Michael Moriarty remembered his exit from NBC’s Law & Order very differently from other accounts of Dick Wolf and other crew members. According to Moriarty, he rage-quit the series over then-Attorney General Janet Reno’s comments on the show’s violent content. However, Wolf later revealed that his firing did not have anything to do with Reno.
Moriarty claimed that NBC and Wolf tried to defame him by announcing that he was fired for misbehavior. He played Ben Stone for four seasons and 88 episodes before he quit the series in 1994. Moriarty since left the United States and moved to Canada, where he acted in a few projects before his retirement.
Law & Order‘s Michael Moriarty Claimed He Was Not Fired By Dick Wolf
Michael Moriarty was proud to play the character of Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone in four seasons of Law & Order. During an interview with Paul Rowlands, he shared how Dick Wolf had once called him the “conscience of the show”. However, he claimed to have left this beloved show when nobody stood beside him during his public indictment of the then-Attorney General Janet Reno.
Moriarty threatened a lawsuit against Reno after she accused Law & Order of being offensively violent. He claimed in his book The Gift of Stern Angels that Reno wanted to censor his show and other crime dramas on television like Murder, She Wrote (via Law and Order | Fandom). Moriarty told Rowlands that he decided to leave America after being ostracized for his stance.
He shared that he decided to put an ad on both The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety announcing his departure from the show in 1994. However, Moriarty claimed that NBC and Wolf followed his announcement with a statement that he had been fired for misbehavior. He shared that the same became the information available on his exit on Wikipedia. He told Paul Rowlands:
I had decided to leave America around the end of that time. Both the East and West Coasts, meaning New York and Hollywood, ostracized me after my public indictment of Attorney General Janet Reno. I put an ad announcing my departure in both the Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety.
It was fascinating, after that, to watch NBC and Dick Wolf announce to the world and Wikipedia that I was being fired for misbehaviour on the set when I’d already told the world I was leaving the United States. Of course, Wikipedia’s version is NBC’s version. Wikipedia never asked me for an interview.
According to Law & Order: The Unofficial Companion, Wolf and other Law & Order crew claimed that Reno had little to do with Moriarty’s exit. Moriarty and Wolf met with Reno alongside other TV executives to dissuade her from censoring the show. Wolf recalled that Moriarty overreacted to the situation.
As for the reason for firing him, producers claimed that Moriarty showed “erratic behavior” during filming. This also included the time when he was taken to the hospital while filming the episode Breeder (via Law and Order | Fandom).
Law & Order Exit Brought About A Radical Change In Michael Moriarty
The whole ordeal with Janet Reno and subsequent exit from Law & Order brought about a radical change in Michael Moriarty. According to the Cinema Retro magazine, he turned from a soft liberal to a hard-core conservative. His change even surprised his wife of 20 years, Anne Hamilton Martin, effectively ending their marriage.
When Moriarty moved to Toronto, he let go of the discipline that he upheld during his entire lifetime. He began drinking and smoking heavily. He even got into trouble with the law as he was arrested for assault in 2000 after he slapped a former girlfriend in a drunken argument.
He later went into rehabilitation and took the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program. He claimed to have been sober since 2003.
Law & Order is now available for streaming on Peacock.
