Len Cariou - wikipedia Len Cariou Len Cariou Cariou at the 2014 PaleyFest Leonard Joseph Cariou ( 1939 - 09 - 30 ) September 30, 1939 ( age 79 ) St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada Occupation Actor Leonard Joseph `` Len '' Cariou ( born September 30, 1939 ) is a Canadian actor, 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. Contents 1 Early years 2 Career 2.1 Broadway 2.2 Regional theatre 2.3 Television 2.4 Film 2.5 Awards 3 References 4 External links Early years Born in St. Boniface, today a city ward of Winnipeg, later moving to East Kildonan, Manitoba, Cariou is the son of Molly Estelle ( née Moore ) and George Marius Cariou, a salesman. His father was Breton and his mother was of Irish descent. 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. Career 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. 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 and King Lear. He was also an associate director. Broadway 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 repeated 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. 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 Do n't Call Back on Broadway as well. His off - Broadway appearances include Master Class, Papa ( 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 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. 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 From 1985 to 1992, Cariou was seen on multiple episodes of the popular television mystery series, Murder, She Wrote opposite his good friend and former Sweeney Todd co-star Angela Lansbury. Cariou portrayed the recurring character of Michael Hagerty. Hagerty was 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 made - for - TV movie Miracle on Interstate 880. He played Buck Helm. 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 her deceased father, Admiral Janeway. In 2010, Cariou appeared as Madoff - like Ponzi scheme man Louis Tobin in FX 's 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 Showtime series Brotherhood. He currently appears as Henry Reagan, the former NYC police commissioner and patriarch of the current commissioner 's family, on Blue Bloods. Film Cariou in September 2009 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. 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 with 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. 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 2004, he was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame. 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. He also starred in the short play Happy Birthday, Mr. Abernathy by Lloyd Suh for a public radio show and podcast, Playing On Air. Awards In 2004, Cariou was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. 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. References Jump up ^ `` Len Cariou Biography ( 1939 - ) ''. Film Reference.com. Retrieved 6 September 2016. Jump up ^ `` Frost / Nixon star reveals hot - blooded past ''. Toronto Star. October 4, 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2016. Jump up ^ Len Cariou Biography - Yahoo ! Movies Jump up ^ Lepage, Mark ( December 7, 2010 ). `` Winnipeg 's Cariou takes pride in Manitoba Theatre Centre roots ''. Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2016 - 11 - 23. Jump up ^ `` Celebrity Reading Of ' A Christmas Carol ' '', The New York Times, November 23, 1985. Jump up ^ PlayingOnAir ( 2014 - 12 - 08 ). `` Len Cariou ''. Playing On Air. Archived from the original on 2016 - 08 - 08. Retrieved 2016 - 08 - 04. Jump up ^ `` Page not found -- Playing On Air ''. Retrieved 2016 - 08 - 04. Jump up ^ Rawson, Christopher ( January 25, 2005 ). `` Stage veterans receive praise at induction ''. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved January 2, 2018. External links Len Cariou at the Internet Broadway Database Len Cariou on IMDb Len Cariou at the Internet Off - Broadway Database Awards for Len Cariou Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television award winners for Best Actor Canadian Film Award 1968 -- 1978 Gerard Parkes ( 1968 ) Chris Wiggins ( 1969 ) Doug McGrath and Paul Bradley ( 1970 ) Jean Duceppe ( 1971 ) Gordon Pinsent ( 1972 ) Jacques Godin ( 1973 ) no award ( 1974 ) Stuart Gillard ( 1975 ) André Melançon ( 1976 ) Len Cariou ( 1977 ) Richard Gabourie ( 1978 ) Genie Award 1980 -- 2011 Christopher Plummer ( 1980 ) Thomas Peacocke ( 1981 ) Nick Mancuso ( 1982 ) Donald Sutherland ( 1983 ) Eric Fryer ( 1984 ) Gabriel Arcand ( 1985 ) John Wildman ( 1986 ) Gordon Pinsent ( 1987 ) Roger Lebel ( 1988 ) Jeremy Irons ( 1989 ) Lothaire Bluteau ( 1990 ) Rémy Girard ( 1991 ) Tony Nardi ( 1992 ) Tom McCamus ( 1993 ) Maury Chaykin ( 1994 ) David La Haye ( 1995 ) William Hutt ( 1996 ) Ian Holm ( 1997 ) Roshan Seth ( 1998 ) Bob Hoskins ( 1999 ) Tony Nardi ( 2000 ) Brendan Fletcher ( 2001 ) Luc Picard ( 2002 ) Rémy Girard ( 2003 ) Roy Dupuis ( 2004 ) Michel Côté ( 2005 ) Roy Dupuis ( 2006 ) Gordon Pinsent ( 2007 ) Natar Ungalaaq ( 2008 ) Joshua Jackson ( 2009 ) Paul Giamatti ( 2010 ) Mohamed Fellag ( 2011 ) Canadian Screen Award 2012 -- present James Cromwell ( 2012 ) Gabriel Arcand ( 2013 ) Antoine - Olivier Pilon ( 2014 ) Jacob Tremblay ( 2015 ) Stephan James ( 2016 ) Nabil Rajo ( 2017 ) Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical John Cullum ( 1975 ) Ian Richardson ( 1976 ) Lenny Baker ( 1977 ) Ken Page ( 1978 ) Len Cariou ( 1979 ) Jim Dale ( 1980 ) Kevin Kline ( 1981 ) George Hearn ( 1984 ) Ron Richardson ( 1985 ) George Rose ( 1986 ) Robert Lindsay ( 1987 ) Michael Crawford ( 1988 ) Jason Alexander ( 1989 ) James Naughton ( 1990 ) Jonathan Pryce ( 1991 ) Gregory Hines / Nathan Lane ( 1992 ) Brent Carver ( 1993 ) Boyd Gaines ( 1994 ) Vernel Bagneris ( 1995 ) Nathan Lane ( 1996 ) Robert Cuccioli ( 1997 ) Alan Cumming ( 1998 ) Brent Carver ( 1999 ) Brian Stokes Mitchell ( 2000 ) Nathan Lane ( 2001 ) John Lithgow ( 2002 ) Antonio Banderas / Harvey Fierstein ( 2003 ) Hugh Jackman ( 2004 ) Norbert Leo Butz ( 2005 ) John Lloyd Young ( 2006 ) Raúl Esparza ( 2007 ) Paulo Szot ( 2008 ) Brian d'Arcy James ( 2009 ) Douglas Hodge ( 2010 ) Norbert Leo Butz ( 2011 ) Danny Burstein ( 2012 ) Billy Porter ( 2013 ) Neil Patrick Harris / Jefferson Mays ( 2014 ) Robert Fairchild ( 2015 ) Danny Burstein ( 2016 ) Andy Karl ( 2017 ) Ethan Slater ( 2018 ) Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Paul Hartman ( 1948 ) Ray Bolger ( 1949 ) Ezio Pinza ( 1950 ) Robert Alda ( 1951 ) Phil Silvers ( 1952 ) Thomas Mitchell ( 1953 ) Alfred Drake ( 1954 ) Walter Slezak ( 1955 ) Ray Walston ( 1956 ) Rex Harrison ( 1957 ) Robert Preston ( 1958 ) Richard Kiley ( 1959 ) Jackie Gleason ( 1960 ) Richard Burton ( 1961 ) Robert Morse ( 1962 ) Zero Mostel ( 1963 ) Bert Lahr ( 1964 ) Zero Mostel ( 1965 ) Richard Kiley ( 1966 ) Robert Preston ( 1967 ) Robert Goulet ( 1968 ) Jerry Orbach ( 1969 ) Cleavon Little ( 1970 ) Hal Linden ( 1971 ) Phil Silvers ( 1972 ) Ben Vereen ( 1973 ) Christopher Plummer ( 1974 ) John Cullum ( 1975 ) George Rose ( 1976 ) Barry Bostwick ( 1977 ) John Cullum ( 1978 ) Len Cariou ( 1979 ) Jim Dale ( 1980 ) Kevin Kline ( 1981 ) Ben Harney ( 1982 ) Tommy Tune ( 1983 ) George Hearn ( 1984 ) No Award ( 1985 ) George Rose ( 1986 ) Robert Lindsay ( 1987 ) Michael Crawford ( 1988 ) Jason Alexander ( 1989 ) James Naughton ( 1990 ) Jonathan Pryce ( 1991 ) Gregory Hines ( 1992 ) Brent Carver ( 1993 ) Boyd Gaines ( 1994 ) Matthew Broderick ( 1995 ) Nathan Lane ( 1996 ) James Naughton ( 1997 ) Alan Cumming ( 1998 ) Martin Short ( 1999 ) Brian Stokes Mitchell ( 2000 ) Nathan Lane ( 2001 ) John Lithgow ( 2002 ) Harvey Fierstein ( 2003 ) Hugh Jackman ( 2004 ) Norbert Leo Butz ( 2005 ) John Lloyd Young ( 2006 ) David Hyde Pierce ( 2007 ) Paulo Szot ( 2008 ) David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish ( 2009 ) Douglas Hodge ( 2010 ) Norbert Leo Butz ( 2011 ) Steve Kazee ( 2012 ) Billy Porter ( 2013 ) Neil Patrick Harris ( 2014 ) Michael Cerveris ( 2015 ) Leslie Odom Jr. ( 2016 ) Ben Platt ( 2017 ) Tony Shalhoub ( 2018 ) WorldCat Identities BNF : cb14013947s ( data ) GND : 135171210 ISNI : 0000 0001 1493 1146 LCCN : n85386952 MusicBrainz : 5c7a9c69 - a7ba - 4778 - a096 - e80f9e10e9a5 SNAC : w6xk9fs5 SUDOC : 187508402 VIAF : 69127331 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Len_Cariou&oldid=860029301 '' Categories : 1939 births Living people American Theater Hall of Fame inductees Canadian male film actors Canadian male singers Canadian male musical theatre actors Canadian male television actors Drama Desk Award winners Major League Baseball broadcasters Members of the Order of Manitoba Tony Award winners Male actors from Winnipeg Musicians from Winnipeg People from Saint Boniface, Winnipeg Canadian people of Breton descent 20th - century Canadian male actors 21st - century Canadian male actors Best Actor Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Hidden categories : All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from December 2017 Articles with permanently dead external links Articles with hCards Articles with IBDb links Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia تۆرکجه Català Deutsch فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Simple English Suomi Svenska 4 more Edit links This page was last edited on 17 September 2018, at 21 : 14 ( UTC ). 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Question: who is the actor that plays the grandfather on blue bloods
Answer: Leonard Joseph "Len" Cariou