Len Cariou
Len Cariou (born30 September1939; age 86) is a Canadian actor who played analien taking the appearance of AdmiralJaneway in theStar Trek: Voyagerthird season episode "Coda". He is known for his extensive work on Broadway, most notably his Tony Award-winning portrayal of Sweeney Todd in the musicalSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He is also known for his supporting roles in numerous feature films. He recently played the recurring role of Henry Reagan onCBS' police dramaBlue Bloods (along withSteven R. Schirripa).
Stage work[]
Early stage career[]
Cariou made his stage debut as part of the chorus in a Canadian production ofDamn Yankees in 1959. From 1962 through 1964, he performed in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, acting in such plays asThe Taming of the Shrew,Macbeth, andThe Tempest.
In 1966, he joined the Guthrie Theatre acting company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His fellowVoyager guest performerRon Glass andStar Trek: The Next Generation guest starsFran Bennett,Robin Gammell andEllen Geer were also members of the Guthrie company at that time. Cariou and Geer acted together in productions ofAs You Like It andThe Skin of Our Teeth, while Cariou worked with Bennett, Gammell, and Glass inThe House of Atreus. This production transferred to the Billy Rose Theatre in 1968, marking Cariou's first performance on Broadway.
In 1969, Cariou briefly joined the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut, performing in productions ofHenry V,Much Ado About Nothing, andThe Three Sisters. His production ofHenry V, which also featuredRobert Foxworth, ultimately transferred to Broadway, where it ran for sixteen performances. Cariou received his first Tony Award nomination as Best Actor in a Musical in 1970 for his portrayal of Bill Sampson inApplause, which co-starredRobert Mandan. Cariou also won Theatre World Awards for his performances in bothHenry V andApplause.
1971–1979[]
Cariou returned to the Guthrie Theatre in 1971, and continued performing there through 1974. Among the plays he acted in during this time wereCyrano de Bergerac,The Taming of the Shrew,Oedipus the King, andKing Lear. He also directed productions ofOf Mice and Men,The Petrified Forest, andThe Crucible, the latter of which featured Fran Bennett in the cast.
Cariou continued performing on Broadway throughout the 1970s, as well. In 1972, he acted alongsideKeene Curtis inNight Watch. The following year, he starred in theStephen Sondheim musicalA Little Night Music, for which he received his second Tony Award nomination as Best Actor in a Musical.
In 1979, Cariou originated the role of Sweeney Todd for the Stephen Sondheim musical thrillerSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. For his performance in this production, Cariou won the 1979 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, in addition to the 1979 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. One of his co-stars inSweeney Todd wasVictor Garber, who played the role of Anthony Hope, a sailor who saves befriends Todd and falls in love with his daughter, Johanna.Star Trek: The Next Generation guest starGeorge Hearn replaced Cariou in the role of Todd later in the year.
Later stage career[]
Cariou returned to Broadway in 1983 to star in the one-night performance of theAlan Jay Lerner musicalDance a Little Closer. Later that year, he performed off-Broadway inUp from Paradise at the Jewish Repertory Theatre. He then returned to Stratford, Ontorio, to perform in the 1984-1985 season of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. He then starred inTraveler in the Dark at the Mark Taper Theatre in Los Angeles, California, in which he acted alongsideDeborah May (who played his character's wife) andScott Grimes (who played his son).
From November 1987 through January 1988, Cariou starred as Teddy Roosevelt in the Broadway playTeddy & Alice. In 1989, he appeared at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, an off-Broadway venue, in Shakespeare'sMeasure for Measure, which also featuredPaul S. Eckstein. In 1991, Cariou reappeared on Broadway, starring inThe Speed of Darkness. He later starred as writer Ernest Hemingway in the one-man playPapa: The Legendary Lives of Ernest Hemingway, first in Florida and then off-Broadway.
Cariou has since performed on Broadway in the role of Andre in Neil Simon'sThe Dinner Party and as Robert in David Auburn'sProof. He also toured various US cities in a production ofCopenhagen withMariette Hartley in 2001. His other recent stage credits includeThe Persians in New York City andKismet in Los Angeles.
Film and television work[]
Films[]
Cariou made his film debut in the 1977 Canadian dramaOne Man, for which he won the penultimate Canadian Film Award for Best Performance by a Lead Actor. He made his US film debut later that year in the motion picture adaptation ofA Little Night Music, reprising his role from the Broadway play of the same name.
In 1981, Cariou had a supporting role inThe Four Seasons. This was followed with supporting roles inLady in White (1988),Getting In (1994), andNever Talk to Strangers (1995). The latter film also featured veteranStar Trek guest starTim Kelleher, who worked with Cariou in his next two feature films.
In 1996, Cariou played the Secretary of Defense inExecutive Decision. This film was directed byStuart Baird, who later directedStar Trek Nemesis. Baird also co-edited the film withNemesis editorDallas Puett, whileJerry Goldsmith was the film's composer. OtherStar Trek performers to appear inExecutive Decision with Cariou includeJoe Morton,Paul Collins,Ken Jenkins,Andreas Katsulas, Tim Kelleher,Warren Munson,Charles Hallahan,Richard Riehle,Eugene Roche andDey Young.
Cariou later portrayed real-life Secretary of State Dean Acheson in the 2000 dramaThirteen Days, which depicted the decision-making process which took place in the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The role of Cariou's character was to advise President John F. Kennedy, who in the film was played byStar Trek actorBruce Greenwood. Attorney General Robert Kennedy was played byStar Trek: Enterprise actorSteven Culp, whileJack Blessing,Kevin Conway,Charles Esten, Tim Kelleher,Boris Krutonog,Ed Lauter,Dakin Matthews andBill Smitrovich also had supporting roles.
