Phyllis, The Facts of Life
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As with many distinguished character actors, John Lawlor’s face is far more recognizable than his name. But his patrician good looks and deep baritone voice have accentuated his turn in several memorable roles on film and television for nearly five decades. Owing to an intellect that mirrors his experience, Lawlor has also worked behind the camera as an assistant director on some classic films alongside a few of the industry’s most revered directors. Let’s find out more about this Hollywood mainstay who’s much more than just another face in the crowd!
Early Life
Born on June 5th, 1941, Johnathan H. Lawlor was raised by a single mother who worked as a teacher for special needs children. He spent most of adolescence in the picturesque city of Boulder, Colorado before enlisting in the United States Army in 1958. Having risen to the rank of corporal, Lawlor was honorably discharged in 1970 and then made his way out west to embark on a career in show business.
Within a few years, he made his professional debut as a guest star on the hit mystery TV series The Rockford Files (1975) opposite James Garner. Noted for the air of nobility and intelligence Lawlor cast on-screen, other guest starring roles quickly followed on notable shows such as the crime drama Ellery Queen (1975) and the action adventure series Black Sheep Squadron (1976) before making his feature film debut in the crime thriller Jackson County Jail (1976). Soon after, he would land the part that took him from the background to the foreground.
A Character Actor is Born
The extraordinary popularity of the CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show resulted in a number of spinoffs, Phyllis being one of them. Cloris Leachman played the titular role of Mary’s former landlord who, along with her daughter, returns to her hometown of San Francisco following the untimely death of her husband. The first season was a hit with audiences and critics alike, and the show got higher ratings than The Mary Tyler Moore Show. For the second season, Lawlor was cast as inept politician Leonard Marsh. The character gave him the opportunity to show off his comedic skills and proved to be a fan favorite, with Lawlor appearing in all of the season’s 24 episodes. But when life imitated art and the production was rocked by the deaths of two recurring cast members, CBS cancelled the show.
Lawlor then guest starred on seminal sitcoms like Alice (1977) and Barney Miller (1978) in advance of playing firm but folksy Headmaster Steven Bradley on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life (1979-1988). As the only male character on the show, Lawlor had instant chemistry with both the students and their housemother. While the show was a certified hit, the producers rewrote the show’s narrative to focus solely on the young women in an effort to make the program more timely. Lawlor’s character was subsequently written off the show.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Lawlor continued to appear in several groundbreaking TV shows that called upon his highly regarded comic timing such as Newhart (1984), Sledge Hammer! (1986), She’s the Sheriff (1987) and Mr. Belvedere (1989). Additionally, Lawlor showed the range of his dramatic gravitas on T.J. Hooker (1984), Simon & Simon (1984), Highway to Heaven (1985, 1987), L.A. Law (1993), and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1999). In between, he booked recurring roles on the long-running daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (1988) and the primetime soap opera Knot’s Landing (1992-1993), as well as playing Judge Spicer on the big screen in Lawrence Kasdan’s biographical western Wyatt Earp (1994).
Owing to his interest in filmmaking, Lawlor worked as an assistant director on two of the 80s highest-profile films, the John Boorman directed Arthurian epic Excalibur (1981) and the fantasy adventure Highlander (1986). He was also the assistant director on Neil Jordan’s directorial debut, the dramatic musical Angel (1982), and Mike Hodges’s crime drama A Prayer for the Dying (1987).
Most recently, Lawlor was seen on AMC’s drama Breaking Bad (2011), the TNT crime drama Longmire (2014) and in a recurring role on Netflix’s western series Godless (2017).
Personal Life
In 1986, Lawlor began dating Canadian actress and activist Tantoo Cardinal. The couple married in 1988 and a few years later, Cardinal gave birth to their only child, daughter Riel. Sadly, after 12 years of marriage, they divorced in 2000. Lawlor is also the father of daughters Annie and Elizabeth and sons Bryan and Eric from previous relationships.
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