Herrmann, who took on the duties of honorary chief judge at this year’s Greenwich Concours d’Elegance in Greenwich, Connecticut, is also the master of ceremonies every year at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey, and attends the other two major American concours events, Amelia Island in Florida and Meadow Brook in Michigan, whenever he can.
He grew up in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., the son of an electrical engineer. His family’s roots are in Indianapolis, where his grandfather knew the winner of the first Indy 500, Ray Harroun. His father was called to Washington at the outbreak of World War II to supervise all electrical procurement for the War Department, and that’s where Edward Herrmann was born, in 1942. After the war, the Herrmanns moved to Michigan, and as Edward grew older, the pull of automobiles, planes and trains grew stronger, as did the pull of being other people for short periods. He wanted to act.
He pursued a degree in English and history at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, and started acting in 1965. From Bucknell, he moved on to the Dallas Theatre Center, run by Trinity University, and then, with his master’s degree unfinished, won a Fulbright scholarship to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, where he toiled in 1968-69. He did repertory theatre in England for a number of years as well, earning his spurs as both character actor and leading man. Herrmann, who is 6’5" tall, says, "I realized a long time ago that I’m not pretty, so I’ve built my career on character roles for the long haul. I’ll be able to work until I die if I want to."
And he does want to. He’s had terrific feature roles in films such as The Great Waldo Pepper with Robert Redford, The Great Gatsby with Redford again, The North Avenue Irregulars, Overboard with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, and dozens of others since the early 1970s, and says that his signature role is probably as FDR in Eleanor and Franklin, co-starring with Jane Alexander. Although he has done contemporary roles, he seems to be stuck in the first half of the Twentieth Century, along with his cars.
He did the Dodge commercials, including TV, radio, national and regional ads, for nearly a decade, and had a sound studio for voice-over work installed at his home in Litchfield County, Conn., where he lives with his wife, Star, and their six-year-old daughter. He has a 25-year-old son who works as a chef in Manhattan and a 21-year-old daughter who attends Bucknell.
His next project will be a Coen Brothers comedy about marriage, divorce and money, co-starring with Catherine Zeta-Jones as his wife (lucky fella) and George Clooney as her lawyer, after which he will start shooting the next season of The Gilmore Girls.
Herrmann currently has three classic cars, a 1929 Auburn Boattail Speedster, a 1932 Rolls-Royce 20/25, and a 1932 Packard 900 series Coupe Roadster. "We drive the Packard all the time," he says. He didn’t always have fame and fortune, however, and his first car was a 1961 Plymouth Valiant Slant Six station wagon which, he says, "just ran and ran and ran forever."
It was Herrmann, in fact, who got The History Channel interested in doing a show about automotive restoration, using a classic Packard and the Canadian firm, RM Restorations, as a base, and that one show led to an entire series of programs about classic and vintage cars in which Herrmann was heavily involved.
Herrmann isn’t finished collecting, by any means. He says he lusts after an Austin-Healey 100M racer, and would like to collect more "shovel-nose" Packards in the future. He says "Everybody should have at least three old cars: one to drive, one in the garage, and one at the shop, being restored."
Earning admiration for the tasteful 2-tone avocado paint work on his 1929 Auburn 8-90 boat tail speedster was the event's Chief Judge, Emmy-winning actor and "History Channel" narrator Edward Herrmann. Crediting the color selection to his wife Star, Herrmann said, "I was happy with two or three of the combinations we considered for the restoration. The car had a horrible cream and black paint job when Auburn President E.L. Cord's daughter purchased it from the Harrah collection during the 1960s," he added, "but this was a good final choice. It's a conservative combination on a very flamboyant shape, which really brings out the beauty of the lines."
