Background
Florek was born in Flat Rock, Michigan, the son of Darlene and Leonard Florek, Senior, a chiropractor.
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Dann Florek
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He attended Eastern Michigan University, but never graduated.
Career
He is best known for his role as Donald Cragen on National Broadcasting Company"s Law & Order and its spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He moved to New York City to pursue an acting career in the theatre. Florek worked his way into supporting roles in such diverse "80"s films as Sweet Liberty, Moon Over Parador and Angel Heart.
He also played Mr.
Slate in the live-action film version of The Flintstones. Florek played Dave Meyer, the husband of Susan Ruttan"s character, Roxanne Melman, on 22 episodes of National Broadcasting Company"s hit drama Los Angeles Law beginning in 1988. Florek also had a recurring role in the World Bank sitcom Smart Guy as the high school gym coach.
He also appeared in several episodes of Roseanne.
Law & Order
Starting in 1990, Florek co-starred in the National Broadcasting Company police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order as Captain Don Cragen. The first few years of Law & Order had mediocre ratings and finally after the close of the 1992-1993 season, National Broadcasting Company told creator/executive producer Dick Wolf that they would cancel the show unless he added a few women to the all-male cast.
Wolf reluctantly complied and fired Florek as well as Richard Brooks (who played Paul Robinette), replacing them with South. Epatha Merkerson and Jill Hennessy, respectively. However, Florek was allowed to direct a few Law & Order episodes in 1994 and 1995.
Florek reprised the role of Cragen in the 1995 episode "Bad Faith" (which he also directed), and in the 1998 television-movie Exiled, centered on former L&O star Chris Noth"s character, Mike Logan.
In 1999 he returned to the Cragen role, only this time on the Law & Order spin-off series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as the unit captain. Florek was written out of the series during its 15th season, and his final episode aired on January 15, 2014. He reprised his role in the 21st episode of season 16 in May 2015.
