The late Fred Thompson was still a United States senator — a Republican representing Tennessee — when he joined the cast of Law & Order in 2002 at the start of the show's 13th season. After five seasons of playing District Attorney Arthur Branch, Thompson left the show at the end of season 17 in 2007.
As Law & Order 's no-nonsense, straight-shooting, district attorney, Arthur Branch, Fred Thompson was extremely believable as an authority figure and legal expert because he was both of those things in real life.
Fred Dalton Thompson was an actor who played District Attorney Arthur Branch in all four series from the Law & Order franchise. He was a regular cast member on Law & Order for five seasons.
(The longest-serving actor at the time was S. Epatha Merkerson, who started playing Lieutenant Anita Van Buren in season 4.) Many of the Law & Order stars left the show simply because they were ready for new projects, while other actors left because of behind-the-scenes issues.
On the morning of November 1, 2015, Thompson died at the age of 73 from a recurrence of his lymphoma.
In May 2007, Fred Thompson left the cast of Law & Order to run for the Republican Party's 2008 nomination for President. On the show, no reason is given for Branch's departure, and McCoy is chosen to serve out the remainder of his term.
He first appeared in the fourth season episode "Fallacy", and made his last appearance in the seventh season episode "Gone". He also appeared in the episode "In the Wee Small Hours (2)" from Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
LymphomaFred Dalton Thompson / Cause of deathLymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes. In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, drenching sweats, unintended weight loss, itching, and constantly feeling tired. Wikipedia
Jeri Kehn Thompsonm. 2002–2015Sarah Elizabeth Lindseym. 1959–1985Fred Dalton Thompson/Wife
November 6, 2015Fred Dalton Thompson / Date of burial
Anita Van Buren (1993–2010), Sam Waterston as EADA/DA Jack McCoy (1994–2010, 2022) and Jesse L. Martin as Det. Ed Green (1999–2008).
2010John James McCoy is a fictional character in the television drama Law & Order. He was created by Dick Wolf and Michael S. Chernuchin and has been portrayed by Sam Waterston during both the show's original run from 1994 to 2010 and since its return in 2022.
Law & Order1990 – 2010Law & Order: Trial by Jury2005 – 2006Matlock1986 – 1995Allegiance2015Looking for Comedy in the Muslim WorldFred Dalton Thompson/TV shows
November 1, 2015Fred Dalton Thompson / Date of death
6′ 6″Fred Dalton Thompson / Height
73 years (1942–2015)Fred Dalton Thompson / Age at death
In 1994, Thompson was elected to finish the remaining two years of Al Gore 's unexpired U.S. Senate term. During the 1994 campaign, Thompson's opponent was longtime Nashville Congressman Jim Cooper.
Thompson said that federalism was his " lodestar ", which provides "a basis for a proper analysis of most issues: 'Is this something government should be doing? If so, at what level of government?'"
The resulting film, Marie, was Thompson's first acting role and was released in 1985. Roger Donaldson then cast Thompson in the part of CIA director in the 1987 film No Way Out. He played the head of FBI special-agent training in the 1988 comedy Feds; in the trailer, the FBI disclaimed any connection with the film.
When he left the Senate, some of his political action committee 's fees went to the lobbying firm of one of his sons.
Thompson had an 86.1% lifetime (1995–2002) American Conservative Union vote rating, compared to 89.3 for Bill Frist and 82.3 for John McCain. Senator Susan Collins (R- Maine) characterized her colleague this way: "I believe that Fred is a fearless senator. By that I mean he was never afraid to cast a vote or take a stand, regardless of the political consequences." Thompson was "on the short end of a couple of 99–1 votes", voting against those who wanted to federalize matters that he believed were properly left to state and local officials.
In 1973, Thompson was appointed minority counsel to assist the Republican senators on the Senate Watergate Committee, a special committee convened by the U.S. Senate to investigate the Watergate scandal. Thompson was sometimes credited for supplying Republican Senator Howard Baker's famous question, "What did the President know, and when did he know it?" This question is said to have helped frame the hearings in a way that eventually led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon. The question remains popular and is often invoked by pundits commenting on political scandals.
