- Father of James Cromwell.
- From 1951-58 he was blacklisted in Hollywood during the Joseph McCarthy "Red Scare" period.
- In 1945 he hosted the Academy Awards alongside Bob Hope.
- Has directed ten actors to Oscar nominations: Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, Gene Lockhart, Raymond Massey, Monty Woolley, Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Gale Sondergaard, Eleanor Parker and Hope Emerson. None of them won. Davis' was a write-in nomination.
- Often appeared on screen in uncredited cameos in films which he directed.
- Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978) was shot during the summer of 1977 principally on the Armour estate in Lake Bluff, IL. Every shooting day Cromwell and Ruth Nelson could be seen, in costume, in a small first-floor room set aside for them. Sometimes, they could be seen talking, but most often they each were absorbed reading books.
- Holds the director record at New York City's Radio City Music Hall with 18 films totaling 36 weeks. Runner-up Vincente Minnelli had 17 films but they totaled 85 weeks.
- President of the Screen Directors Guild from 1944-46.
- Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 155-159. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
- Son of director James Cromwell.
- Ex-father-in-law of Julie Cobb.
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