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Michael Moriarty (born April 5, 1941) is an
American-Canadian American Canadians are Canadians of American descent. The term is most often used to refer to Canadians who migrated from or have ancestry from the United States. Demography According to the 2016 Census, 29,590 Canadians reported American as ...
actor and jazz musician. He received an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
and
Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
for his first acting role on American television as a
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
SS officer in the 1978 mini-series ''
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
'' as well as a
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...
in 1974 for his performance in the play ''Find Your Way Home''. He played Executive Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Stone for the first four seasons (1990–1994) of the television show ''
Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering ...
.'' Moriarty is also known for his roles in films such as '' Bang the Drum Slowly'', '' Who'll Stop the Rain'', '' Q: The Winged Serpent'', '' The Stuff'', '' Pale Rider'', ''
Troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human ...
'', ''
Courage Under Fire ''Courage Under Fire'' is a 1996 American war film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan. It is the second collaboration between Washington and director Zwick. The film was released in the United States on July ...
'', and '' Shiloh''.


Early life

Michael Moriarty was born in
Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
, on April 5, 1941. He is the son of Eleanor ( ''née'' Paul) and George Moriarty, a surgeon. His grandfather George Moriarty was a
third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system u ...
,
umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per' ...
and
manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...
in major league baseball for nearly 40 years. Moriarty attended middle school at Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills before transferring to the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, graduating in 1959. He then matriculated at
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
, where he was a theatre college major, in the class of 1963. After receiving his
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degree, he left for London, England, where he enrolled in the
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. LAMDA's Principal is ...
(LAMDA), having received a
Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
.


Acting career

Before gaining fame in films, Moriarty worked for several years as an actor at the
Guthrie Theater The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions between Sir Tyrone Gut ...
in Minneapolis. In 1973, Moriarty was cast as the egocentric Henry Wiggen in '' Bang the Drum Slowly'' opposite
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
as a slow-witted catcher who becomes terminally ill. In the same year, Moriarty starred in a TV movie adaptation of
Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...
' ''
The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...
'' with
Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...
. Coincidentally, the film also featured
Sam Waterston Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television and, film. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and has receive ...
, who later replaced Moriarty as the Executive Assistant District Attorney on ''
Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering ...
''. Moriarty's role in ''The Glass Menagerie'' (as "Jim," the Gentleman Caller; Waterston played the son "Tom") won him an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for Best Supporting Actor. In 1974, Moriarty starred as rookie detective Bo Lockley in the acclaimed police drama ''
Report to the Commissioner ''Report to the Commissioner'' is a 1975 American crime drama film based on James Mills' 1972 novel. It involves a rookie cop (Michael Moriarty) in the New York City Police Department who is assigned a special missing person case, which in fact ...
''. Moriarty won a
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...
in 1974 for his performance in the play ''Find Your Way Home''. His career on the screen was slow to develop while his theatre career was flourishing. He starred as the German SS officer Erik Dorf in the television miniseries ''
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
'', which earned him another Emmy. Through the 1980s, Moriarty starred in such Larry Cohen movies as '' Q'', '' The Stuff'', '' It's Alive III: Island of the Alive'', and ''
A Return to Salem's Lot ''A Return to Salem's Lot'' is a 1987 American vampire film co-written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Michael Moriarty, Andrew Duggan, Samuel Fuller, Evelyn Keyes, and June Havoc. A theatrical sequel to the 1979 miniseries ''Salem's Lot ...
'' (much later, he appeared in Cohen's ''Masters of Horror'' episode " Pick Me Up"), as well as in
Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' Do ...
's '' Pale Rider'' and '' The Hanoi Hilton''. In 1986, he starred in the fantasy science fiction movie ''
Troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human ...
'', playing the role of Harry Potter Sr. (unrelated to the
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...
series). In 1989, Moriarty starred in the HBO production '' Tailspin: Behind the Korean Airliner Tragedy'', which dramatized the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
's shoot-down of Korean Air Lines flight 007 in 1983. He portrayed U.S. Air Force
Major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...
Hank Daniels, who was largely ignored (if not ridiculed) for showing how the ill-fated airliner had strayed off course into air space known by the Soviets to be used by U.S. Air Force electronic surveillance planes as they approached Soviet air space. From 1990 to 1994, Moriarty starred as Ben Stone on ''Law & Order''. He left the show in 1994, alleging that his departure was a result of his threatening a lawsuit against then-Attorney General
Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...
, who had cited ''Law & Order'' as offensively violent. Moriarty criticized Reno's comment and claimed that she wanted to censor not only shows like ''Law & Order'' but also such fare as ''
Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The seri ...
''. He later accused ''Law & Order'' executive producer
Dick Wolf Richard Anthony Wolf (born December 20, 1946) is an American film and television producer, best known for his ''Law & Order'' franchise. Since 1990, the franchise has included six police/courtroom dramas and four international spinoffs. He is al ...
of not taking his concerns seriously and claimed that Wolf and other network executives were "caving in" to Reno's "demands" on the issue of TV violence. On September 20, 1994, on ''
The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...
'', he made an offer to NBC, claiming that he would return to his role on the show if Dick Wolf was fired. Moriarty published a full-page advertisement in a Hollywood trade magazine calling upon fellow artists to stand up with him against attempts to censor TV show content. He subsequently wrote and published ''The Gift of Stern Angels'', his account of this time in his life. In the fictional ''Law & Order''
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the univers ...
, the Ben Stone character resigns from the D.A.'s office in 1994 after a witness in one of his cases is murdered. The February 7, 2018, episode of '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' shows
Sam Waterston Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television and, film. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and has receive ...
's character, Jack McCoy, delivering a eulogy at Stone's funeral. Wolf and others working on ''Law & Order'' tell a different story, however. On November 18, 1993, Moriarty and Wolf, along with other television executives, met with Reno to dissuade her from supporting any law that would censor the show. Wolf said that Moriarty overreacted to any effect the law was likely to have on the show. ''Law & Order'' producers claim they were forced to remove Moriarty from the series because of "erratic behavior," an example of which reportedly happened during the filming of the episode "Breeder" when, according to the episode's director Arthur Forney, Moriarty was unable to deliver his lines with a straight face. Series and network officials deny any connection between his departure and Janet Reno. Wolf also denies that the show has become less violent, graphic or controversial since 1994. Moriarty acted in ''
The Last Detail ''The Last Detail'' is a 1973 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby, from a screenplay by Robert Towne, based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Darryl Ponicsan. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid, Clifton James ...
'', ''
Courage Under Fire ''Courage Under Fire'' is a 1996 American war film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan. It is the second collaboration between Washington and director Zwick. The film was released in the United States on July ...
'', '' Along Came a Spider'', '' Shiloh'', '' Emily of New Moon'' and ''
James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, '' Rebel Without a Caus ...
'', for which he won his third
Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
. In 2007 he debuted his first feature-length film as screenwriter and performed the role of a man who thinks he is
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
in '' Hitler Meets Christ''.


