Lawrence O'Donnell | |
|---|---|
 O'Donnell at theWomen's March alongFifth Avenue on January 21, 2017 | |
| Born | Lawrence Francis O’Donnell Jr. (1951-11-07)November 7, 1951 (age 74) Boston,Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) |
| Occupations |
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| Notable credit(s) | Political commentary: The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell The McLaughlin Group Morning Joe Television fictional series: The West Wing (producer, writer, actor) Big Love,Homeland (actor) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951)[1] is an American television anchor, actor, author, screenwriter,liberal political commentator, and host ofThe Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, anMSNOW opinion and news program that airs on weeknights.[2]
He was a writer and producer for theNBC seriesThe West Wing (playing the role ofPresident Bartlet's father in flashbacks) as well as creator andexecutive producer of the NBC seriesMister Sterling. He also appeared as recurring character Lee Hatcher in theHBO seriesBig Love.
O'Donnell began his political career in 1989, as an aide to U.S. SenatorDaniel Patrick Moynihan, and was staff director for theSenate Finance Committee. He describes himself as a "practical European socialist".[3]
O'Donnell was born inBoston on November 7, 1951,[1] the son of Frances Marie (née Buckley), an office manager, and Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Sr., an attorney and member of the Supreme Court Bar. He is ofIrish descent and was raised Catholic.[4] He attendedSt. Sebastian's School (class of 1970), where he was captain of the baseball team and wide receiver on their undefeated football team. O'Donnell majored ineconomics atHarvard College, from which he graduated in 1976.[5] While at Harvard, he wrote for theHarvard Lampoon.[6]
From 1977 to 1988, O'Donnell was a writer.[5] In 1983, he published the bookDeadly Force, about a case of wrongful death and police brutality in which O'Donnell's father was the plaintiff's lawyer.[7] In 1986, the book was made into the filmA Case of Deadly Force;Richard Crenna played O'Donnell's father, andTate Donovan played O'Donnell; O'Donnell was associate producer.[8] In 2017, O'Donnell published the bookPlaying with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics.[9]
From 1989 to 1995, O'Donnell was a legislative aide to SenatorDaniel Patrick Moynihan.[5] He served as senior adviser to Moynihan from 1989 to 1991, then as staff director of two senate committees that Moynihan was chairing:Environment and Public Works from 1992 to 1993, andFinance from 1993 to 1995.[10]
From 1999 to 2006, O'Donnell was associated with the television dramaThe West Wing, writing 16 episodes and serving as executive story editor for 12 episodes (1999-2000), as co-producer for five episodes (2000), as producer for 17 episodes (2000-2001), as consulting producer for 44 episodes (2003-2005), and as executive producer for 22 episodes (2005-2006).[11] He won the2001Primetime Emmy Award forOutstanding Drama Series forThe West Wing and was nominated for the 2006 Emmy in the same category.[12]
In 2002, O'Donnell was supervising producer and writer for the television dramaFirst Monday; and in 2003 he was creator, executive producer, and writer for the television dramaMister Sterling.[11]
In 2009, O'Donnell became a regular contributor onMorning Joe withJoe Scarborough. His aggressive debate style on that program and others led to several on-air confrontations, including an interview with conservativeMarc Thiessen onMorning Joe that became so heated that Scarborough took O'Donnell off the air.[13] Also in 2009 and 2010, O'Donnell began appearing frequently as a substitute host ofCountdown with Keith Olbermann, particularly when Olbermann's father was ill in the hospital.[citation needed]
On September 27, 2010, O'Donnell began hosting a 10 p.m. show on MSNBC, calledThe Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.[14][15] On January 21, 2011, it was announced that O'Donnell would take over the 8 p.m. slot from Keith Olbermann after Olbermann announced the abrupt termination of his show,Countdown with Keith Olbermann.[16] Beginning October 24, 2011,The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell switched time slots withThe Ed Show, withEd Schultz taking over the 8 p.m. Eastern slot, and O'Donnell returning to the 10 p.m. Eastern slot.[17]
On September 20, 2017, an eight-minute video clip was leaked; it showed O'Donnell angrily cursing and swearing about background noise between segments of a live broadcast that had aired on August 29, 2017.[18] O'Donnell apologized on Twitter,[19] and the leaker was subsequently fired.[20]
O'Donnell played Lee Hatcher, the Henrickson family attorney, in the HBO seriesBig Love, about a polygamous family in Utah. In addition to being a producer onThe West Wing, O'Donnell also played PresidentJosiah Bartlet's father in a flashback sequence of the episode "Two Cathedrals".[21] O'Donnell portrayed Judge Lawrence Barr in two episodes ofMonk[22] and played himself on an episode of Showtime'sHomeland.[23]
In 2007, O'Donnell criticizedMitt Romney's speech on religion, stating: "Romney comes from a religion that was founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist."[24][25] In the April 3, 2012, broadcast ofThe Last Word, O'Donnell made comments regardingthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), saying it was an "invented religion," which was "created by a guy in upstate New York in 1830 when he got caught having sex with the maid and explained to his wife that God told him to do it."[26] During the April 11, 2012, broadcast ofThe Last Word, O'Donnell apologized for the April 3 comments, stating that they had offended many, including some of the show's most supportive fans.[27]