In 1977, Thompson represented Marie Ragghianti, a former Tennessee Parole Board chair, who had been fired for refusing to release felons after they had bribed aides to Democratic Governor Ray Blanton to obtain clemency. With Thompson 's assistance, Ragghianti filed a wrongful termination suit against Blanton's office. During the trial, Thompson helped expose the cash-for-clemency scheme that eventually led to Blanton's removal from office. In July 1978, a jury awarded Ragghianti $38,000 ($139,165.09 in 2016 inflation rate) in back pay and ordered her reinstatement.
During the final months of his term in 2002 , Thompson went back into acting, joining Law & Order.
Law & Order and Law & Order SVU are by definition "police procedural" shows. This means each and every episode follows a tried and true formula in which detectives and lawyers carefully go through the process of investigating, solving, and prosecuting a crime. While that makes for extremely reliable television to the point that even a show about horrific murders can be comforting, it may get a little bit boring for the actors to do essentially the same thing with their character each week for years on end.
Oddly enough, Bratt hadn't yet started a family when he said he left Law & Order to be with his family, as he married actress Talisa Soto in 2002 , and they had their first kid together in 2003. In other words, Bratt's real reason for leaving the small screen probably had more to do with showing up on the big screen.
Like his co-star Fred Thompson, Law & Order cast member Michael Moriarty left a good role on the popular show for political reasons, although Moriarty's are much more complicated than a run for office. In 1993, U.S. attorney general Janet Reno sought to stop a trend of real-world crime she blamed on TV violence, and she spoke out in favor of legislation that would limit such graphic imagery on the small screen. Acting in good faith, Reno reached out to the TV industry for their input, and she met with Law & Order producer Dick Wolf, as well as Moriarty, who'd played quiet and upstanding District Attorney Benjamin Stone since the show's inception in 1990.
The reason for Meloni's departure from SVU, however, was a lot less personal and a lot more business-driven. According to TVLine, contract talks between the actor and producing studio NBC Universal fell apart in the spring of 2011.
With a novel format in which detectives investigate a crime in the first half of an episode that's prosecuted in the second half, Law & Order ran for 20 seasons and spawned six other police dramas, most notably the sensitive crimes-oriented Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, launched in 1999 and still going strong.
Among all the many men and women who shot to fame by playing a good guy cop or crusading district attorney on a Law & Order series, Chris Noth was the first. First introduced in the pilot episode, Noth portrayed the show's first junior detective, the tough and swaggery Mike Logan. Despite the success of the show and the popularity of Noth's character, Detective Logan was written out in 1995, forcibly transferred to a Staten Island unit after he punched a politician on trial for murder.
Several celebrities, including Elisabeth Rohm who worked with Thompson on “Law & Order,” Tim McGraw, Michael McKean and Lou Diamond Phillips have taken to social media to pay tribute to him. https://twitter.com/ElisabethRohm/status/660963532624662528.
Fred Thompson, ‘Law & Order’ Actor and Former Senator, Dies at 73. Fred Thompson, a former U.S. senator for Tennessee and actor who starred on “ Law & Order ” from 2002-2007, died Sunday of lymphoma in Nashville, his family said in a statement. He was 73.
Fact and fiction blurred in the narrative of Thompson’s life. A lawyer who was an investigator for the Republicans on the Senate Watergate Committee, he began his acting career late in life, playing authority figures, including two U.S. presidents, only to decide to enter politics and serve as a U.S. senator from Tennessee.
Fred Thompson, a former U.S. senator for Tennessee and actor who starred on “ Law & Order ” from 2002-2007, died Sunday of lymphoma in Nashville, his family said in a statement. He was 73.
(In 2007 the Washington Post reported, “Fred Thompson gained an image as a tough-minded investigative counsel for the Senate Watergate committee.
The 6-foot-6 Thompson attended Memphis State University on a basketball scholarship, before going to law school at Vanderbilt University. After his Watergate notoriety, he took on the case of an aide to Tennessee Gov. Ray Blanton, which led to a corruption investigation that sent the governor and other officials to jail.
With his imposing stature and deep voice, Fred Thompson, who played district attorney Arthur Branch on the long-running TV series Law & Order, was utterly believable as a tough-but-wise authority figure. But Thompson, who passed away Nov. 1 at age 73 in Nashville, didn’t just play a lawyer — he was one in real life.
