James Cromwell plays Ogden Phipps in Secretariat, he has a couple of scenes with Diane Lane as Penny in this clip. In a recent interview, Crowell was asked:  Why was Secretariat so inspiring?  This is what he had to say in answer to the question:

“Although he was a horse, he was also a great athlete. What he accomplished as a horse was unique. The way he won coming from so far back, the speed with which he covered the distances and the spacing between himself and the runner-up in the Belmont was amazing. This was an extraordinary animal. When he was brought out before the jockey came up, he used to turn his head to the photographers and pose.  So he was a highly intelligent, uniquely gifted animal—sort of the Lance Armstrong of horses—and he captured everybody’s imagination.”

Based on the remarkable true story, Secretariat chronicles the spectacular journey of the 1973 Triple Crown winner. Housewife and mother Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) agrees to take over her ailing father’s Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery – with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich) – manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and what may be the greatest racehorse of all time.