CBS’ Blue Bloods has been going on since 2010. The police procedural drama focuses on the Reagan family, with many members being a part of the police force and other law enforcement agencies.
Some characters have been associated with the show since its inception and have been a part of all 14 seasons. One of them is Henry Reagan, also known as the Grandpa on Blue Bloods.
Henry Reagan is played by Canadian actor Len Cariou. The character is a retired New York City Police Commissioner and the Reagan family patriarch. Henry started the tradition of joining the police force in his family, followed by his son, Frank, and his grandchildren.
Len Cariou plays Henry Reagan, the Grandpa on Blue Bloods
Blue Bloods star Len Cariou is a veteran actor who started his career in theater in the late 1950s. He made his debut on stage with Damn Yankees at Rainbow Stage in Winnipeg in 1959 and later helped found the Manitoba Theatre Centre.
Cariou landed his first major film role in 1977 in One Man and followed it up by playing Fredrik in A Little Night Music (1977) alongside Elizabeth Taylor. Over the years, he acted in memorable films like The Four Seasons in 1981 and Thirteen Days in 2000.
He later starred in movies like About Schmidt and Spotlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Meanwhile, he became a well-known name on television with his recurring roles in shows like CBS’ Murder, She Wrote, where he played MI-6 agent Michael Hagarty,
He also played Louis Tobin, the main villain in the third season of FX’s Damages. In 2009, he appeared as President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the HBO film Into the Storm and earned an Emmy nomination for his performance.
Cariou also starred in the crime drama Brotherhood as Judd Fitzgerald, a powerful political figure. In 2010, he joined Blue Bloods as Henry Reagan and has been loved by fans ever since. The actor’s performance as the wise family patriarch has made him a household name.
He has also made episodic appearances in the shows Wallander, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Numbers, and The Practice. More recently, in 2019, he starred in the Netflix miniseries When They See Us as lawyer Robert Morgenthau.
Len Cariou does not want to retire, even at 85
Len Cariou turned 85 years old in 2024 and is still so passionate about acting that he is not thinking of retiring anytime soon. His co-star Abigail Hawk, who plays Detective Abigail Baker in Blue Bloods, revealed in an interview that the actor has no plans to quit acting after the show’s end.
Meanwhile, Cariou reflected on the emotional time he had while filming the last few scenes of the series in an interview with TV Insider. Talking about the shoot of the final family dinner scene, something he and his co-actors had been doing for 14 years, Cariou said:
“It was pretty emotional. It wasn’t the last thing we did, but it was nice in one sense to be in the room together, but it was a tough day for us. And not everybody, of course, on the show is there when we’re filming that. So there’s that fragment of it.”
Discussing the last day of the shoot, Cariou stated:
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“I was thinking about that just a few minutes ago. It was pretty bittersweet. The last scene, of course, was at a funeral, and so we weren’t even in the house the day that we wrapped it up.”
Blue Bloods season 14 airs new episodes on Fridays. The series finale is scheduled to be released on December 13, 2024.
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