fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Richard Jay Belzer (born August 4, 1944)[1] is a retired American actor, stand-up comedian, and author.[2] He is best known for his role as BPD Detective, NYPD Detective/Sergeant, and DA Investigator John Munch,[3] whom he has portrayed as a regular cast member on the NBC police drama series Homicide: Life on the Street[4] and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,[3] as well as in guest appearances on several other series. He portrayed the character for 23 years, from 1993 to 2016. Belzer retired from acting at age 71 in 2016.

Richard Belzer
Belzer at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2009
Birth name	Richard Jay Belzer
Born	(1944-08-04) August 4, 1944 (age 78) Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up film television books radio
Years active	1972–2016
Genres	Political satire observational comedy deadpan
Subject(s)	American culture American politics current events mass media
Spouse	Gail Susan Ross ​ ​ (m. 1966; div. 1972)​ Dalia Danoch ​ ​ (m. 1976; div. 1978)​ Harlee McBride ​ (m. 1985)​
Relative(s)	Henry Winkler (cousin)
Notable works and roles	John Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Early life and education

Belzer was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Frances and Charles Belzer, a tobacco and candy retailer.^{[citation needed]} He grew up in a Jewish family.[5] He described his mother as frequently physically abusive, and he declared that his comedy career began when trying to make his mother laugh to distract her from abusing him and his brother.[6] 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.[7] He worked in a variety of jobs, including sales and as a census taker.

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 costar of the ersatz TV show The Dealers.[8]

Belzer was the audience warm-up comedian for Saturday Night Live[9] and made three guest appearances on the show between 1975 and 1980.[10] He also opened for musician Warren Zevon during his tour supporting the release of his album Excitable Boy.[11]

Film

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Belzer became an occasional film actor. A short skit of a younger Richard 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 small roles in Fame, Café Flesh, Night Shift, and Scarface. He appeared in the music videos for the Mike + The Mechanics song "Taken In" and for the Pat Benatar song "Le Bel Age", as well as the Kansas video "Can't Cry Anymore". 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.[12] 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 660AM WNBC radio in New York City.[13] He has been 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.[14]

Belzer has been 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.[15]

Television

In the 1990s, Belzer appeared 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-based Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2013), portraying police detective John Munch in both series.[4] 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.[16] 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.[17]

In addition, Belzer has 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 eleven different television shows played by a single actor.[18] These shows were on six different networks:

• Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC)
• Law & Order (NBC)
• The X-Files (Fox)
• The Beat (UPN)
• 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[4] (NBC)
  • The characters are watching a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode; a scene shot for 30 Rock
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)
• Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix), in which he played a John Munch-like character on a fictional Law & Order spinoff.[19][20]

In March 2016, executive producer Warren Leight announced Belzer would return to reprise the role in a May 2016 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, titled "Fashionable Crimes".[21]

Belzer portrayed Det. Munch for 22 consecutive seasons on Homicide (7 seasons) and Law & Order: SVU (15 seasons), which exceeded the previous primetime live-action record of twenty consecutive seasons held by James Arness (who portrayed Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975) and Kelsey Grammer (as Dr. Frasier Crane on Cheers and Frasier from 1984 to 2004). This record has since been passed by Belzer's "SVU" co-star Mariska Hargitay.

Belzer appeared in several of Comedy Central's televised broadcasts of Friars Club roasts. On June 9, 2001, Belzer himself was honored by the New York Friars Club and the Toyota Comedy Festival as the honoree of the first-ever roast open to the public. Comedians and friends on the dais included Roastmaster Paul Shaffer; Christopher Walken; Danny Aiello; Barry Levinson; Robert Klein; Bill Maher; SVU costars Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Ice-T, and Dann Florek; and Law & Order's Jerry Orbach. At the December 1, 2002, 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."[22]

Belzer voiced the character of Loogie for most of the South Park episode titled "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000".^{[citation needed]} He and Brian Doyle-Murray were featured in the tenth-season premiere of Sesame Street.[23]

Author

Belzer believes there was a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy[24] and has written four books discussing conspiracy theories:

• UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don’t Have to Be Crazy to Believe
• 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
• Someone Is Hiding Something: What Happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?[25]

Dead Wrong and Hit List were written with journalist David Wayne and reached The New York Times Best Seller list.[25] Someone Is Hiding Something was also written with David Wayne as well as radio talk show host George Noory. Belzer's long-time character, John Munch, is also a believer in conspiracy theories, including the JFK assassination.

