John Lawlor, Season 1 'Facts of Life' Actor, Dies at 83

John Lawlor, a veteran character actor remembered as a girls' school headmaster on the first season of the sitcom "The Facts of Life," has died. He was 83.

He died February 13 at a veterans' facility in Albuquerque, according to a family announcement.

Lawlor was born June 5, 1941, in Troy, New York. He served in Vietnam before seeking an acting career.

After making his TV debut on an episode of "The Rockford Files" (1975), he made his film debut in "Jackson County Jail" (1976).

His first big break in television was a recurring role on "Phyllis," the "Mary Tyler Moore" spin-off (1976-1977), followed by 13 appearances on "The Facts of Life" (1979-1980), the Charlotte Rae spin-off of "Diff'rent Strokes." On it, he played Mr. Bradley, a wishy-washy headmaster.

When the show was retooled for Season 2, it lost several cast members, including Lawlor. It eventually shifted focus to Mrs. Garrett (Rae) and just four of the students, played by Kim Fields, Lisa Whelchel, Nancy McKeon and Mindy Cohn.

Lawlor also guested on the shows "Alice" (1977), "Barney Miller" (1978), "Newhart" (1984), "T.J. Hooker" (1984), "Simon & Simon" (1984), "Knots Landing" (1992-1993), "L.A. Law" (1993), "Breaking Bad" (2011), and "Longmire" (2014).

His last credit was for four episodes of the series "Godless" in 2017.

His highest-profile feature credits were in Blake Edwards' "S.O.B." (1981) and Lawrence Kasdan's "Wyatt Earp" (1994). As an assistant director, he shared duties on "Excalibur" (1981) and "Angel" (1982), among others.

Lawlor, previously twice married — including to actress Tantoo Cardinal — is survived by his five kids and three grandkids.