John Bernard Larroquette (born November 25, 1947) is an American actor. His roles include Dan Fielding on the 1984–1992 sitcom Night Court (winning a then-unprecedented four consecutive Emmy Awards for his role), Mike McBride in the Hallmark Channel series McBride, John Hemingway on The John Larroquette Show, Lionel Tribbey on The West Wing, and Carl Sack in Boston Legal.

Biography

Larroquette was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Berthalla Oramous (née Helmstetter), a department store clerk mostly selling children's clothes, and John Edgar Bernard Larroquette, Jr., who was in the U.S. navy. Larroquette himself is not a junior or a III as his name does not contain "Edgar". He grew up in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans not far from the French Quarter. He played clarinet and saxophone through childhood and into high school, where he and some friends organized a band they called The N.U.D.E.L.E.S (The New Universal Demonstration for Love, Ecstasy and Sound). He discovered acting in his senior year of high school.

He moved to Hollywood in 1973 after working in radio as DJ during the early days of 'underground' radio, when each disc jockey was free to play what they wished.
Larroquette met his wife Elizabeth Ann Cookson in 1974 while working in the play Enter Laughing. They were married July 4, 1975, as that was the only day they had off from rehearsals. They have three children, Lisa, Jonathan, and Ben. Their son Jonathan cohosts a comedy podcast called Uhh Yeah Dude.

Larroquette battled alcoholism from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 10, 2007, he joked, "I was known to have a cocktail or 60." He stopped drinking February 6, 1982.


Hobbies and interests
Larroquette collects rare books. Authors on whose works he has focused include Samuel Beckett, Charles Bukowski, Anthony Burgess, William Burroughs (and other beat writers), David Foster Wallace, John Fante, Michael Ondaatje, and John Steinbeck.