Ron McLarty, who was born on April 26, 1947 in Providence, Rhode Island, is an award-winning actor and playwright. He was first discovered as a writer by Stephen King when he was listening to McLarty's unpublished novel which he recorded as an audio book. King also listed "The Memory of Running," a book written by McLarty, as "best book you can not read" in the year 2003. Later on, McLarty accepted an offer from Viking worth over $2 million for the publishing rights of the said book.
As an actor, Ron McLarty has appeared on a number of television shows. Some of his more notable roles include those in Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law & Order: Trial by Jury. He also played the character Ronald Tompkins on the FOX series The Return of Jezebel James. The show was short-lived, because it was canceled after the network aired its third episode. McLarty has also been seen on Jonny Zero, The Practice, Judging Amy, Ed, Third Watch and Sex and the City. He was known for portraying the character Coach Harris on Champs and for his role as Sgt. Frank Belson on Spenser: For Hire.
McLarty began his film career with performances in The Sentinel, which was back in 1977. He continued to rise in prominence as he took on the voice role of Papa Bear in TV specials of The Berenstain Bears, and landed even more projects. During the 1990s, he was seen on The Feud, Two Bits, The Postman and television films like Mean Streak and Grace & Glorie. He also lent his voice to characters in the video game Batman: Dark Tomorrow. In 2005, he starred in the telefilms Trump Unauthorized, and Into the Fire. He has since been portraying the character Judge William Wright on episodes of Law & Order.
(Photo courtesy of FOX)