oppositeBurton's 1964Broadway performance asHamlet^[12] (and in thefilm version of the production) and in Burton's final Broadway appearance inNoël Coward'sPrivate Lives in 1983.^[13]

In 1965, he was called in to replaceLouis Jourdan during the Boston tryout of the musicalOn a Clear Day You Can See Forever.^[14] It was his first starring role on Broadway, netting him a Theatre World Award and his firstTony Award nomination. The original cast album received aGrammy Award (presented to lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composerBurton Lane).

He portrayedEdward Rutledge ofSouth Carolina in the Broadway musical1776, 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,^[15] but played the role the longest and repeated it for the1972 film.

He is well known for premiering the role of Charlie Anderson in the musicalShenandoah, which began atGoodspeed Opera House,Connecticut in 1974.^[16] Cullum won theTony,Drama Desk andOuter Critics Circle Awards when the show was produced on Broadway in 1975. He also played the role atWolf Trap, Virginia, in June 1976,^[17] opened the national tour for 3 weeks in Fall 1977 in Chicago,^[18] and starred in the limited run Broadway revival in 1989.

He followedShenandoah by playing the maniacal Broadway producer Oscar Jaffee in the 1978 musicalOn the Twentieth Century, oppositeMadeline Kahn and laterJudy 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 inUrinetown The Musical.^[14] He earned his fifth Tony nomination in the 2007 revival of110 in the Shade, playing H.C. Curry, father toAudra McDonald's Lizzie.

Cullum was cast asCaptain America in a comedic musical planned for 1986.^[19] The project was eventually canceled,^[20] though Cullum performed one of the show’s songs (“Nobody Asked Me to Lead a Parade This Year”) atBroadway ApplaudsLincoln Center, a benefit concert.^[21][22]

In 2003, Cullum co-starred withNorthern Exposure castmate Barry Corbin inBlackwater Elegy, a short film written by Matthew Porter and co-directed by Porter and Joe O'Brien.

Later Broadway appearances include the title role ofWilliam Shakespeare'sCymbeline, atLincoln Center in 2007^[23] andAugust: Osage County, byTracy Letts for the week of September 16, 2008, and then since November 11, 2008.^[24]

In addition to enjoying a long stage career, he is well known to television audiences for his regular role asHolling Vincoeur on the quirkyCBS seriesNorthern Exposure, his extended appearances on theNBC medical dramaER asMark Greene's father, and onLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit as constitutional lawyer and later judge,Barry Moredock. Cullum has also appeared as Lucky Strike executiveLee Garner, Sr. on AMC'sMad Men. He appeared as Leap Day William, the embodiment of the fictionalLeap Day national holiday, in the "Leap Day" episode of the sixth season ofNBC's30 Rock.

John Cullum appeared on Broadway inThe Scottsboro Boys (2010), a musical byKander and Ebb abouta notorious miscarriage of justice in the American South in the 1930s.The Scottsboro Boys was directed bySusan 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.^[25]

In 2015 Cullum appeared and sang in the satirical B&W period movie-musical footage ofDaddy's Boy onUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The "forgotten footage" features comically incestuous lyrics set in an innocent context that apes classic 1930's films.^[26]

Cullum, then an octogenarian, joined the cast ofWaitress as Joe on October 12, 2017, replacingLarry Marshall.^[27]

^[30]

Awards

• 1966Theatre World Award –On a Clear Day You Can See Forever^[31]
• 1975Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor, Musical –Shenandoah^[32]
• 1975Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Performances –Shenandoah^[33]
• 1975Tony AwardBest Actor in a Musical –Shenandoah
• 1978Tony Award Best Actor in a Musical –On the Twentieth Century
• 1982Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience for the one-man showWhistler^[34]
• 1998 Founders Day Medal,University of Tennessee
• 2004 Clarence Brown Theatre Company (University of Tennessee), Lifetime Achievement Award^[35]
• 2007 InducteeAmerican Theatre Hall of Fame^[36]
• 2014Long Island International Film Expo Award for Best Supporting Actor –The Historian^[37]

Nominations

• 1966Tony Award Best Actor in a Musical –On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
• 1993Emmy Award Best Supporting Actor in a Drama –Northern Exposure
• 2002Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical –Urinetown^[38]
• 2002Tony Award Best Actor in a Musical –Urinetown
• 2005Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play –Sin (A Cardinal Deposed)^[39]
• 2007Tony AwardBest Featured Actor in a Musical –110 in the Shade
• 2008Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play –The Conscientious Objector^[40]

• John Cullum at theInternet Broadway Database
• John Cullum at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• John Cullum atIMDb
• John Cullum atPlaybill Vault
• Star File: John Cullum
• John Cullum discography atDiscogs

• 1930 births
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• American male film actors
• American male musical theatre actors
• American male singers
• American male television actors
• Drama Desk Award winners
• Living people
• Male actors from Knoxville, Tennessee
• Musicians from Knoxville, Tennessee
• Tony Award winners
• University of Tennessee alumni

• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 errors: archive-url
• CS1 maint: url-status
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from June 2022
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2024
• IBDB name template using Wikidata
• Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata
• Playbill person template using Wikidata