Bronx Guy Lays Down ‘Law’
By Tom Deignan
YOU can see South Bronx native John Michael Bolger on NBC’s Law and Order Wednesday, April 21 at 10 p.m.
Or, you can see him almost any day in Hell’s Kitchen, sitting on the apartment building stoop which has served him as an acting school of sorts.
“I’m an observer of humanity,” says Bolger, whose mother was born in Leitrim and whose Dad came from Down.
“I love my stoop. I’m a city kid. Recently I wrote on my stoop – ‘The Hell’s Kitchen stoop. Respect it.’ And I sit there and I watch people.”
Bolger is certainly doing something right as he’s worked regularly in TV and movies since he dove into acting at the advanced age of 27.
He is perhaps best known for his work as a firefighter on NBC’s Third Watch, one of many New York-based TV shows on which Bolger has worked.
“Growing up in the Bronx, I wanted to be two things: I wanted to be Jimmy Cagney and I wanted to be a firefighter,” says Bolger.
The Third Watch role helped him bring these two childhood aspirations together.
It was afternoon and late night broadcasts of classic Cagney movies that put the acting bug in Bolger’s head. Cagney’s own mother, Bolger points out, was also from Leitrim.
But by the time he graduated high school, and the family had relocated to Long Island, Bolger still hadn’t told anyone of his passion for acting.
So, like so many Irish Americans before him – including his own Dad – Bolger went off to work for Con Ed.
“My father said, you can go to college. You can go to Con Ed, where I can make a phone call. Or you can go up the river like all your friends,” Bolger recalled with a laugh.
He worked for Con Ed for ten years. But, Bolger adds: “I didn’t feel like I was breathing properly. I didn’t feel complete.”
So at 27, Bolger “quit and got fired at the exact same moment.”
Not surprisingly, Bolger’s Dad was not thrilled his son had left an excellent, secure job.
But, Bolger adds, before his Dad passed six years ago, he paid a visit to the set and was practically directing his actor son himself.
In another great New York Irish twist, it was a Con Ed-worker turned casting director who help Bolger secure work on Law and Order.
Bolger attributes his ability to act to his Irish background.
“It’s a gift that us Irish have, we’re storytellers.”
Yet it must be added that of all his family – and that includes his mother, who was one of 24 Doonan children – he is the only actor. He does add that one Doonan cousin, John, is an aspiring musician on Long Island.
Next week, Bolger does a twist on his good guy firefighter role on Third Watch and plays, instead, a corrupt cop.
“You could say the good lieutenant returns as a bad cop. I play a veteran homicide detective who gets caught up 20 years after he covered up a murder,” says Bolger.
Bolger says as a New York actor, you have to work hard to nail down aspects of each character’s authenticity. Towards that end he’s spent lots of time riding around with cops and firefighters, including, he says, “my buddies at Rescue 1” in Hell’s Kitchen.
Of course, that does lead to a dilemma. Might Bolger be typecast as a New York civil servant?
“I learned this from Cagney, from reading about him. You can get stereotyped. They’ll say all he can be is a cop, or a firefighter, or a bad guy. You know what I say? They can stereotype me all they want,” Bolger says, adding that he believes other roles will come along so long as he continues practicing his craft.
“I’m in no rush,” the 47 year-old says.
Bolger adds that he’d like to direct someday, and that he’s also writing a book about – what else – his beloved Hell’s Kitchen stoop.
Yes, there are some lean times. But Bolger adds that he is not married (“Mention that in case there are any single Irish girls reading.”) and does not have any kids.
So, he says: “I know how to live on saltines and grape juice.”
He also hopes to get back to Ireland soon, where he hasn’t been in some time.
Until then, catch Bolger on Law and Order Wednesday, April 21.
Or drop by the Hell’s Kitchen stoop anytime.
Contact Sidewalks at tdeignan@irishvoice.com
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