The tall, oft-bespectacled Herrmann has extensive stage and TV experience, often cast as conservative or executive types. He is perhaps best remembered for his TV portrayals of Franklin Delano Roosevelt opposite Jane Alexander in two ABC TV miniseries, "Eleanor and Franklin" (1976) and "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years" (1977). He also portrayed FDR in the John Huston musical "Annie" (1982).
Herrmann began his professional stage career almost as soon as arriving in New York in 1970. By the next year, he made his stage debut in an acclaimed off-Broadway production of "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel". His Broadway debut was 1972's "Moonchildren" and he received a Supporting Actor Tony for his work in "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1976), opposite Lynn Redgrave. In the 1980 revival of "The Philadelphia Story", Herrmann portrayed Mike Connor to Blythe Danner's Tracy Lord.
Herrmann made his film debut in a bit part as policeman in Sophia Loren vehicle, "Lady Liberty" (1972). He had his first substantial role as Anderson, one of the study group members, in James Bridges' "The Paper Chase" (1973). Other memorable roles include magazine editor and communist Max Eastman in Warren Beatty's "Reds" (1981), Susan Sarandon's demanding husband in "Compromising Positions" (1985), a gay executive browbeaten by Bette Midler in "Big Business" (1988), the father of Richie Rich in "Richie Rich" (1994), and Nelson Rockefeller in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" (1995).
On TV, Herrmann first found notice as Richard Palmer in the short-lived 1975 CBS series "Beacon Hill". After his portrayal of Roosevelt (which netted him two Emmy Award nominations), he went on to portray baseball legend in "A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story" (NBC, 1978), opposite Blythe Danner. Herrmann has frequently performed in productions for PBS including a turn as Alger Hiss in the acclaimed miniseries "Concealed Enemies" (1984) and as the Headmaster in "The Prodigious Hickey" (1987) and its two sequels. For HBO, he was producer Fred Friendly in the biopic "Murrow" (1986). Herrmann has also portrayed a college professor whose need for the spotlight draws him into the neo-Nazi sphere in "So Proudly We Hail" (CBS, 1990), and comic turns in the ABC remake of Woody Allen's "Don't Drink the Water" (1995) and "Here Come the Munsters" (Fox, 1995), inheriting Fred Gwynne's role of Herman. The actor has also leant his patrician presence as host of such classy reality series, such as "Our Century" on the Art & Entertainment network, and as a commercial spokesman and voice over actor.
While Herrmann never had a shortage of work, the actor's career had a nice late-life upswing: along with roles in films such as "A Civil Action" (1998) and "Miss Congeniality" (2000), he joined the cast of the WB's fast-talking dramedy "Gilmore Girls" (2000- ) --always credited as making a "special appearance"--playing a nice spin on his established patrician type as wealthy businessman Richard Gilmore, who has an icy, disapproving relationship with his daughter (Lauren Graham) but turns to mush over his teen granddaughter (Alexis Beldell) after years of estrangement. Herrmann also turned in fine work in recurring roles on such series as ABC's legal drama "The Practice" from 1997-1998 and HBO's harrowing prison series "Oz" from 2000-2001. He made an excellent, jealousy-consumed William Randolph Hearst, the real life publisher of the early 20th Century in director Peter Bogdonavich's "The Cat's Meow" (2002), which chronicled a long-rumored Hollywood scandal involving Hearst, his mistress Marion Davies, Charle Chaplin and director Thomas Ince. Herrmann's performance was rich and dimensional, though the extreme age difference between him and the equally good Kirsten Dunst was somewhat distracting. After portraying actor Raymond Massey in the TNT television biopic "James Dean" (2002) and a headmaster opposite Kevin Kline in "The Emperor's Club" (2002), Herrmann flexed his considerable comedic abilities in the Coen Brothers' screwball romantic comedy "Intolerable Cruelty" (2003) as Rex Rexroth, the latest ex of gold-digging serial divorcee Catherine Zeta-Jones and the client of whiz divorce attorney George Clooney.