Dann Florek (born Ezekial Dann Florek on May 1, 1950 in Flat Rock, Michigan) is an American actor and director.
Florek worked his way up from the theatre into supporting roles in such diverse '80's films as Sweet Liberty, Moon Over Parador, and Angel Heart. After a brief stint as the boring husband of Susan Ruttan on NBC's hit drama L.A. Law, Florek co-starred in the NBC crime drama Law & Order as Capt. Don Cragen. In the mid to late nineties Florek starred as Coach Gerber on the children's show Smart Guy. He frequently asked for more to do, and got his wish once, in the first season finale "The Blue Wall". The first few years of Law & Order had mediocre ratings, and finally after the close of the 1992-1993 season, NBC 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 S. Epatha Merkerson and Jill Hennessy, respectively. However, Florek was allowed to direct a few Law & Order episodes in 1994 and 1995. Florek also had two guest starring roles as a doctor and school principal on the sitcom Roseanne.
Florek was cast in the The Flintstones movie in 1994 as Mr. Slate, along with John Goodman as Fred Flintstone, Rick Moranis as Barney Rubble, Rosie O'Donnell as Betty Rubble, Halle Berry as Sharon Stone, and Elizabeth Taylor as Pearl Slaghoople.
Florek reprised the role of Cragen in a 1995 episode (which he also directed), and in the 1998 TV-movie Exiled, centered on former L&O star Chris Noth's character, Mike Logan. Also in 1998, Florek played Abraham Lincoln in the extremely controversial, UPN sitcom The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. In 1999 he returned to the Cragen role, only this time on the Law & Order spin-off series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as unit captain.
Florek's wife, Karen, works as an artist. His brother, Dave, is also an actor. All three trained in the Daniel L. Quirk Jr. drama school at Eastern Michigan University.
Raised in Flat Rock, Michigan, bald character actor Dann Florek majored in math and physics at Eastern Michigan University until a drama scholarship changed the course of his career direction. Trained at Juilliard, he appeared frequently on stage ranging from the classics ("Love's Labour's Lost," "A Midsummer Night's Dream") to contemporary pieces ("Strange Snow, "Big River," "The Three Cuckolds") appearing in such theater venues as the Globe Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse. In Los Angeles from the 80s on, he received his biggest break on dramatic TV series work playing pragmatic officials on such hit shows as "L.A. Law" and, most notably, "Law and Order." Although not a name, he is a durable player and definable face who has occasionally engaged in film supports with Eddie Macon's Run (1983), Angel Heart (1987), Moon Over Parador (1988) and Beautiful Joe (2000) among his credits.
