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  Richard Belzer

Richard Jay Belzer (August 4, 1944 – February 19, 2023) was an American actor, comedian, and author. He was best known for his role as BPD Detective, NYPD Detective/sergeant and investigator John Munch, whom he portrayed for 23 years in the NBC police drama series Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and several guest appearances on other series.

Early Life And Education

Belzer was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on August 4, 1944, to a Jewish family. He described his mother as frequently physically abusive, and he declared that his comedy career began when trying to make her laugh to distract her from abusing him and his brother. After graduating from Fairfield Warde High School, Belzer worked as a reporter for the Bridgeport Post.

Belzer attended Dean College, which was then known as Dean Junior College, in Franklin, Massachusetts, but was expelled.

Career

Stand-up

After his first divorce, Belzer relocated to New York City, moved in with singer Shelley Ackerman, and began working as a stand-up comic at Pips, The Improv, and Catch a Rising Star. He participated in the Channel One comedy group that satirized television and became the basis for the cult movie The Groove Tube, in which Belzer played the co-star of the ersatz TV show The Dealers.

Belzer was the audience warm-up comedian for Saturday Night Live and made three guest appearances on the show between 1975 and 1980. He also opened for musician Warren Zevon during his tour supporting the release of his album Excitable Boy.

Film

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Belzer became an occasional film actor. A short skit of a younger Belzer can be found on Sesame Street in a season 9 episode in 1978 when two young men attempt a picnic and boat ride, only to be thwarted by a dog who eats their food. He is noted for minor roles in Fame, Café Flesh, Night Shift, carface, “Girl 6”, and Fletch Lives. He appeared in the music videos for the Mike + The Mechanics song "Taken In", the Pat Benatar song "Le Bel Age", and the Kansas song "Can't Cry Anymore" all of which were made by Flattery Yukich Inc (Producer Paul Flattery and Director Jim Yukich). He appeared in A Very Brady Sequel as an LAPD detective.

Radio

In addition to his film career, Belzer was a featured player on the National Lampoon Radio Hour with co-stars John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and Harold Ramis, a half-hour comedy program aired on 600 plus U.S. stations from 1973 to 1975. Several of his sketches were released on National Lampoon albums, drawn from the Radio Hour, including several bits in which he portrayed a pithy call-in talk show host named "Dick Ballantine".

In the late 1970s, he co-hosted Brink & Belzer on WNBC radio (660 AM) in New York City. He was a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show. Following the departure of Randi Rhodes from Air America Radio, Belzer guest-hosted the afternoon program on the network.

Belzer was a regular guest on the right-wing radio show of Alex Jones and appeared on the episode covering the Boston Marathon bombing, in which he referred to the bombing as a false flag event

Television

In the 1980s, Belzer was a regular on Alan Thicke's short-lived show Thicke of the Night. He also briefly starred in The Richard Belzer Show on Cinemax, and hosted the Lifetime cable TV talk show, Hot Properties. By the 1990s, he was appearing frequently on television. He was a regular on The Flash as a news anchor and reporter. In several episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, he played Inspector William Henderson. He followed that with starring roles on the Baltimore-based Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999) and the New York City-based Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2013), portraying police detective John Munch in both series. Barry Levinson, Executive Producer of Homicide, said Belzer was a "lousy actor" in audition when he read lines from the script for "Gone for Goode", the first episode in the series. Levinson asked Belzer to take time to reread and practice the material, then read it again. At his second reading, Levinson said Belzer was "still terrible", but that the actor eventually found confidence in his performance. In addition, Belzer played Munch in episodes on seven other series and in a sketch on one talk show, making Munch the only fictional character to appear on 11 different television shows played by a single actor. These shows were on six different networks:

1. Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC)
2. Law & Ordet (NBC) (my favourite)
3. The X-Files (Fox)
4. The Beat (UPN)
5. Law & Order: Trial by Jury (NBC)
• Belzer's appearance on Trial by Jury, which aired April 15, 2005, made him the third actor ever to play the same character in six different prime-time TV series. The other two actors are John Ratzenberger and George Wendt, who played Cliff Clavin and Norm Peterson, respectively, in Cheers (1982–93), St. Elsewhere (1985), The Tortellis (1987), Wings (1990), The Simpsons (1994), and Frasier (2002).
• Arrested Development (Fox)
• The Wire (HBO)
• 30 Rock (NBC)
• The characters are watching a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode; a scene shot personally for 30 Rock
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC) (my favourite)
• Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix), in which he played a John Munch-like character on a fictional Law & Order spin-off.

Author

Belzer believed there was a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy[26] and wrote five books discussing conspiracy theories:

• UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have to Be Crazy to Believe (2000)
• Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country's Most Controversial Cover-Ups
• Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination
• Corporate Conspiracies: How Wall Street Took Over Washington
• Someone Is Hiding Something: What Happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?

Dead Wrong and Hit List were written with journalist David Wayne and reached The New York Times Best Seller list. Someone Is Hiding Something was also written with David Wayne as well as radio talk show host George Noory.[32] Belzer's long-time character, John Munch, was also a believer in conspiracy theories, including the JFK assassination. In 2008, Belzer published a novel, I Am Not a Cop!, about a fictional version of himself investigating a murder.

