James Widdoes
Encyclopedia
James "Jamie" Widdoes is an American
actor
and film
and television director
, sometimes credited as Jamie Widdoes.
in the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House
, as well as the 1979 TV series spin-off Delta House. He has guest starred in many TV series episodes since then, including Remington Steele
, Night Court
, Dave's World
and My Wife and Kids
. Widdoes starred as father of the house Stan Pembroke in the 1984-1985 seasons of Charles In Charge
.
Since 1998, he has directed and/or produced many episodes for various TV series. Some of these include Just the Ten of Us
, Empty Nest, Anything But Love
, Harry and the Hendersons
, Boston Common
, Brother's Keeper
, Reba
, 8 Simple Rules
, The King of Queens
, Til Death
, The Bill Engvall Show
, and Two and a Half Men
.
Widdoes graduated from the prestigious Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut
in 1972, and today sits on its Board of Trustees. He began his acting career during college, starring in a production of The New Amen Show at the Diners Playhouse in Lexington
, Kentucky
in 1974. He next attended New York University
's Tisch School of Arts, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree. While in New York, he roomed with such soon-to-be famous actors as Michael O'Keefe
from Caddy Shack and The Great Santini
. He then began performing on New York
stages in productions such as the 1977 Equity Library Theatre revival of Wonderful Town
and the 1982 Broadway musical Is there life after high school?
, for which he won a Theatre World Award
.
In addition to being on the Loomis Chaffee
School's Board, Widdoes is also active in many other community oriented programs. He sits on the Board of Directors
for the Turning Point School; and has been on the Board of Trustees for the California Association of Independent Schools; the Board of Directors
/Executive Committee
for Camp Dudley-YMCA
; and the Executive Advisory Board of The Gordie Foundation
, a non-profit organization based in Dallas that "[provides] today's young people with the skills to navigate the dangers of alcohol, binge drinking, peer pressure and hazing." The organization was founded in memory of Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr.
Widdoes is married to Brooks Hendrie, and has two sons, Charles Landauer and Sumner Dickinson, and a daughter, Margaret Hendrie.
's The Further Adventures of SuperTed
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and film
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
, sometimes credited as Jamie Widdoes.
Career
Widdoes starred as senior student and Fraternity President Robert Hoover alongside John BelushiJohn Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
in the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis. The film was a direct spin-off of National Lampoon magazine...
, as well as the 1979 TV series spin-off Delta House. He has guest starred in many TV series episodes since then, including Remington Steele
Remington Steele
Remington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
, Night Court
Night Court
Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984, to May 20, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan court, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone...
, Dave's World
Dave's World
Dave's World is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1993 to 1997. The series was based on the writing of Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry.-Plot:...
and My Wife and Kids
My Wife and Kids
My Wife and Kids is an American television family sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001 until May 17, 2005. Produced by Touchstone Television , it starred Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell-Martin, and centers on the character of Michael Kyle, a loving husband and modern-day patriarch who rules...
. Widdoes starred as father of the house Stan Pembroke in the 1984-1985 seasons of Charles In Charge
Charles in Charge
Charles in Charge is an American sitcom series which starred Scott Baio as Charles, a 19-year-old student at the fictional Copeland College in New Jersey, who worked as a live-in babysitter in exchange for room and board...
.
Since 1998, he has directed and/or produced many episodes for various TV series. Some of these include Just the Ten of Us
Just the Ten of Us
Just the Ten of Us is an American sitcom starring stand-up comedian Bill Kirchenbauer as Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic family with eight children living in Eureka, California. The series was a spin-off of Growing Pains, in which Kirchenbauer portrayed the same...
, Empty Nest, Anything But Love
Anything but Love
Anything But Love was an American television sitcom, which aired on ABC from March 7, 1989 to June 3, 1992, spanning four seasons and 56 episodes. The show starred Richard Lewis as Marty Gold and Jamie Lee Curtis as Hannah Miller, coworkers at a Chicago magazine with a mutual romantic attraction to...
, Harry and the Hendersons
Harry and the Hendersons (TV series)
Harry and the Hendersons is an American sitcom based on the film of the same name, produced by Amblin Entertainment for Universal Television. The series aired in syndication from January 13, 1991 to June 18, 1993, with 72 half-hour episodes produced...
, Boston Common
Boston Common (TV series)
Boston Common is a television sitcom that ran on NBC from 1996–1997. It starred Anthony Clark and took place in the city of Boston. It was one of the 10 highest rated shows in its first season as it ranked 8th in the yearly ratings and was viewed by an average of 14.96 million households per episode...
