Dan Lauria makes stern fathers credible without making them easy company. We recommend his work in The Wonder Years for its unforced affection, with a reservation about the repeated casting that keeps returning him to authority.
Fi1m perspective
Jack Arnold worries about money, and Dan Lauria makes those worries worth taking seriously. In The Wonder Years (1988), his stern father helps keep a programme about adolescence interested in adults. Fred Savage's Kevin has his romantic concerns, but Lauria gives us a reason to look beyond them. We rate the performance because Jack's affection does not require him to become an easier parent; the difficulty is part of what makes him convincing.
Authority has provided much of the work. In Stakeout (1987), Lauria played the police captain Phil Coldshank; after his breakthrough as Jack, Independence Day (1996) cast him as a commanding officer. The subsequent work includes the Broadway lead as Vince Lombardi in Lombardi (2010) and the sitcom Sullivan & Son (2012), in which he played Jack Sullivan. These are not interchangeable jobs, but the recurrence of fathers and men in charge helps explain why Jack remains such a useful way into his acting.
Beside Alley Mills's Norma Arnold, Lauria helps make the family worth watching beyond Kevin's uncertain romance with Winnie Cooper. We were moved by his Jack because the sternness leaves room for love without making fatherhood look easy. That matters in a programme looking back at adolescence: a parent can be more than the person remembered by a child. Daniel Stern's narration sometimes explains what the actors have already made clear, and we would rather be left with the performances.
Lauria also directed one episode of The Wonder Years in 1990, though it is the acting that gives us most to recommend. The reservation about his screen work is the repeated return to gruff authority, which can make his casting less interesting than his performance. We would welcome roles that ask for something beyond that familiar firmness. Start with The Wonder Years, and give the parents as much attention as the children.
Biography
Dan Lauria is an American actor born on 12 April 1947 in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for portraying John 'Jack' Arnold, the father in the television series The Wonder Years (1988–1993). He also directed one episode of the series in 1990.
Lauria served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He attended Southern Connecticut State University on a football scholarship before pursuing acting, with early work in theatre and guest roles on series such as Cagney & Lacey and films including Stakeout (1987). Other notable television appearances include roles in Independence Day (1996), The Spirit (2008), Sullivan & Son (2012–2014) and Pitch (2016–2017). He has performed extensively on stage, including Broadway productions such as Lombardi.
