2/8/2009

in

The New York native actor of the famous one-man show about Harry Truman dies from lung cancer.

Pauline Sofroni

James Whitmore, the Emmy- and Tony-winning actor, died at the age of 87. The award- winning actor was diagnosed a week before Thanksgiving with lung cancer and died at his Malibu home on Friday afternoon.  
  
The veteran actor appeared in films including "The Asphalt Jungle", "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Planet of the Apes".  
  
Whitmore was a famous film, television and stage actor who made his Broadway debut in "Command Decision" in 1947 and was nominated for an Oscar in 1949 for the film "Battleground" and his portrayal as U.S. President Harry Truman.  
  
Whitmore was married four times, twice the same woman, Nancy Mygatt.  
  
"My father was a great man and it gives me great joy to speak about a father that always had my back" his son, Steve Whitmore said, according to MSNBC reports. "He always said the most important thing in life was family. He loved his work, but he always saw it as a way to provide for the most important thing, and that's family."