Who Plays the Catholic Father of Blue Bloods

Canadian actor and stage director

Len Cariou OC OM
Cariou in September 2009
Born	Leonard Joseph Cariou (1939-09-30) September 30, 1939 (age 82) St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	St Paul's College
Occupation	Actor
Awards	Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical

Leonard Joseph Cariou OC OM (born September 30, 1939) is a Canadian actor and stage director, best known for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd in the original cast of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and for playing the patriarch Henry Reagan, NYPD Police Commissioner (retired), in the multi-generational television series Blue Bloods on CBS.

Early years [edit]

Born in St. Boniface, today a city ward of Winnipeg, and later moving to East Kildonan, Manitoba, Cariou is the son of Molly Estelle (née Moore) and George Marius Cariou, a salesman.^{[ citation needed ]} His father was Breton and his mother was of Irish descent.^[1] Cariou attended Miles Macdonell Collegiate for grades 10 and 11 where he directed and starred in the school plays, and he later attended St Paul's College.^[2]

Career [edit]

Cariou made his first appearance in Damn Yankees at Rainbow Stage in Winnipeg in 1959, and was a founding member of the Manitoba Theatre Centre.^[3] He was offered a scholarship at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal but, married with a young child and financial responsibilities, he was forced to decline the honor. Instead, he learned his craft by spending two years at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Stratford, Ontario, and returned in 1981 to lead the company as Prospero, Coriolanus, Brutus, and Petruchio.

Cariou also became a lead actor at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis in the 1960s, where he played Orlando in As You Like It, Agamemnon in Tyrone Guthrie's compilation of The House of Atreus, Iago, Oberon, and the title roles in Henry V, "Oedipus the King," and King Lear. He also was an associate director.

Broadway [edit]

In 1968, Cariou made his Broadway debut in The House of Atreus. Two years later, Cariou landed his first starring role opposite Lauren Bacall in Applause, a musical adaptation of the film All About Eve. It earned him a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor in a Musical and won him the Theatre World Award. In 1973 he garnered his second Tony nod for A Little Night Music; he reprised the role of Fredrik for the 1977 film version opposite Elizabeth Taylor. Six years later he won both the Tony and a Drama Desk Award for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in the Stephen Sondheim musical opposite Angela Lansbury. During these years, Cariou also appeared in a number of benefits, including A Christmas Carol for the Riverside Shakespeare Company in New York, playing Scrooge, with Helen Hayes, Raul Julia, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, directed by W. Stuart McDowell at the Symphony Space in 1985.^[4] His next projects included the Alan Jay Lerner–Charles Strouse musical Dance a Little Closer (1983), Arthur Miller's sole musical, Up from Paradise (1983), Teddy & Alice (1987), and Ziegfeld (1988). Cariou also appeared on Broadway in Night Watch, Cold Storage, The Speed of Darkness, Neil Simon's The Dinner Party (with Henry Winkler and John Ritter) and Proof (with Anne Heche and Neil Patrick Harris). He directed Don't Call Back on Broadway as well. His off-Broadway appearances include Master Class, Papa (an Ernest Hemingway one-man show) and Mountain (Justice William O. Douglas). He appeared as Cap'n Andy in the Broadway national tour of Show Boat opposite Cloris Leachman.

Regional theatre [edit]

Regionally, Cariou has starred in myriad productions at theatres throughout North America, including The Kennedy Centre, the Mark Taper Forum, Lincoln Centre, the Long Wharf Theatre and the Old Globe. He has played the title role of Macbeth for Toronto Arts Productions, and Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon for Canadian Stage in Toronto. He has appeared multiple times throughout his career at the Manitoba Theatre Centre. In 1984, having directed "Death of a Salesman" at the Citadel Theater, Edmonton, he played the lead in "King Lear" and was appointed associate director. In 1985 he played Stalin there in David Pownall's "Master Class". Cariou appeared at The Geffen Theatre as Joe Keller in a notable production of All My Sons, a role he reprised in 2009 at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, where it was the longest running, highest grossing run of a play in that theatre's history. He also appeared at The Geffen in Neil Simon's Rose and Walsh and Heroes with George Segal.

Television [edit]

From 1985 to 1992, Cariou was seen on multiple episodes of the popular television mystery series Murder, She Wrote with his friend and former Sweeney Todd co-star Angela Lansbury. Cariou portrayed the recurring character of Michael Hagarty, characterized as an Irish international man of mystery who worked as a secret agent for British MI-6. He would get Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), the title character of the show, involved in mysteries involving international intrigue.