Personal Life

Belzer's first two marriages were to Gail Susan Ross (1966–1972) and boutique manager Dalia Danoch (1976 – c. 1978), both of which ended in divorce. In 1981, in Los Angeles, he met 32-year-old Harlee McBride, a divorcée with two daughters, Bree Benton and Jessica. McBride, who had been seen in Playboy magazine four years earlier in that year's sex-in-cinema feature, in conjunction with Young Lady Chatterley, was appearing in TV commercials for Ford and acting in free theater when she met Belzer at the suggestion of a friend. The two married in 1985 and had a home in Bozouls, France. Belzer survived testicular cancer in 1983. His 1997 HBO special and comedy CD Another Lone Nut pokes fun at this medical incident, as well as his status as a well-known conspiracy theorist. On March 27, 1985, four days before the first WrestleMania, Belzer repeatedly requested on his TV talk show Hot Properties that professional wrestler Hulk Hogan demonstrate a wrestling move. Hogan applied a front facelock, which caused Belzer to pass out, and he hit the back of his head on the floor when released. After waking up, Belzer was dazed, lacerated and briefly hospitalized. He later sued Hogan for $5 million and settled out of court for $400,000 in 1990. Belzer refers to the settlement in his 1997 HBO stand-up special Another Lone Nut, revealing it helped him pay for a home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer called the "Chez Hogan" or "Hulk Hogan Estate". Belzer's father and brother both died of suicide, in 1968 and 2014, respectively.His cousin is actor Henry Winkler.

Death

On February 19, 2023, Belzer died from the complications of respiratory disease in Bozouls, France at the age of 78. Many paid tribute to Belzer including Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, and Dick Wolf.

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role Notes

1974 The Groove Tube Rodriguez, Leo Batfish, The President, The Hooker Independent film

1980 Fame M.C.

1982 Café Flesh Loud-mouthed audience member Author! Author! Seth Shapiro Night Shift Pig

1983 Scarface M.C. at Babylon Club Likely Stories, Vol. 3 Richard

1986 America Gypsy Beam a.k.a. Moonbeam Charlie Barnett's Terms of Enrollment Man Reading Paper

1987 Flicks Stoner Segment: "New Adventures of the Great Galaxy"

1988 The Wrong Guys Richard 'Belz' Belzer Freeway Dr. David Lazarus

1989 The Big Picture Video Show Host Fletch Lives Phil

1990 The Bonfire of the Vanities Television Producer

1991 The Flash II: Revenge of the Trickster Joe Kline Missing Pieces Baldesari Off and Running Milt Zoloth

1992 Flash III: Deadly Nightshade Joe Kline

1993 Mad Dog and Glory M.C./Comic Dangerous Game Himself

1994 North Barker The Puppet Masters Jarvis

1995 Not of This Earth Jeremy Pallin

1996 Girl 6 Caller #4 – Beach A Very Brady Sequel LAPD Detective Get on the Bus Rick

1998 The Bar Channel — Species II U.S. President

1999 Jump Jerry

2006 Copy That Richard

2007 BelzerVizion Himself Also executive producer

2009 Polish Bar Hershel

2010 Santorini Blue Richard Also executive producer

2016 The Comedian Himself

2017 Gilbert Himself Documentary film

Television

Year Film Role Notes

1975–80 Saturday Night Live Juror Chevy Chase Himself Museum Visitor Season 1 episode 1, season 2 episode 27, season 3 episode 61, and season 5 episode 106 (uncredited)

1978 Sesame Street Man in Row Boat #1 Episode: "(#1186)"

1983-1984 Thicke of the Night Regular

1984 The Richard Belzer Show Himself Six episodes

1985 Hot Properties Host

1985 Moonlighting Leonard Episode: "Twas the Episode Before Christmas"

1986 Miami Vice Captain Hook Episode: "Trust Fund Pirates"

1989 Tattingers — Episode: "Ex-Appeal" a.k.a. Nick & Hillary

1990–91 The Flash Joe Kline 10 episodes

1991 Monsters Buzz Hunkle Episode: "Werewolf of Hollywood"

1992 Human Target Greene Episode: "Pilot"

1993–99 Homicide: Life on the Street Det. John Munch 122 episodes, regular cast

1994 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Inspector William Henderson Episode: "All Shook Up" Episode: "Witness" Episode: "Foundling" Episode: "The House of Luthor" Nurses Jesse Wilner Episode: "Fly the Friendly Skies" Bandit Bandit Big Bob TV film Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart Det. Frank Giordano

1995 Prince for a Day Bernie Silver TV film; a.k.a. The Prince and the Pizza Boy The Invaders Randy Stein TV film

1996 Deadly Pursuits Mariano

1996–2000 Law & Order Det. John Munch Episode: "Charm City" Episode: "Baby, It's You" Episode: "Sideshow" Episode: "Entitled"

1997 The X-Files Episode: "Unusual Suspects" Richard Belzer: Another Lone Nut Himself HBO comedy special When Cars Attack TV film

1997–98 E! True Hollywood Story Episode: "Gilda Radner", "John Belushi"

1998 Elmopalooza —

1999 Mad About You Detective Sharp Episode: "Stealing Burt's Car"

1999–2016 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Det./Sgt. John Munch 325 episodes, regular cast

2000 Homicide: The Movie Det. John Munch TV film based on the television series The Beat Episode: "They Say It's Your Birthday" South Park Loogie (voice) Episode: "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000" 3rd Rock from the Sun Himself Episode: "Dick'll Take Manhattan: Part 1"

2005 Law & Order: Trial by Jury Det. John Munch Episode: "Skeleton" This is a crossover sequel to the episode "Tombstone" from season 15 of the series Law & Order.

2006 Arrested Development Episode: "S.O.B.s" (uncredited) Episode: "Exit Strategy"

2008 The Wire Sgt. John Munch Episode: "Took"

2009 Jimmy Kimmel Live! Episode dated October 7, 2009 Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers Himself —

2013 America Declassified Season 1 episode

2015 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt A John Munch-like character[20][21] One episode: "Kimmy Goes to the Doctor!"

External Links

1. Official website
2. Richard Belzer at IMDb
3. Richard Belzer at AllMovie
4. NBC Biography
5. Richard Belzer discography at Discogs