Cariou's next film wasAbout Schmidt (2002, starringKathy Bates, withStar Trek: Enterprise performersHarry Groener andMatt Winston). Cariou next played the sheriff inSecret Window (2004, starring Johnny Depp). He then had a role inThe Greatest Game Ever Played (2005, featuringStar Trek: First Contact'sMarnie McPhail). That same year, Cariou co-starred withSally Kellerman andMichael Nouri inThe Boynton Beach Bereavement Club.
Cariou appeared inFlags of Our Fathers (2006), withGordon Clapp,David Clennon,Michael Cumpsty,Neal McDonough,Harve Presnell and George Hearn, who replaced Cariou inSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street twenty-seven years earlier. Cariou then played John Cusack's father in1408 (2007). The following year, he was seen inThe Onion Movie, which was actually filmed in 2003. Others who appeared in this film includeDaniel Dae Kim,Richard Fancy,Scott Klace,Randy Oglesby, andTom Wright.
Cariou was also seen inPrisoners (2013). The two supervising sound editors of this film,Bub Asman andAlan Robert Murray, had previously supervised the sound editing onStar Trek Nemesis.
Television[]
Episodic[]
Between 1985 and 1992, Cariou played the recurring role of Michael Hagerty onMurder, She Wrote, which starred hisSweeney Todd co-star Angela Lansbury. He appeared in seven episodes of the series, including an episode that also guest-starredTheodore Bikel andMitchell Ryan, both of whom also played the fathers of regularStar Trek characters. Other performers Cariou worked with on this series includeRichard Beymer,Louis Giambalvo,John Glover,Lenore Kasdorf,Brian McNamara,John Rhys-Davies andJoseph Ruskin. Two of Cariou's episodes were directed byVincent McEveety.
Cariou was nominated for a Gemini Award for his performance in Kurt Vonnegut'sMonkey House. He has also guest-starred on such series asGabriel's Fire (on whichMadge Sinclair was a regular),The Practice (withJoseph Campanella,John Cothran, Jr. andJeff Yagher),The Outer Limits (two episodes, one withChris Sarandon and another with Mitchell Ryan),CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (starringPaul Guilfoyle,Wallace Langham andLiz Vassey), andThe West Wing, (2000, starringMartin Sheen, withMichael Cavanaugh andBrigid Brannagh). In addition, Cariou appeared in three episodes ofLaw & Order between 1993 and 2008, the first of which featuredGeorge Coe andJosh Pais.
Besides his guest appearances, Cariou was also a regular onUPN'sSwift Justice. He also played the role of Alan in the original pilot forCBS'Numbers, but the pilot was reshot with Judd Hirsch in the role. The new pilot was picked up as a series, which is currently in its sixth season; the original pilot with Cariou was never aired. From 2006 through 2007, Cariou had a recurring role as Judd Fitzgerald onBrotherhood, on whichFionnula Flanagan was a regular.Scottie Thompson had a recurring role on this series, as well.
In early 2010 Cariou appeared as scammer Louis Tobin onDamages, working withMädchen Amick,Keith Carradine,Michael Nouri andTimothy Olyphant.
Cariouw as a regular on CBS'Blue Bloods (2010-24), playing retired NYPD Commissioner Henry Reagan, along with the semi-regular supporting actorSteven R. Schirripa.
TV movies and mini-series[]
Over the years, Cariou has acted in numerous made-for-TV movies, the first of which was the CBS dramaWho'll Save Our Children? in 1978. In 1981, he was seen inNBC'sMadame X, which co-starredRobert Hooks,Tony Plana andGranville Van Dusen.
In the 1985 movieSurviving, Cariou portrayed the father of a 17-year-old boy played by fellowVoyager guest starZach Galligan. This movie also featuredPaddi Edwards,Paul Sorvino andWilliam Windom. The following year, Cariou appeared in NBC'sKiller in the Mirror, along withParley Baer,Jeff O'Haco andBill Zuckert.
Throughout the 1990s, Cariou's TV movie credits includedMiracle on Interstate 880 (directed byRobert Iscove and co-starringRoger R. Cross andJohn Pyper-Ferguson),The Sea Wolf (1993, withClive Revill),Border Line (withJohn de Lancie,Mikael Salazar,Christopher Michael,Michelle C. Bonilla andJosh Cruze), andIn the Company of Spies (withClancy Brown andAlice Krige). In 2000, he appeared in the mini-seriesNuremberg, along withChristopher Plummer andRobert Joy. Cariou again worked with Robert Joy inSex Traffic (2004).
In 2009, Cariou was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his performance inInto the Storm asPresident of the United StatesFranklin D. Roosevelt.
2019 saw Cariou cast as Manhattan district attorney Robert Morgenthau inWhen They See Us (2019, co-starringFamke Janssen,Joshua Jackson andWilliam Sadler).
External links[]
- Len Cariou at theInternet Movie Database
- Len Cariou at theInternet Broadway Database
- Len Cariou at theNotable Names Database
- Len Cariou atWikipedia
- {{el|americantheatrewing.org/downstagecenter/detail/len_cariou|Len Cariou|americantheatrewing.org/downstagecenter|Downstage Center] XM radio interview by theAmerican Theatre Wing, February 2007