In 1993, Cariou was in the TV movie Miracle on Interstate 880. He played Buck Helm. He also guest starred in an episode of North of 60 when he portrayed Sarah Birkett's estranged father.

In 1995, Cariou became the first actor to portray Walt Disney in the Annette Funicello biography A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story, based on her book of the same name.

In 1997, Cariou appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Coda". He appeared to Captain Kathryn Janeway as an alien disguised as Admiral Janeway, her deceased father.

In 2010, Cariou appeared as Madoff-like Ponzi scheme man Louis Tobin in the drama Damages, the main antagonist in season three. Cariou has appeared in episodes of The West Wing, Law & Order, The Practice, and The Outer Limits. He had a continuing role in 2006–2007 as power broker Judd Fitzgerald in the series Brotherhood.

He currently appears as Henry Reagan, the former New York City Police Commissioner and patriarch of the current commissioner's family on Blue Bloods.

Film [edit]

Cariou's film credits include One Man, Flags of Our Fathers, About Schmidt, Thirteen Days, The Four Seasons, the Harold Prince-directed screen adaptation of A Little Night Music with Elizabeth Taylor, and Secret Window in which he starred alongside Johnny Depp, who would later go on to play Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the Tim Burton-directed musical based on the Broadway show in which Cariou starred. He played the father in the 2007 film 1408, and the nominal lead role in The Onion Movie, based on the satirical newspaper. In 2018 he starred alongside Bruce Willis in Death Wish as Dr. Paul Kersey's father-in-law.

Cariou narrated Major League Baseball's World Series films from 1992 to 1997. In addition, he was the narrator of "An Amazin' Era", a video commemorating the 25th anniversary of the New York Mets franchise.^{[ citation needed ]} He narrated both the original 1986 version and an update that was produced in 1989. He has recorded a number of books, including several by Michael Connelly, for audiotape release. He also narrated the 1989 Academy Award-winning documentary The Johnstown Flood. In 2009, Cariou portrayed Franklin D. Roosevelt in the HBO movie Into the Storm, earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. He played an American naval officer in 2013's den Orolige Mannen (the Troubled Man), adapted from one of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels.

More recently, Cariou portrayed Cardinal Law in Spotlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2015.^{[ citation needed ]} He also starred in the short play Happy Birthday, Mr. Abernathy by Lloyd Suh for a public radio show and podcast, Playing On Air.^[5]

Awards [edit]

On Broadway, Cariou has earned three Tony nominations for 'Best Actor in a Musical' in 1970 for "Applause", in 1973 for "A Little Night Music", and in 1979 for "Sweeney Todd". He won the Tony for Best Performance By A Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance in Sweeney Todd.

In 2004, Cariou was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.^[6]

In 2009, Cariou portrayed Franklin D. Roosevelt in the HBO movie Into the Storm, earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

On June 23, 2012, Cariou was honored by having his name added to the Miles Macdonell Collegiate Alumni of Distinction, for his contribution to theater and arts. His introduction to the theater started with a starring role in the school production of The Pirates of Penzance. He holds the Order of Manitoba and has been invested with honorary degrees from the University of Windsor and the University of Winnipeg.

On December 27, 2018, Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, announced that Cariou would be one of 103 recipients becoming an Officer of the Order of Canada for his achievements as an actor of stage and screen, and for his commitment to Canadian cultural institutions.^[7]

Stage credits [edit]

As actor [edit]