In addition to playing more than 50 roles on TV and in movies, Thompson served as a Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee from 1994 to 2003, and unsuccessfully ran for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Famous People We’ve Lost in 2015 ».
But Thompson, who passed away Nov. 1 at age 73 in Nashville, didn’t just play a lawyer — he was one in real life. He first gained public attention as minority counsel for the Senate Watergate committee in 1973, when his questioning exposed a secret White House taping system. In addition to playing more than 50 roles on TV and in movies, ...
Many of the Law & Order stars left the show simply because they were ready for new projects, while other actors left because of behind-the-scenes issues. To quote the Law & Order intro voiceover, these are their stories...
Dann Florek and Richard Brooks were let go from Law & Order to make room for female characters. Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images, Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images. For the first three seasons of Law & Order, Dann Florek played Captain Donald Cragen and Richard Brooks played Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette.
In the plot, Kincaid dies in a car accident as she drives a drunk Lennie Briscoe home from a bar. In a 2006 interview with The Morning Call, Hennessy said the role of an ADA on Law & Order is "limited" since the characters are supposed to keep their personal feelings out of the job.
Benjamin Bratt left Law & Order to spend time with his family. Mike Logan's replacement was Detective Rey Curtis, who entered the Law & Order universe in season 6 and exited at the end of season 9 in 1999. In that season's finale, Curtis takes an early retirement to tend to help his wife manage her MS.
Farina also had a starring role in the HBO drama Luck. Farina died in 2013 at age 67 after suffering a blood clung in his lung, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Chris Noth from Law & Order was ready for a film career. Detective Mike Logan continued crime-solving until the end of Law & Order 's fifth season in 1995 , when actor Chris Noth took his leave of the program.
When season 4 picked up in 1993, however, both characters were gone without explanation. According to a 1997 Orlando Sentinel report, both actors were let go from Law & Order to open up cast positions for the series' two lead female characters: Lieutenant Anita Van Buren and Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid.
Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1994 to 2003; Thompson was an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2008 United States presidential …
Thompson was born in Sheffield, Alabama, on August 19, 1942, the son of Ruth Inez (née Bradley) and Fletcher Session Thompson (born Lauderdale County, Alabama, August 26, 1919, died Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, May 27, 1990), who was an automobile salesman. Thompson had English and distant Dutch ancestry. He attended public school in Lawrenceburg, graduating from Lawrence County High School in 1960, where he played high-school football. Thereafter, he work…
Thompson was admitted to the state bar of Tennessee in 1967. At that time, he shortened his first name from Freddie to Fred. He worked as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1969 to 1972, successfully prosecuting bank robberies and other cases. Thompson was the campaign manager for Republican U.S. Senator Howard Baker's re-election campaign in 1972, and was minority counsel to the Senate …
Thompson earned about $1 million in total from his lobbying efforts. Except for the year 1981, his lobbying never amounted to more than one-third of his income. According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal:
Fred Thompson earned about half a million dollars from Washington lobbying from 1975 through 1993 ... Lobbyist disclosure records show Thompson had s…
Marie Ragghianti's case became the subject of a book, Marie, written by Peter Maas and published in 1983. The film rights were purchased by director Roger Donaldson, who, after traveling to Nashville to speak with the people involved with the original case, asked Thompson if he wanted to play himself. The resulting film, Marie, was Thompson's first acting role and was released in 1985. Roger Donaldson then cast Thompson in the part of CIA director in the 1987 film No Way Out. …
In 1994, Thompson was elected to finish the remaining two years of Al Gore's unexpired U.S. Senate term. During the 1994 campaign, Thompson's opponent was longtime Nashville Congressman Jim Cooper. Thompson campaigned in a red pickup truck, and Cooper charged Thompson "is a lobbyist and actor who talks about lower taxes, talks about change, while he drives a rented stage pro…
Thompson was not a candidate for reelection in 2002. He had previously stated that he was unwilling to make serving in the Senate a long-term career. While he announced in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks his intention to seek reelection (declaring, "now is not the time for me to leave," at the time), upon further reflection, he decided against running for reelection. The decision see…
Ford ran for the in the 2008 United States presidential election. He ultimately won 11 delegates in the Republican primaries before dropping out of the race in January 2008.
On March 11, 2007, Thompson appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss the possibility of a 2008 candidacy for the presidency. At the end of March, Thom…