Michael Moriarty is not
Ben Stone. He is an actor with an
alcohol
problem, and a person who is notoriously difficult to work with.
Failing relations with
Dick Wolf prompted Moriarty's departure from Television's
Law and Order (the two had a falling out over
Janet Reno's TV
violence initiatives). Fearing a Communist takeover of the US
Government
1, Moriarty fled from the US to
Canada, first to
Toronto,
then
Halifax, and then
Vancouver. An interesting
transmogrification
happened to Moriarty in Canada: he began a crusade against
Socialism.
His drinking has caused him trouble while living in Canada. One night in 1996,
carrying open liquor after leaving a bar in
Halifax he shouted at a
police officer, "
What are you looking at, you big black
******?" Moriarty and his female companion spent the night in
the
drunk tank, and Moriarty profusely apologized the next
day for his racist remarks.
In February 2001, a
Vancouver court stayed an
Assault charge
against Moriarty. While drunk, he assualted his
common law wife
and manager, Margaret Brychka. At a prior court proceeding he
represented himself, drunk. In an attempt to play on his past
popularity, he referred to his respect for the work done by the
Prosecuting Crown Attorney, as the "
Ben Stone" role.
Some choice quotes from Moriarty while living in Canada, and therefore
under the radar of the
American Media:
On warning of an impending Socialist takeover of America:
..the
common denominator of all genocidal killing machines in the 20th
Century has been some form of socialist government
He frequently compares himself to
Winston Churchill, e.g.
Some
may call me crazy. They certainly labeled Churchill that when he
warned them about the dictator of German socialism.
On considering running for
Mayor of
Calgary,
Alberta in 1999:
... whenever I get my citizenship I'm going to run for office.
In June 2001, Moriarty wrote an article for The
Globe and Mail, on
Timothy McVeigh, titled
McVeigh is why I came to Canada,
where he states
Because of Mr. Clinton's selfish and slanderous
exploitation of the Oklahoma City massacre, I decided to leave my
country... I would call Mr. McVeigh the world's first American Leftist
Suicide Bomber.
More strange information is available at:
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/2352/MM.html
1 - I am not making this up.