Year	Title	Role	Theatre
1959	Damn Yankees	Ensemble member	Rainbow Stage
1961	The Threepenny Opera		Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre
	Mister Roberts
1962	Macbeth	Ensemble member	Stratford Festival
	The Tempest	Various
	Cyrano de Bergerac	Ensemble member
	The Taming of the Shrew	Groom / Walter Sugarsop
1963	Troilus and Cressida	Margarelon
	The Comedy of Errors	Ensemble member
	Timon of Athens	Servilius
	Cyrano de Bergerac	Ensemble member
1964	Love's Labour's Lost	Longaville	Chichester Festival Theatre
1964	Richard II	Sir John Bushy	Stratford Festival
	The Country Wife	Ensemble member
	Le Bourgeois gentilhomme	Cléonte
1966	As You Like It	Orlando de Boys	Guthrie Theater
	The Skin of Our Teeth
	S.S. Glencairn
1968	The House of Atreus	Orestes
	Twelfth Night	Feste
	Serjeant Musgrave's Dance	Serjeant "Black Jack" Musgrave
1969	Othello	Iago	Goodman Theatre
	Much Ado About Nothing		American Shakespeare Theatre
	Three Sisters
1969	Henry V	King Henry V	ANTA Theatre
1970–1972	Applause	Bill Sampson	Palace Theatre
1971	Cyrano de Bergerac	Christian de Neuvillette	Guthrie Theater
	The Taming of the Shrew
1972	Night Watch	John Wheeler	Morosco Theatre
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Oberon	Guthrie Theater
1973	Oedipus Rex	Oedipus
	Sondheim: A Celebration	Various	Shubert Theatre
1973–1974	A Little Night Music	Fredrik Egerman	Majestic Theatre Shubert Theatre
1974	King Lear	King Lear	Guthrie Theater
1975	Equus	Dr. Martin Dysart	Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre
	Cyrano de Bergerac	Cyrano de Bergerac
1977	A Sorrow Beyond Dreams	The Writer	Marymount Manhattan Theatre
	Cold Storage	Richard Landau	Lyceum Theatre
1979–1980	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	Sweeney Todd	Gershwin Theatre
1981	Coriolanus	Caius Marcius Coriolanus	Stratford Festival
	The Taming of the Shrew	Petruchio
1982	Julius Caesar	Marcus Brutus
	The Tempest	Prospero
1981–1983	Up from Paradise	God	Jewish Repertory Theater
1983	Dance a Little Closer	Harry Aikens	Minskoff Theatre
1983–1984	King Lear	King Lear	Citadel Theatre
1984–1985	Coriolanus	Caius Marcius Coriolanus	Stratford Festival
	The Taming of the Shrew	Petruchio
	Arms and the Man	Sergius Saranoff
	The Tempest	Prospero
	Julius Caesar	Marcus Brutus
	The Tempest	Prospero
1985	Traveler in the Dark	Sam	Mark Taper Forum
1985–1986	Master Class	Joseph Stalin	Citadel Theatre
1986	Master Class	Joseph Stalin	Union Square Theatre
1987	Teddy & Alice	President Theodore Roosevelt	Minskoff Theatre
1989	Measure for Measure	Vincentio	Vivian Beaumont Theater
	The Anastasia Game	Gen. Alexei Bounine	Merrimack Repertory Theatre
1990–1993	Mountain	William O'Douglass	Ford's Theatre Plays and Players Theatre
1991	The Speed of Darkness	Joe	Belasco Theatre
1992	A Touch of the Poet	Cornelius Melody	Long Wharf Theatre
1996	Papa	Ernest Hemingway	Douglas Fairbanks Theater
1996–1998	Show Boat	Cap'n Andy	Tour
1998	Paramour	General St. Pe	Old Globe Theatre
2000–2001	The Dinner Party	Andre Bouville	Mark Taper Forum
2001–2002	Copenhagen	Niels Bohr	National tour
2002	Funny Girl	Florenz Ziegfeld	New Amsterdam Theatre
2002–2003	Proof	Robert	Walter Kerr Theatre
2003	No Strings	Louis de Pourtal	New York City Center
	Rose and Walsh	Walsh	Geffen Playhouse
	The Persians	Darius the Great	National Actors Theatre
	Follies	Benjamin Stone	John Hancock Hall
2004	Kismet	Hajj	Reprise Theatre Company
2006	All My Sons	Joe Keller	Geffen Playhouse
2007	Heroes	Henri
2008	Frost/Nixon	President Richard Nixon	Canadian Stage Company
2009	Broadway Backwards 4	Various	Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
2010	Brigadoon	Mr. Lundie	Irish Repertory Theatre
	Broadway Backwards 5	Various	Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
2011	Broadway Backwards 6	Various
2016–2019	Broadway and the Bard	Himself	Tour
2019	Harry Townsend's Last Stand	Harry Townsend	New York City Center

As director [edit]

Year	Title	Theatre
1972	Of Mice and Men	Guthrie Theater
1974	The Petrified Forest
	The Crucible
1979	Don't Call Back
1984	Death of a Salesman
1985	Cold Storage

Filmography [edit]

Film [edit]

Year	Title	Role
1977	One Man	Jason Brady
	A Little Night Music	Fredrik Egerman
1978	Drying Up the Streets	Larry
1981	The Four Seasons	Nick Callan
1988	Lady in White	Phil Terragrossa
1994	Getting In	Dr. Lionel Higgs / Dr. Ezekiel Higgs
1995	Never Talk to Strangers	Henry Taylor
1996	Executive Decision	Secretary of Defense Charles White
2000	Thirteen Days	Dean Acheson
2002	About Schmidt	Ray Nichols
2004	Secret Window	Sheriff Dave Newsome
2005	The Greatest Game Ever Played	Stedman Comstock
	Boynton Beach Club	Jack
2006	Flags of Our Fathers	Mr. Beech
2007	1408	Joe Enslin
2008	The Onion Movie	Norm Archer
2013	Prisoners	Father Patrick Dunn
2015	Spotlight	Cardinal Bernard Law
2018	Death Wish	Ben Gibbs
	Bumblebee	Hank