Musical career

In addition to his acting career, Moriarty is a semi-professional
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
pianist and singer as well as a classical composer. He has recorded three jazz albums (though the first, ''Reaching Out'', went unreleased). He has regularly performed live in both New York City and
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
with a jazz trio and quintet. In a 1990 concert review, ''New York Times'' reviewer
Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...
called Moriarty "a jazz pianist of considerable skill, an oddball singer with more than one vocal personality, and a writer of eccentric, jivey jazz songs."


Politics

Moriarty is politically active, describing himself as a "centrist" and sometimes as a "realist". Moriarty announced his intention to run for the presidency in 2008 in an interview in the November 2005 issue of ''Northwest Jazz Profile'', but he never formally declared his candidacy. He later endorsed fellow former ''Law & Order'' actor
Fred Thompson Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Tennessee fr ...
for the presidency during the 2008 Republican primaries, as well as
Carly Fiorina Cara Carleton "Carly" Fiorina (''née'' Sneed; born September 6, 1954) is an American businesswoman and politician, known primarily for her tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP). As chief executive officer of HP from 1999 to 2005, Fiorina was ...
during the 2016 primary election cycle. He has been a frequent contributor of numerous political columns to the Enter Stage Right online ''Journal of Conservatism''.


Personal life

Shortly after leaving ''Law & Order'', Moriarty moved to Canada, declaring himself a political
exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
. He lived for a time in Halifax,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
, where he was granted Canadian citizenship, and
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
before settling in
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
. In 2006, in the blog ''Enter Stage Right'' Moriarty wrote that he was a "very bad drunk" but as of 2004 had been sober for two years.


Filmography


Film


Television


References


External links

* *
Michael Moriarty
at the Internet Off-Broadway Database * *
Yahoo Movies: Michael MoriartyMichael Moriarty UUU fan site
(via archive.org): includes semi-regular blog posts by Moriarty
Michael Moriarty
(Aveleyman) {{DEFAULTSORT:Moriarty, Michael 1941 births Living people 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art American bloggers American emigrants to Canada American jazz pianists American male bloggers American male film actors American male jazz musicians American male pianists American male television actors Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Dartmouth College alumni Jazz musicians from Michigan Jazz musicians from New York (state) Male actors from Detroit Michigan Republicans Musicians from Detroit Naturalized citizens of Canada Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners Tony Award winners University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy alumni Fulbright alumni