Film & TV / Music
Michael Moriarty
born 1941 · actor, jazz pianist, composer
Detroit-born, Emmy- and Tony-winning actor, the original prosecutor Ben Stone of Law & Order, who is also a jazz pianist and composer.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 85- Birth name
- Michael George Moriarty
- Detroit years
- 1941–1959
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Moriarty was born in Detroit into a family tied to the city's sporting history: his grandfather George Moriarty played third base for the Detroit Tigers and later managed the club. He attended middle school at Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills before transferring to the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, where he graduated in 1959. He went on to Dartmouth College and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, then built a stage and screen career that brought a Tony Award for Find Your Way Home (1974) and an Emmy and a Golden Globe for playing an SS officer in the miniseries Holocaust (1978). Television audiences know him best as Executive Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Stone in the first four seasons of Law & Order. Alongside acting he has worked as a jazz pianist and composer.
Highlights
- Tony Award for Find Your Way Home (1974)
- Emmy and Golden Globe for Holocaust (1978)
- Played Ben Stone on Law & Order (1990–1994)
- Grandson of Detroit Tigers player and manager George Moriarty
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1950s
Cranbrook School
Private school on the Cranbrook campus where he attended middle school.
Studied here · 1950s–1959
University of Detroit Jesuit High School
Jesuit boys' high school where he graduated in 1959.