| Lawrence O'Donnell | |
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O'Donnell at the 2009 premiere of Polliwood |
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| Born | November 7, 1951 Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| Education | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Political analyst |
| Family | Father: Lawrence Francis O'Donnell, Sr., Mother: Frances Marie Buckley |
| Spouse(s) | Kathryn Harrold |
| Children | Daughter: Elizabeth Buckley Harrold O'Donnell |
| Ethnicity | Irish American |
| Notable credit(s) | Politics: The McLaughlin Group, Morning Joe Acting: Big Love and The West Wing |
Lawrence Francis O'Donnell, Jr. (born November 7,[1] 1951) is an American political analyst, journalist, actor, producer, writer, and host of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, a weeknight MSNBC opinion and news program that formerly aired at 10 p.m. Eastern, but moved to the 8 p.m. slot, replacing Keith Olbermann's Countdown in late January 2011.[2] He frequently filled in as host of Countdown before getting his own show on the cable network. On 19 October, 2011, it was announced that beginning 24 October, 2011, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell would be switching 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.[3]
O'Donnell has also appeared as a political analyst on The McLaughlin Group, The Al Franken Show, and Countdown. He was an Emmy Award-winning producer and writer for the NBC series The West Wing and creator and executive producer of the NBC series Mister Sterling. He is also an occasional actor, appearing as a recurring supporting character on the HBO series Big Love, portraying an attorney. He began his career as an aide to U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and was Staff Director for the Senate Finance Committee.
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O'Donnell was born in Boston on November 7, 1951; the son of Frances Marie (née Buckley), an office manager, and Lawrence Francis O'Donnell, Sr., an attorney.[1] He attended St. Sebastian's School '70, where he was captain of his baseball team, and graduated from Harvard College in 1976.[4] While at Harvard, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon and was popular among its members due to his wit and sarcasm.[5] In 1994, O'Donnell married television and movie actress Kathryn Harrold, best known for playing movie legend Lauren Bacall in the 1980 made-for-TV movie Bogie. O'Donnell and Harrold have a daughter, Elizabeth Buckley Harrold O'Donnell.[6]
From 1977 to 1988, O’Donnell was a writer.[4] 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.[7] 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.[8]
From 1989 to 1995, he was a key legislative aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.[4] 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 then from 1993 to 1995, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, once again under Senator Moynihan’s chairmanship. He thus led the staff of the Senate's tax-writing committee during the consideration of President Bill Clinton's first budget, which Congress enacted in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.
From 1999 to 2006, O’Donnell was associated with the television drama The West Wing. Over 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 5 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.[9] 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.[10]
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.[9]
In 2009, O'Donnell became a regular contributor on Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough. His aggressive debate style on that program and others has led to several notable on-air confrontations, one of the most notable being an interview with Marc Thiessen on Morning Joe that became so heated that Scarborough took O'Donnell off the air.[11][12][13]
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.
On September 27, 2010, O'Donnell began hosting a 10 p.m. show on MSNBC, called The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.[14][15]
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.[2]
In October 2004, O'Donnell got into a heated debate on Scarborough Country with John O'Neill, spokesman for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, over the allegations O'Neill made against John Kerry in his book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out against John Kerry.[16] In the debate, O'Donnell repeatedly and boisterously accused O'Neill of lying. Guest host Pat Buchanan tried to constrain O'Donnell with little success, and O'Neill at one point responded, "I will [provide evidence] if you'll shut up, Larry."[17]
Before showing a taped interview with RNC Chairman Michael Steele, O'Donnell caused controversy over his intro to the interview which was considered racially insensitive. He said, "Michael Steele is dancing as fast as he can, trying to charm independent voters and Tea Partiers while never losing sight of his real master and paycheck provider, the Republican National Committee". After drawing criticism from Steele and talk-radio host Larry Elder, O'Donnell apologized for his remarks.[18][19][20]
O'Donnell also drew criticism during an interview with congressman Ron Paul, when Paul accused him of breaking an agreement to not ask him about other political candidates.[21] O'Donnell said he was not part of any agreement, but an MSNBC spokeswoman stated, "We told Rep. Paul’s office that the focus would be on the tea party movement, not on specific candidates".[22]
During an October 2011 interview, O'Donnell accused Republican primary candidate Herman Cain of sitting on the sidelines during the civil rights protests of the 1960s and also charged him with avoiding the draft during the Vietnam War. Erick Erickson (a conservative blogger) called it "Perhaps the most detestable media character assassination I have seen in a very long time." Conor Friedersdorf said the questions posed by O'Donnell were "offensive" and declared, "In this interview, O'Donnell goes to absurd lengths to use patriotism and jingoism as cudgels to attack his conservative guest, almost as if he is doing a Stephen Colbert style parody of the tactics he imagines a right-wing blowhard might employ. Does he realize he's becoming what he claims to abhor?"[23] O'Donnell's interview with Cain was later defended by Reverend Al Sharpton [24]
O'Donnell calls himself a "practical European socialist" in a Newsmaker Interview dated November 11, 2005.[25] On November 6, 2010, O'Donnell re-declared himself a socialist on the Morning Joe show. The MSNBC host stated, "[U]nlike you, I am not a progressive. I am not a liberal who is so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to progressive. Liberals amuse me. I am a socialist. I live to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals." [26] On the 1 August 2011 episode of The Last Word, O'Donnell further explained, "I have been calling myself a socialist ever since I first read the definition of socialism in the first economics class I took in college." O'Donnell went on to state that what he means by calling himself a socialist is
Not that we choose the socialist option every time but we do consider socialism a reasonable option under certain circumstances; in fact, under many circumstances. As any introductory economics course can tell you, there is no capitalist economy anywhere in the world, and there is no socialist economy anywhere in the world, not even Cuba. We are all mixed economies; that is, mixes of capitalism and socialism, and we all vary that mix in different ways. China has more capitalism, and a lot more capitalism, than has Cuba, but it also has a lot more socialism than we [the United States] do. Our socialist programs include the biggest government spending programs: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, as well as welfare, and the socialist program I hate the most, agriculture subsidies. Yes, I'm a socialist, but I hate bad socialism, and there is plenty of bad socialism out there, just like there is plenty of bad capitalism out there, like the capitalism that pollutes our rivers or makes health care too expensive for so many people. I can argue this because every side of this is true: capitalism is good, capitalism is bad; socialism is good, socialism is bad; all of those things are true at the same time. That's why we have a mixed economy, an economy in which we are trying to use the best, most efficient forms of capitalism, and the best, most efficient forms of socialism, where necessary. So my full truth is I am as much a capitalist as I am a socialist; but since we live in the only mature country in the world where "socialist" is considered such a dirty word that no one would dare admit to being one, I feel more compelled to stand up for the socialist side of me than the capitalist side of me.[27]
O'Donnell plays 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".
He also portrayed Judge Lawrence Barr in two episodes of Monk. He played himself on a few episodes of Showtime's Homeland.
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