Dan Lauria

Daniel Joseph Lauria (born April 12, 1947) is an American actor, who played the role of Jack Arnold in ''The Wonder Years'' (1988–1993), Jack Sullivan on '' Sullivan and Son'' (2012–2014), and Al Luongo on '' Pitch'' (2016–2017).

Early life

Lauria, an Italian-American, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Carmela () and Joseph J. Lauria. He also lived in Lindenhurst, New York. He graduated from Lindenhurst Senior High School in 1965 as a varsity football player, and he briefly taught physical education at Lindenhurst High School. He graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in 1970. A Vietnam War veteran, Lauria served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1970-1973; he served at the same point in his life that Jack Arnold, his character in ''The Wonder Years'', did during the Korean War. In Vietnam, he served as a platoon commander at An Loc near the Cambodian border. He got his start in acting while attending Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut, on a football scholarship.

Career

Lauria's early appearances included roles in episodes of ''Scarecrow and Mrs. King'', ''Hunter'', ''Growing Pains'', ''L.A. Law'' and '' Cagney & Lacey'', as well as the films '' Stakeout'' (1987) and '' Another Stakeout'' (1993).

Lauria is best known for his portrayal of Jack Arnold, the stern, but loving, money-conscious father on the TV series ''The Wonder Years'', which ran from 1988 to 1993. He also played Commanding Officer, USA in 1996's ''Independence Day'' and NASA Administrator James Webb in the 1998 TV miniseries ''From the Earth to the Moon''. He has also appeared in a 1997 episode of ''Boy Meets World'', starring Ben Savage, the younger brother of Fred Savage, Lauria's on-screen son in ''The Wonder Years''. He appeared as Coach Hamstrung in ''The Three Stooges N.Y.U.K.'' on AMC in 2000. More recently he has appeared as Police Commissioner Eustace Dolan in '' The Spirit'' (2008).

Lauria appeared on stage in New York in the summer of 2006 in an off-Broadway production of ''A Stone Carver'' by William Mastrosimone with Jim Iorio and Elizabeth Rossa. He also had a small role in a season two episode of ''Army Wives'', as well as a season one episode of ''The Mentalist''. In 2009, Lauria has appeared as General Lee Whitworth, M.D. in ''Criminal Minds'' season 4. In late 2009, Lauria returned to the off-Broadway stage, appearing as Jimmy Hoffa in Brian Lee Franklin's ''Good Bobby'', a fictionalized account of Robert F. Kennedy's rise.

In 2010, Lauria appeared as Vince Lombardi in the Broadway play '' Lombardi''. The play received positive reviews, with sportswriter Jim Hague commenting, "Lauria truly becomes Vince Lombardi. You almost forget you're watching an actor. He's Lombardi through and through, down to the wire-framed glasses and intimidating scowl." North Bergen football coach Vince Ascolese, who met Lombardi, commented "I really felt like he was Lombardi. It was uncanny." Lauria's portrayal of Lombardi was used during the NFL on FOX introduction to Super Bowl XLV, where one of the two participating teams was the Green Bay Packers; the team Lombardi coached to victories in the first two Super Bowls in 1967 and 1968. The Packers went on to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in that game.

In 2012, Lauria played the part of Jean Shepherd in the Broadway production of '' A Christmas Story: The Musical'', a role which he reprised off-Broadway at Madison Square Garden in 2013. From 2012 through 2014, he played Jack Sullivan on the Steve Byrne sitcom '' Sullivan & Son''. From 2016 through 2017, he played Al Luongo on the drama series '' Pitch''. In 2021, Lauria starred as a right-wing conspiracy theorist who marries a Russian mail-order bride in Wes Hurley's autobiographical dramedy '' Potato Dreams of America''. In 2024, he played Tip O'Neill in the Ronald Reagan biopic film '' Reagan''.

Lauria served one year as a Department of Veterans Affairs celebrity hospital visitor, during which he toured many VA hospitals, meeting patients.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauria, Dan
1947 births
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
Living people
American male film actors
American male television actors
American people of Italian descent
Male actors from Brooklyn
Military personnel from New York City
Military personnel from New York (state)
People from Lindenhurst, New York
United States Marine Corps officers
United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War