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Richard Belzer (born August 4, 1944) is an American stand up comedian, writer and actor.
Biography
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he grew up with his parents and older brother. His mother was neglectful and physically abusive, but his father worked hard to move his family out of the poverty of the projects and into a better life. Richard worked as a paperboy and became known for his uncontrollable wit, which "caused him to be kicked out of every school he attended". Belzer's mother Frances died of breast cancer when he was 18. After high school, he worked as a reporter for the Bridgeport Post. He attended Dean Junior College in Franklin, MA for a year and a part of a semester before being asked to leave for leading too many student demonstrations. According to one interview, he was majoring in Physical Education. After leaving college, Belzer was encouraged by his father to enlist in the Army. He soon realized it was a mistake and tried to get out, eventually he was successful at terminating his enlistment early.
After the Army, Belzer moved to New York City and began working as a stand-up comic. He participated in the Channel One comedy group that satirized television and became the basis for the cult movie The Groove Tube.
Belzer's father Charles attempted suicide when Richard was 22, but Richard found him in time to save his life; his father's second attempt at suicide the following year was successful.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Belzer became an occasional film actor. He is noted for his small roles in Fame, Night Shift, and Scarface. He also was a player on the National Lampoon Radio Hour, a half-hour comedy program aired on some 600 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 Valentine. In the late 1970s he co-hosted Brink & Belzer on 660AM WNBC (New York City).
Belzer was the audience warm-up comedian for Saturday Night Live in its premiere season and made three guest appearances on the show in 1976 and 1978. (However, despite appearing as such in the film Man on the Moon, Belzer was NOT the first host of the show.)
Richard Belzer survived testicular cancer in 1984, his HBO special and comedy CD Another Lone Nut * pokes fun at this, as well as his status as a well-known "Conspiracy Theorist".
Belzer married actress Harlee McBride in 1985. In that same year on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties Belzer insisted Hulk Hogan put a wrestling move on him. Hulk Hogan put Belzer in a front chin lock or sleeper hold, which caused Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to his scalp which required him to be hospitalized briefly. Belzer sued Hogan for States dollar|$" target="_blank" >*5 million, and it was later settled out of court. Belzer used the settlement (rumored to be $1.5 million) to purchase a cottage in France, where he and his wife Harlee live when he's not working in the U.S.
In the 1990s, Belzer appeared frequently on television, including a movie role in which he appeared as an LAPD detective in A Very Brady Sequel. He was a regular on The Flash television show. In several episodes of The New Adventures of Superman, he played Inspector William Henderson. He followed that success with starring roles on Life on the Street (1993-1999) and Special Victims Unit (1999 - ), playing the same character (Detective John Munch) in both series.
In addition, he has also played Detective John Munch in episodes of five other series:
- Law & Order - 4 episodes: "Charm City Part 1", "Baby, It's You", "Sideshow" and "Entitled Part 2".
- The X-Files - 1 episode: "Unusual Suspects"
- The Beat - 1 episode: "They Say It's Your Birthday"
- Trial by Jury - 1 episode: "Skeleton (2)"
- 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 in Cheers (1982-1993), St. Elsewhere (1985), The Tortellis (1987), Wings (1990), The Simpsons (1994) and Frasier (2002).
- His appearance February 10, 2006 on Arrested Development in the episode "Exit Strategy" marked the first time an actor had ever played the same character in 7 different prime time series. Belzer also appeared in another episode of Arrested Development (S.O.B.s) but was credited as himself in that episode.
- 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 in Cheers (1982-1993), St. Elsewhere (1985), The Tortellis (1987), Wings (1990), The Simpsons (1994) and Frasier (2002).
He also appeared in Comedy Central's broadcast of the Friars Club roast of Chevy Chase.
Belzer was honored by the New York Friars Club and the Toyota Comedy Festival June 9, 2001 as the honoree of the first ever roast that was open to the public. Comedians and friends on the dais included Roast master Paul Shaffer, Christopher Walken, Danny Aiello, Barry Levinson, Robert Klein, Bill Maher, SVU co-stars Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Ice-T, and Dann Florek, and Law & Order’s Jerry Orbach.
Books By Richard Belzer
- UFO's, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have To Be Crazy To Believe, ISBN 0345429184
- How to Be a Stand-Up Comic, ISBN 0394562399
- Momentum: The Struggle for Peace, Politics, and the People (By Belzer and Marjorie Mowlam), ISBN 0340793945
Trivia
- Belzer and Henry Winkler (most notably the Fonz on Happy Days) are cousins.
- Belzer's wife Harlee McBride made 2 soft porn movies Young Lady Chatterley (1977)and Young Lady Chatterley II (1985)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090356/. She also had a recurring role in ' Life on the Street'' as Medical Examiner Alyssa Dryer
- He has appeared in episodes of four different series with Sam Waterston: Law & Order, Life on the Street, Special Victims Unit and Trial by Jury.
- His trademark is that he often appears wearing sunglasses, even indoors.
- Richard Belzer testified on behalf of a criminal who was running from actual Baltimore police and ran onto the set of Homicide: Life on the Street. The criminal surrendered to the actors. Belzer said the look on the man's face was adequate punishment.
- Former jobs include teacher, census-taker, jewelry salesman and dockworker.
- He is a noted conspiracy theorist. As is his character in the Law & Order Franchise.
- Fellow SVU star Mariska Hargitay mentioned on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, that Belzer occasionally gets rides to work by NYPD police officers.
- Richard Belzer voiced a character "Loogie" for an episode in South Park's 4th season. Loogie, a young mafia boss who ran a multi-city empire which generated revenues by placing teeth under unsuspecting childrens pillows and then returning later for the cash.
Quotes
On the military (From appearance on Bill Maher's Real Time):
- "No one is questioning the nobility and honor of these men and women that are serving and what they're doing. No one questions that. Now they're targets and they're not going out, they're just protecting each other and they're in the middle of a civil war. So it's really not fair to have these people, who volunteered their lives to protect our nation under false pretenses, to now be targets"
- "They're 19- and 20-year-old kids who couldn't get a job...the soldiers are not scholars, they're not war experts."
- In regard to Ann Coulter (From appearance on Bill Maher's Real Time): "She is a fascist party doll."
- In his roast of Chevy Chase, Belzer said, "The only time Chevy Chase has a funny bone in his body is when I fuck him in the ass."
External links
American television actors | American television talk show hosts | American stand-up comedians | Brady Bunch actors | Miami Vice actors | Homicide: Life on the Street cast | Law & Order actors | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actors | Law & Order: Trial by Jury actors | National Lampoon people | Actors who portrayed Inspector William Henderson | X-Files actors | Jewish American actors | Jewish American comedians | People from Bridgeport, Connecticut | 1944 births | Living people | American character actors | American film actors
"Richard Belzer"