James Widdoes (born November 15, 1953, in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

), sometimes billed as Jamie Widdoes, is an American actor and director.

Early life

Widdoes graduated from

The Loomis Chaffee School The Loomis Chaffee School (; LC or Loomis) is a selective independent, coeducational, college preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, including postgraduate students, located in Windsor, Connecticut, seven miles north ...

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 of Windsor was 29,492 at the 2020 census. Po ...

, in 1972, and is a member of their 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 Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, in 1974. He next attended Skidmore College in 1972 and then transferred to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Tisch School of Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

, graduating in 1976 with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

degree. While in New York, he roomed with such soon-to-be famous actors as

Michael O'Keefe Michael O'Keefe (born Raymond Peter O'Keefe, Jr.; April 24, 1955) is an American actor, known for his roles as Danny Noonan in '' Caddyshack'', Ben Meechum in '' The Great Santini,'' for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for B ...

from ''

Caddyshack ''Caddyshack'' is a 1980 American sports comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis and Douglas Kenney, and starring Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O'Keefe and Bill Murray with supporting ...

'' and ''

The Great Santini ''The Great Santini'' is a 1979 American drama film written and directed by Lewis John Carlino. It is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Pat Conroy. The film stars Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, and Michael O'Keefe. Synopsis A U.S. ...

.'' He then began performing on

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

stages in productions such as the 1977

Equity Library Theatre The Equity Library Theatre (ELT) was a New York City theatre company active from 1943 until 1989. The original company Founded in 1943 by Sam Jaffe, representing Actors' Equity, and George Freedley, at the time curator of the New York Public Lib ...

revival of ''

Wonderful Town ''Wonderful Town'' is a 1953 musical with book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Leonard Bernstein. The musical tells the story of two sisters who aspire to be a writer and act ...

'' and the 1982 Broadway musical ''

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. The show uses songs and monologues to recall th ...

'' His role in this last production won him a

Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway theatre, Broadway or Off-Broadway. It was first awarded for the 1945� ...

Career

Widdoes starred as senior student and fraternity president Robert Hoover alongside

John Belushi John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his c ...

in the 1978 film ''

National Lampoon's Animal House ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Peter Riegert, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hu ...

'' as well as the 1979 TV series spin-off ''

Delta House ''Delta House'' is an American sitcom that was adapted from the 1978 film ''National Lampoon's Animal House.'' The series aired from January 18 to April 21, 1979 on ABC. Casting Cast members reprising their roles from ''Animal House'' included ...

.'' He has guest starred in many TV series episodes since then, including ''

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 Oc ...

,'' ''

Night Court ''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan municipal court presided over by a young, unorthodox judge, Harold "Harry" T. Stone (portray ...

,'' ''

Dave's World ''Dave's World'' is an American sitcom television series, created by Fred Barron, that aired on CBS from September 20, 1993, to June 20, 1997. The series is based on the writing of ''Miami Herald'' columnist Dave Barry. Plot The show focuses on ...

,'' and ''

My Wife and Kids ''My Wife and Kids'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001, to May 17, 2005. The series was produced by Touchstone Television. It starred Damon Wayans as Michael Kyle, the patriarch of an African-American family. Wayans and v ...

.'' Widdoes starred as the patriarch of the Pembroke family, Stan, in the 1984-1985 seasons of '' Charles in Charge''. Additionally, he was a frequent panelist on various game shows, including '' The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour'' and ''

Super Password ''Password Plus'' and ''Super Password'' are American TV game shows that aired separately between 1979 and 1989. Both shows were revivals of ''Password'', which originally ran from 1961 to 1975 in various incarnations. With only subtle differen ...

''. Beginning in 1998, he produced and/or directed many episodes for various television series. Some of these included ''

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 is a spin-off of ' ...

,'' ''

Empty Nest ''Empty Nest'' is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons on NBC from October 8, 1988, to April 29, 1995. The series, which was created as a spin-off of ''The Golden Girls'' by creator and producer Susan Harris, starred Ri ...

,'' ''

Anything But Love ''Anything but Love'' is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from March 7, 1989, to June 3, 1992, spanning four seasons and 56 episodes. The show stars Richard Lewis as Marty Gold and Jamie Lee Curtis as Hannah Miller, coworkers at a Chicago ...

,'' '' Harry and the Hendersons,'' ''

Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beac ...

,'' '' Brother's Keeper,'' '' Reba,'' '' 8 Simple Rules (For Dating My Teenage Daughter),'' ''

The King of Queens ''The King of Queens'' is an American television sitcom that ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007, a total of nine seasons and 207 episodes. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt, who also served as the show ...

,'' '' 'Til Death,'' '' Mom'', ''

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. The series was canceled on September 25, 2009. ...

'' and '' Broke''. He directed several episodes of ''

Two and a Half Men ''Two and a Half Men'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, t ...

'' during the show's first six seasons and began directing the series regularly beginning with season seven. He directed all but two episodes of the series' final six seasons. From April 2015 to May 2021, he directed 122 of the 170 episodes of '' Mom''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Widdoes, James 1953 births American television directors Living people Loomis Chaffee School alumni Male actors from Pittsburgh Skidmore College alumni Television producers from Pennsylvania Tisch School of the Arts alumni