Quick Facts
Biography
Michael Peter Moran (February 8, 1944 – February 4, 2004) was an American actor and playwright.
Life and career
Moran was born in Yuba City, California, but his family moved frequently because his father was a United States Army officer. While his family was living in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, he graduated from Passaic Valley Regional High School in Little Falls. While he was a student there, he designed and supervised construction of an elaborate set for a benefit production of Robert Merrill's musical Take Me Along. He gained some of his first experience under Gilbert Rathbun in the theater program at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. - though he was not a student there - and at the Theater on the Mall in Paramus, where he worked with director Robert Ludlum, who had not yet launched his career as a novelist. Moran's roles at Seton Hall included Sir Toby Belch in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and "Mortimer, the Man Who Dies" in The Fantasticks by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones. Moran moved to the Lower East Side of New York City in 1966 and was educated at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He became a member of the theatre groups the Manhattan Project and the Cooper-Keaton Group. Both groups produced plays written by Moran, including Call Me Charlie, starring Danny DeVito. He also appeared in several productions for the New York Shakespeare Festival. In 2003, he portrayed Fred "Pap" Rose in the musical "Lost Highway" by Randal Myler and Mike Harelik, based on the life of Hank Williams. The show played to a positive critical response at the Manhattan Ensemble Theatre in Soho and then at the Little Shubert Theatre in Midtown.
Moran died at the age of 59, in a New York hospital, from Guillain–Barré syndrome. He was four days short of his 60th birthday.
Filmography
Film
- Squeeze Play! (1979) - Bozo
- Knightriders (1981) - Cook
- The Survivors (1983) - Gun Salesman
- Scarface (1983) - Nick The Pig
- Marie (1985) - Bill Thompson
- Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986) - Flea Market Chicken Seller
- Physical Evidence (1989) - Tony Reugger
- Lean on Me (1989) - Mr. O'Malley
- Fletch Lives (1989) - Morgue Attendant
- Ghostbusters II (1989) - Frank, the Doorman
- State of Grace (1990) - Bartender
- Loser (1991) - Heavy Lawyer
- Age Isn't Everything (1991)
- The Turning (1992) - Jim McCutcheon
- Carlito's Way (1993) - Party Guest
- The Paper (1994) - Chuck
- Radioland Murders (1994) - Cop #9
- Mother Night (1996) - Violent Man
- Sleepers (1996) - Judge #1
- A Perfect Murder (1998) - Bobby Fain
- Harvest (1998) - Henry Upton
- Just the Ticket (1999) - Fat Max
- The Eden Myth (1999) - Dan Morgan
- Prince of Central Park (2000) - Security Guard
- City by the Sea (2002) - Herb
- Undermind (2003) - Grady
- Little Kings (2003) - Fr. Connolly (final film role)
Television
- H.E.L.P. (1990) - Captain Cragie
- Mathnet (1992) - Long John Silverplate
- Square One TV (1992) - Long John Silverplate / Lou
- Matlock (1994) - Vic
- Microsoft Windows 95 Video Guide (1995) - Boris
- The Cosby Mysteries (1995)
- Deadline (2000-2001)
- The Big Heist (2001) - Louis the Whale
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) - Mr. De Santis
- Law & Order (1991-2002) - Shannon Forsythe / Probation Officer / Judge Horace Barclay / Liotta / Limo Driver
- NYPD Blue (2002) - Hot Dog Vendor