In late 2010, O’Donnell showed a taped October 2010 interview withRNC ChairmanMichael Steele. In O'Donnell’s introduction to the taped interview, he said, "Michael Steele is dancing as fast as he can, trying to charm independent voters and Tea Partiers while never losing sight of his real master and paycheck provider, the Republican National Committee." After these remarks drew criticism from Steele and talk-radio hostLarry Elder, who both characterized them as racially insensitive, O'Donnell apologized for them.[28][29][30]
O'Donnell also drew criticism for an October 2010 interview with CongressmanRon Paul, when Paul accused him of breaking an agreement not to ask him about other political candidates.[31] O'Donnell said he had not been part of any agreement, but anMSNBC spokeswoman stated, "We told Representative Paul's office that the focus would be on the tea party movement, not on specific candidates."[32]
During an October 2011 interview, O'Donnell accusedRepublican primary candidateHerman Cain of not participating in protests during the 1960scivil rights movement and of avoiding the draft during the Vietnam War.The Atlantic'sConor Friedersdorf called O’Donnell’s questions during the interview "offensive", adding, "In this interview, O'Donnell goes to absurd lengths to usepatriotism andjingoism as cudgels to attack his conservative guest, almost as if he is doing a Stephen Colbert-style parody of the tactics he imagines a right-wing blowhard might employ. Does he realize he's becoming what he claims to abhor?".[33] O'Donnell's interview with Cain was later defended byReverendAl Sharpton.[34]
On August 27, 2019, O'Donnell reported thatDeutsche Bank documents showedRussian oligarchs had cosigned loan applications for Trump. O'Donnell based this report on a single source that he did not identify, although he used the qualifier "if true," and acknowledged that it had not been verified by NBC News.[35] The next day, O'Donnell retracted the report, referring to his reporting of it as an "error in judgment."[36]
In a 2005 interview, O'Donnell called himself a "practicalEuropean socialist."[3] O'Donnell also declared himself a "socialist" on the November 6, 2010,Morning Joe show, stating: "I am not a progressive. I am not a liberal who is so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to 'progressive'. Liberals amuse me. I am a socialist. I live to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals."[37] On the August 1, 2011, episode ofThe Last Word, O'Donnell further explained: "I have been calling myself a socialist ever since I first read the definition of socialism in the first economics class I took in college".[38]
In 2010, O'Donnell made a trip toMalawi with the intent of providing schoolroom desks for female children, who had never seen desks.[39] MSNBC andUNICEF partnered to create the K.I.N.D. Fund—Kids in Need of Desks—with a mission to deliver desks to Malawian schools.[39] As of 2023, the K.I.N.D. Fund had raised $40 million for desks and scholarships to support the education of Malawian schoolgirls.[39] Since its inception, the K.I.N.D. Fund has supplied 330,000 desks for 1.1 million students and scholarships for 27,600 girls.[39]
On February 14, 1994, Lawrence O'Donnell marriedKathryn Harrold. The couple has one child, Elizabeth Buckley Harrold O'Donnell.[40] O'Donnell and Harrold divorced in 2013.[41][42]
In April 2014, he and his brother Michael were injured in a traffic accident while vacationing in theBritish Virgin Islands.[43][44] O'Donnell returned to his MSNBC showThe Last Word in June after two months of recuperation.[43]
He was awarded thehonorary degree ofDoctor of Humane Letters (DHL) bySuffolk University in 2001.[45]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | An Unreasonable Man | Himself | Documentary |
| 2008 | Swing Vote | ||
| 2012 | The Campaign | ||
| 2012 | Game Change | Uncredited | |
| 2013 | Olympus Has Fallen | ||
| 2016 | London Has Fallen | Uncredited | |
| 2018 | Up to Snuff | Documentary |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | The West Wing | Dr. Bartlet | Episode: "Two Cathedrals"; also wrote 16 episodes |
| 2003 | The Practice | Judge Franklin Brown | Episode: "Goodbye" |
| 2003 | The Lyon's Den | Judge Calloway | Episode: "Privileged" |
| 2005 | Mrs. Harris | Judge Leggett | Television film |
| 2006, 2008 | Monk | Judge Lawrence Barr | 2 episodes |
| 2006–2011 | Big Love | Lee Hatcher | 11 episodes |
| 2011 | Homeland | Himself | Episode: "Clean Skin" |
| 2012 | Damages | The Last Word Host | Episode: "I Love You, Mommy" |
| 2012 | Chasing the Hill | Gov. Jack Ross | Episode: "The Enchanted Life of Samantha Clemons" |
| 2013 | Franklin & Bash | Judge Paul W. Redford | Episode: "Gone in a Flash" |
| 2013 | True Blood | Himself | Episode: "Radioactive" |
| 2013 | The Neighbors | Episode: "Close Encounters of the Bird Kind" | |
| 2015 | The Jim Gaffigan Show | Episode: "The Bible Story" | |
| 2017 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Episode: "Foisted!" | |
| 2018 | I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman | Episode: "Steve Schmidt" | |
| 2018 | The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth | Episode: "War and Peace" | |
| 2018 | House of Cards | Episode: "Chapter 70" | |
| 2018 | Murphy Brown | Episode: "Happy New Year" | |
| 2019 | The Simpsons | Episode: "Mad About the Toy" | |
| 2023 | The Other Two | Episode: "Brooke & Cary & Curtis & Lance" |
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