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 in

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. P ...

, 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 Lexington may refer to: Places England * Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington Canada * Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario United States * Lexington, Kentucky, the largest city with this name * Lexington, Massachusetts, the oldes ...

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 ...

, 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, th ...

's Tisch School of Arts, 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 Bachel ...

degree. While in New York, he roomed with such soon-to-be famous actors as Michael O'Keefe from '' Caddyshack'' and '' The Great Santini.'' 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 Libra ...

revival of '' Wonderful Town'' and the 1982 Broadway musical '' Is there life after high school?'' 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 or Off-Broadway. It was first awarded for the 1945–1946 theatre se ...

Career

Widdoes starred as senior student and fraternity president Robert Hoover alongside John Belushi 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 ''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 O ...

,'' '' Night Court,'' '' Dave's World,'' 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 ve ...

.'' Widdoes starred as the patriarch of the Pembroke family, Stan, in the 1984-1985 seasons of ''

Charles in Charge ''Charles in Charge'' is an American sitcom television series that premiered on October 3, 1984, on CBS. The series was a production of Al Burton Productions and Scholastic Productions in association with Universal Television and starred Scott ...

''. Additionally, he was a frequent panelist on various game shows, including '' The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour'' and '' Super Password''. 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,'' ''

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 ''Harry and the Hendersons'' is a 1987 American fantasy comedy film directed and produced by William Dear and starring John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, Don Ameche, David Suchet, Margaret Langrick, Joshua Rudoy, Lainie Kazan, and Kevin Peter Hall ...

,'' '' Boston Common,'' '' 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 ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...

'', ''

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 ''

''.

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