Lawrence O'Donnell Jr.
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Lawrence O'Donnell Jr., born in November 7, 1951, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, is a producer, writer, and actor who plays the role of Lawrence O'Donnell on the HBO original series True Blood.
Career[]
Author[]
From 1977 to 1988, O'Donnell was a writer. In 1983, he published the book Deadly Force, about a case of wrongful death and police brutality in which O'Donnell's father was the plaintiff's lawyer. In 1986, the book was made into the film A Case of Deadly Force, in which Richard Crenna played O'Donnell's father and Tate Donovan played O'Donnell, and for which O'Donnell was associate producer. In 2017, O'Donnell published the book Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics.
U.S. Congress[edit][]
From 1989 to 1995, O'Donnell was a legislative aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. From 1989 to 1991, he served as senior advisor to Moynihan. From 1992 to 1993, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, then chaired by Senator Moynihan, and from 1993 to 1995 he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, again under Senator Moynihan's chairmanship.
Television[]
Writing and production[]
From 1999 to 2006, O'Donnell was associated with the television drama The West Wing. During that time, he wrote 16 episodes. From 1999 to 2000, he was executive story editor for 12 episodes; in 2000, he was co-producer of five episodes; from 2000 to 2001, he was producer of 17 episodes; from 2003 to 2005, he was consulting producer for 44 episodes; and, from 2005 to 2006, he was executive producer for 22 episodes. O'Donnell won the 2001 Emmy award for Outstanding Drama Series for The West Wing and was nominated for the 2006 Emmy for the same category.
In 2002, O'Donnell was supervising producer and writer for the television drama First Monday; and, in 2003, he was creator, executive producer, and writer for the television drama Mister Sterling.
Contributor and host[]
In 2009, O'Donnell became a regular contributor on Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough. His aggressive debate style on that program and others led to several on-air confrontations, including an interview with conservative Marc Thiessen on Morning Joe that became so heated that Scarborough took O'Donnell off the air.[citation needed] Also in 2009 and 2010, O'Donnell began appearing frequently as a substitute host of Countdown 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, called The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. 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. Beginning October 24, 2011, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell switched time slots with The Ed Show, with Ed Schultz taking over the 8 p.m. Eastern slot, and O'Donnell returning to the 10 p.m. Eastern slot.
Acting[]
O'Donnell played Lee Hatcher, the Henrickson family attorney, in the HBO series Big Love, about a polygamous family in Utah. In addition to being a producer on The West Wing, O'Donnell also played President Josiah Bartlet's father in a flashback sequence of the episode "Two Cathedrals". O'Donnell portrayed Judge Lawrence Barr in two episodes of Monk and played himself on an episode of Showtime's Homeland.