Donald Cragen
| Capt. Donald Cragen | |
|---|---|
| Law & Order character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | "Prescription for Death" (L&O) "Payback" (SVU) |
| Last appearance | "Fixed" (L&O) "Perverted Justice" (SVU) |
| Portrayed by | Dann Florek |
| Time on show | 1990–1993, 1995, 2000, 2004 (L&O) 1999–2014, 2015 (SVU) |
| Seasons |
L&O: 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15 SVU: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 |
| Credited appearances | 69 episodes (L&O) 331 episodes (SVU) 400 episodes (total) |
| Succeeded by |
Anita Van Buren (L&O) Olivia Benson (SVU) |
| Information | |
| Title | NYPD Captain |
| Family | Marge Cragen (wife) son daughter (later reconnected) sister nephew brother-in-law |
| Partner | Max Greevey |
Donald "Don" Cragen is a fictional character played by Dann Florek in the American crime drama television series Law & Order and its spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC. Cragen started the series as a homicide captain with the New York Police Department, but then became captain of the department's Special Victims Unit. A recovering alcoholic, Cragen is a tough police veteran, but loyal to his officers.
Florek starred in the first three seasons of Law & Order before he was fired from the show due to an order from NBC to add more female cast members. Before his termination, Florek had expressed disappointment with his character's lack of material. In 1999, series creator Dick Wolf reintroduced Florek to Special Victims Unit, in which he reprised his role as Cragen from the show's first season to the fifteenth. Having appeared in 400 episodes, Cragen has been in the second-most episodes of any character in the Law & Order franchise, surpassed only by Olivia Benson.
Cragen comes from an Irish Catholic background, and graduated from a Catholic university in New York City, although different episodes have given conflicting information about exactly which school; he calls St. Raymond's University his alma mater in the first season episode "Sophomore Jinx", but says it is St. John's in the third season episode "Justice". Cragen served as a Green Beret in the Vietnam War before joining the New York Police Department, where he was a homicide detective partnered with Max Greevey (George Dzundza). Cragen had been married to a flight attendant named Marge (Ellen Tobie) and the two had no children, although, in a continuity error, an early Law & Order episode indicated they had a teenage child.
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