Television [edit]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	Quest	Unknown	1 episode
1964	Festival	Ragnar	1 episode
1979	The Great Detective	Tanner	1 episode
1981	Madame X	John Abbott	Television film
1985–1992	Murder, She Wrote	Michael Hagarty / Monsignore O'Shaugnessy	7 episodes
1985	Surviving: A Family in Crisis	David Brogan	Television film
1989	The American Playwrights Theater: The One Acts	Pat Sweeney	1 episode
1990	Gabriel's Fire	Judge Norton Heller	1 episode
1991	Kurt Vonnegut's Monkey House	Ambassador Kelly	1 episode
1992	The Ray Bradbury Theater	Douglas	1 episode
	Street Legal	Christin Peveril	1 episode
1993	North of 60	Mike Birkett	1 episode
	Class of '61	Dr. Leland Peyton	Television film
	The Sea Wolf	Dr. Picard	Television film
1993–2008	Law & Order	Edgar Beezley / Mac Geller / Captain Allard Bunker	3 episodes
1994	Witness to the Execution	Jake Tyler	Television film
	Love on The Run	Noah Cross	Television film
1995–2000	The Outer Limits	Doc Wells / Father Anton Jonasceu	2 episodes
1996	Swift Justice	Al Swift	Main cast 13 episodes
	The Summer of Ben Tyler	Spencer Maitland	Television film
1997	Star Trek: Voyager	Admiral Edward Janeway	1 episode
	F/X: The Series	Charles Emery	1 episode
	American Experience	Narrator (voice)	1 episode
1998	Mentors	Alexander Graham Bell	1 episode
1999	The Practice	Defense Attorney Weiland	1 episode
	In the Company of Spies	The President	Television film
2000	D.C.	Senator William Abbott	1 episode
	Nuremberg	Francis Biddle	Television film
	The West Wing	Pharmaceutical Executive	1 episode
2003	Ed	Mr. Stuckey	1 episode
2004	Sex Traffic	Magnus Herzoff	Miniseries
2005	Numb3rs	Alan Emrick	1 episode
2006–2007	Brotherhood	Judd Fitzgerald	Recurring role 10 episodes
2007	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Frank McCarty	1 episode
2008	Army Wives	Randall Meade	1 episode
2009	Into the Storm	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Television film
	Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice	Narrator	9 episodes
2010	Damages	Louis Tobin	5 episodes
2010–present	Blue Bloods	Henry Reagan	Main role
2013	Wallander	Atkins	1 episode
2019	When They See Us	Robert Morgenthau	Miniseries

Awards and nominations [edit]

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1970	Tony Award	Best Actor in a Musical	Applause	Nominated
	Theatre World Award		Applause and King Henry V	Honouree
1973	Tony Award	Best Actor in a Musical	A Little Night Music	Nominated
1977	Canadian Film Award	Best Actor	One Man	Won
1979	Tony Award	Best Actor in a Musical	Sweeney Todd	Won
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actor In A Musical		Won
1991	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Actor in a Play	Mountain	Nominated
			The Speed of Darkness	Nominated
	Gemini Award	Best Actor in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series	Kurt Vonnegut's Monkey House	Nominated
2009	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Into the Storm	Nominated
2019	Drama League Award[8]	Distinguished Performance	Harry Townsend's Last Stand	Nominated

References [edit]

1. ^ "Frost/Nixon star reveals hot-blooded past". Toronto Star. October 4, 2008. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
2. ^ "Len Cariou Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on May 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
3. ^ Lepage, Mark (December 7, 2010). "Winnipeg's Cariou takes pride in Manitoba Theatre Centre roots". Winnipeg Free Press . Retrieved November 23, 2016.
4. ^ "Celebrity Reading of 'A Christmas Carol'", The New York Times, November 23, 1985.
5. ^ PlayingOnAir (December 8, 2014). "Len Cariou". Playing On Air. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
6. ^ Rawson, Christopher (January 25, 2005). "Stage veterans receive praise at induction". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved January 2, 2018.
7. ^ "Governor General Announces 103 New Appointments to the Order of Canada | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com . Retrieved May 22, 2019.
8. ^ "Nominations Announced for 86th Annual Drama League Awards". Broadway.com . Retrieved April 18, 2021.

External links [edit]

• Len Cariou at the Internet Broadway Database
• Len Cariou at IMDb
• Len Cariou at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Cariou

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