Edward Herrmann, a stalwart American actor of patrician bearing and earnest elocutionary style who became familiar across a spectrum of popular entertainment, from movies and television shows to plays, audiobooks and advertisements, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 71.<\/p>\n
The cause was brain cancer, his son, Rory, said.<\/p>\n
Well over six feet tall, broad-shouldered and, especially in later years, hefty, Mr. Herrmann could be formidable or friendly, authoritative or milquetoast, insistent or obsequious. He was often cast in the role of an affluent or privileged personage; he played lawyers, judges, headmasters, executives, a lot of millionaires.<\/p>\n
More often than most actors, he had a tuxedo \u201d\u201d or at least a suit \u201d\u201d as a costume, but his characters could be comic or dramatic, as likely to be stuffed shirts as genuinely commanding men.<\/p>\n