Michael Moriarty: Fame Is Easier the Third Time Around

7/28/2019 Michael Moriarty: Fame Is Easier the Third Time Around

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ool have afriend, Gus," says Michael Moriarty, starofNBC's Laut & Order, one of this season's few hit TVshows and virtually its only critical success. ooHeruns a restaurant over on Ninth Avenue now; backthen he was working in a restaurant on Sixth Avenueand l2th Street, near where I lived. And he said tome, oMikey, when are you gonna win an AcademyAward?' I said, oWait a minute, I just won a TonyAward, I'm starring in Richard III at LincolnCenter. .'He said, 'Mikey, they know you in Man-hattan, but they don't know you in Queens.' MelTorm6 once referred to meo" Moriarty adds halfruefulll', ooas a Manhattan legend."Which is not a bad thing to be. And with Law &O rder - a grit ty, I it erat e revival of the Easr Si d.e I We stSide and The Defenders school of TV social real-ism - Moriarty, and costars Ceorge Dzun&a, ChrisNoth, Richard Brooks, Dan Florek, and StevenHill, act out tales of particularly New York interest."Torn from the headlines!" says Moriarty self-

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der, independently produced by WolfFilms and MCA/Universal Television,has been beating its main Tuesday-night rival, thirtysornething, in theratings, and the show has receivedcritical approval from the likes of theimperial Nen York Times and the pro-letarian Entertainment Weekly.Headed by executive producer DickWolf, the series has hit-show experi-ence behind it: WoHwas aMiamiViceproducer (1986-1988) and executivescript consultantfor Hill Street Blu.es.

In a deliberately harsh, washed-out light, the series intriguinglytraces the aftermath of a crime fromthe detailed drudgery ofDragnet-like detective workin the first half hour to the complicated and oftencompromising legal process in the second half hour.

Some may be surprised to learn that Moriarty alsohas a strong musical New York presence: He playsand sings jazz and cabaret-often his own.composi-tions-at places like the Ballroom and Michael'sPub. After a Michael's Pub performance in 1975,Rex Reed wrote, ool find myself speechless with rev-erence. . .The result is arpeggios so dazzling they'dgive Bud Powell cause for alarm.'o Last February,Moriarty released a jazz CD, Reaching Out, on hisown Evergrowth label, and is preparing a second.

Actorly intuition, meet actorly intellectualism.That balance, Moriarty softly suggests, has been along time coming-as has the sort of prominencecritics were predicting for him ever since the seven-ties, when one-two-three he won two Emmy Awardsfor The Glass Menagerie (1973), rookie-of-the-year

Hepbu rn. ooHe was o o' she offers,' ow ondetful in that."Yet even in the halcyon seventies, amid all the lei-

sure suits and glitterbandso Moriarty-tall, brood-ing, intense, an anti-hero actor in a leading man'sbody-seemed less a baby superstar than a perma-nent local hero.Moriarty-a quirky risk-taker when it comes tochoosing roles - never quite ascended the commer-cial pantheon. Shoot It: Black, Shoot It: Blue (1974),a racial drama in which he starred as a police officeron trial for killing a black mugger, got little if anytheatrical play, and went straight to HBO in the dayswhen the term "cable movieo'was an oxymoron. Re-port to the Commissioner (1976), about a rookie de-tective made a fall guy by older colleagues, was amuddle, with most critics singling Moriarty out forwhat seemed more like scolding than criticism.

More disappointing was the response to his risky,unorthodox performance in the title role of the New

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Michael Moriarty(coNrrNuro rnoru eece 30)

SovetnrNG oF A RENATSSANGE MAN,MoRIARTY HAs wRITTEN THREE OFF.BRoADWAY PLAYS AND coMPosEs JAZZ.

with a new round ofprofessional plau-dits coming from the likes of dramacoach Stella Adler, who in a rare bit ofpraise announced that "Michael Mo-riarty is one of the great actors of theWesternworld."

The film roles Moriarty did take-o'characters that were about the solu-tions, not the problems"-werelargely in European movies, and in

don't wanna have to trot out the samecharacter every time, be Dirty Harryevery time, or sweet, likable KevinCostner. Maybe Kevin Costner willwake up one day and say, 'I wanna playa bad guy.'Well, people aren't gonnalike that. They want that brand name.They don't want theirgraham crackerschanged, they don't want their BigMac sauce changed.


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MichaelMoriarty(conrrnueo nnou rece 54)

pital-and an l8-year-old son, Mat-thew, Moriarty seems as if he'd behappy with or without Ben Stone.

Even so, he does hope Ben Stonewill last the lengh of a five-year con-tract. "My idea with him,o' Moriarty


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TR lV|E POWUE OF PTER CORRIDORHE MAGAZIN THMichael Moriartywearg a woolcardigan by PaulSmith fromBergdorfGoodmmMen. Hair andmakeup: KimSherwood for PaulPastorella.Photographed forTRUMP'S byMark Ferri.

THE ORIGINALS/ 12They Do lt With Style, Substance, and CharacterThis month:

Kenneth Rendell: Man of Letters by Carlos A. RosasCapital Chef Will Greenwood by Paticia Gallagher

Aster Aweke: High Priestess of World Beat by Marion S. Jacobson

ON THE COVER/28On his third wave of fame, New York actor Michael Moriarty rideshigher than ever by Frank Louece

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Michael Moriarty: Fame Is Easier the Third Time Around

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