According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor John Lawlor (The Facts of Life, Phyllis) died on February 13, 2025, at a veterans’ hospice in Albuquerque, New Mexico, his family announced. He was 83 years old.

Born John Henry Lawlor III on June 5, 1941, in Troy, New York, Lawlor was the oldest of six siblings. He was raised in Boulder, Colorado with his mother Carolyn, who worked as a special-needs teacher at a local middle school. After graduating from the University of Colorado, he joined a small acting troupe called the Nomad Players where he performed in several theatre productions including Sweeney Todd among other titles.

Before beginning his career in the entertainment industry, Lawlor served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He eventually made his television debut in 1975 with guest roles on The Rockford Files and Ellery Queen. He later landed a regular role as Leonard Marsh on the CBS sitcom Phyllis, playing the titular Phyllis’s bumbling co-worker.

Lawlor is likely best known for portraying school headmaster Steven Bradley on the first season of NBC’s The Facts of Life in 1979. Although he appeared in all 13 episodes of season one, he did not return when the show came back for its second run.

His six-decade career spanned both television and film,. His TV credits include guest appearances on shows like Newhart, Alice, Barney Miller, Knots Landing, and even Breaking Bad. While on the big screen, he appeared in Jackson County Jail, Wyatt Earp, and S.O.B., to name a few. In the 1980s, audiences may also remember him as the father in a popular Malt-O-Meal cereal commercial, delivering the line, “Good stuff, Maynard.”

Beyond acting, Lawlor also worked behind the camera as an assistant director on films including Highlander, Excalibur, and A Prayer for the Dying.

The Hollywood Reporter states that Lawlor is survived by his five children, three grandchildren, and two brothers.