, Brother's Keeper
Brother's Keeper (TV series)
Brother's Keeper is an American television series that was originally broadcast from 1998 to 1999 on ABC. It was produced by Axelrod-Widdoes Productions and Donald Todd Productions in association with Studios USA Television....
, Reba
Reba (TV series)
Reba is an American sitcom starring Reba McEntire, which ran from 2001 to 2007. For the show's first five seasons, it ran on The WB, with the show transitioning to The CW in its last year.-Synopsis:...
, 8 Simple Rules
8 Simple Rules
8 Simple Rules is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from September 17, 2002, to April 15, 2005, with 76 episodes produced over three seasons. It is based on the self-improvement book of the same name. The show starred John Ritter until his death on September 11, 2003...
, The King of Queens
The King of Queens
The King of Queens is an American sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007.This show was produced by Hanley Productions and CBS Productions , CBS Paramount Television ,and CBS Television Studios in association with Columbia TriStar Television , and Sony Pictures...
, Til Death
Til Death
Til Death is the first full-length studio album by the American band The Undead, and the first release since the 3 song cassette from 1995. Til Death was recorded in 1997, in Bobby Steele's bedroom in New York. It was released on June 25, 1998 on Underworld Records/Post Mortem Records, and a promo...
, The Bill Engvall Show
The Bill Engvall Show
The Bill Engvall Show is a sitcom which ran on TBS from July 17, 2007 to September 5, 2009. The series starred comedian Bill Engvall and was written and created by Engvall and Michael Leeson...
, and Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
.
Widdoes graduated from the prestigious Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population was estimated at 28,778 in 2005....
in 1972, and today sits on its Board of Trustees. He began his acting career during college, starring in a production of The New Amen Show at the Diners Playhouse in Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
in 1974. He next attended New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Tisch School of Arts, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
degree. While in New York, he roomed with such soon-to-be famous actors as Michael O'Keefe
Michael O'Keefe
Michael Raymond O'Keefe is an American film and television actor.- Early life :O'Keefe was born Raymond Peter O'Keefe, Jr. in Mount Vernon, New York, the oldest of seven children in a devoutly Roman Catholic Irish American family. His father was a law professor at Fordham University, as well as...
from Caddy Shack and The Great Santini
The Great Santini
The Great Santini is a 1979 film which tells the story of a Marine officer whose success as a military aviator contrasts with his shortcomings as a husband and father. The film explores the high price of heroism and self-sacrifice...
. He then began performing on New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
stages in productions such as the 1977 Equity Library Theatre revival of Wonderful Town
Wonderful Town
Wonderful Town is a musical with a book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein...
and the 1982 Broadway musical Is there life after high school?
Is there life after high school?
Is there life after high school? is a musical with a book by Jeffrey Kindley and music and lyrics by Craig Carnelia. It is loosely inspired by Ralph Keyes' best-selling book of the same name....
, for which he won a Theatre World Award
Theatre World Award
The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
.
In addition to being on the Loomis Chaffee
Loomis Chaffee
The Loomis Chaffee School is a premier coeducational boarding school for grades 9–12 and postgraduates located on a 300-plus acre campus in the Connecticut River Valley in Windsor, Connecticut, six miles north of Hartford...
School's Board, Widdoes is also active in many other community oriented programs. He sits on the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
for the Turning Point School; and has been on the Board of Trustees for the California Association of Independent Schools; the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
/Executive Committee
Executive Committee
Executive Committee may refer to:* The Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland, a government body in the United Kingdom 1921–1972* The Northern Ireland Executive, a government body in the United Kingdom...
for Camp Dudley-YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
; and the Executive Advisory Board of The Gordie Foundation
The Gordie Foundation
The Gordie Foundation is a 501 non-profit organization located in . The Foundation's is "to provide today's young people with the skills to navigate the dangers of alcohol, binge drinking, peer pressure and hazing." The Gordie Foundation was created in memory of 18 year-old Gordie Bailey who died...
, a non-profit organization based in Dallas that "[provides] today's young people with the skills to navigate the dangers of alcohol, binge drinking, peer pressure and hazing." The organization was founded in memory of Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr.
Widdoes is married to Brooks Hendrie, and has two sons, Charles Landauer and Sumner Dickinson, and a daughter, Margaret Hendrie.
Voice Work
Widdoes has also voiced several characters in Hanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
's The Further Adventures of SuperTed
The Further Adventures of Superted
The Further Adventures of SuperTed is an American/Welsh animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera and Siriol Animation in association with S4C, and continues the adventures of SuperTed...
.