Personal life

Belzer's first two marriages were to Gail Susan Ross (1966–72)[26] and boutique manager Dalia Danoch (1976 – c. 1978),[26] both of which ended in divorce. In 1981 in Los Angeles he met 31-year-old Harlee McBride, a divorcee with two daughters,[27] Bree Benton and Jessica.[28] 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,[29] was appearing in TV commercials for Ford and acting in free theater when she met Belzer at the suggestion of a friend.[27] The two married in 1985.[26]

Belzer survived testicular cancer in 1983.[27] His 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, days prior to the inaugural WrestleMania, Belzer requested on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties that Hulk Hogan demonstrate one of his signature wrestling moves. After being asked by Belzer several times, Hogan put Belzer in a front chin-lock, which caused Belzer to pass out.[30] When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to the scalp that required a brief hospitalization.[31] Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and settled out of court. He used the incident in his HBO special Another Lone Nut as part of his stand-up routine.

Belzer's older brother, Leonard Belzer, died by suicide at age 73 in the early morning hours of July 30, 2014, by jumping from the roof of the New York City luxury apartment building in which he had resided.[6] Belzer's father had also died by suicide, in 1968.

Belzer moved to the town Bozouls in the South of France, following his being written out of SVU. He spends his time writing about his passion of conspiracy theories (Corporate Conspiracies: How Wall Street Will Take Over Washington and the upcoming Conversations with Jerry Lewis).

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	AKA 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	Richard Belzer	Also executive producer
2009	Polish Bar	Hershel
2010	Santorini Blue	Richard	Also executive producer
2017	Gilbert	Himself	[32]

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 Season 5 episode 106 (uncredited)
1978	Sesame Street	Man in Row Boat #1	Episode: "(#1186)"
1984	The Richard Belzer Show	Himself	Six episodes
1985	Moonlighting	Leonard	Episode: "Twas the Episode Before Christmas"
1986	Miami Vice	Captain Hook	Episode: "Trust Fund Pirates"
1989	Tattingers	—	Episode: "Ex-Appeal" AKA 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; AKA 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 1
2015	Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt	A John Munch-like character[19][20]	One episode: "Kimmy Goes to the Doctor!"

Books

• UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have to be Crazy to Believe, ISBN 0-345-42918-4
• How to Be a Stand-Up Comic, ISBN 0-394-56239-9
• I Am Not a Cop!: A Novel, ISBN 1-4165-7066-7
• I Am Not a Psychic!, ISBN 1-4165-7089-6
• Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country's Most Controversial Cover-Ups, ISBN 1-6160-8673-4
• Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination, ISBN 978-1620878071
• Someone Is Hiding Something: What Happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?, ISBN 978-1632207289

References

External links

• Official website
• Richard Belzer at IMDb
• Richard Belzer at AllMovie
• NBC Biography

На других языках

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[de] Richard Belzer

Richard Jay Belzer (* 4. August 1944 in Bridgeport, Connecticut) ist ein US-amerikanischer Komiker und Schauspieler.

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- [en] Richard Belzer

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[es] Richard Belzer

Richard Jay Belzer (n. 4 de agosto de 1944) es un actor, comediante y escritor estadounidense, reconocido por su actuación como el detective, John Munch, en la serie televisiva policiaca, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit de la NBC y Homicide: The life of the Street. Interpretó a dicho personaje durante 21 temporadas.[1]

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[ru] Белзер, Ричард

Ри́чард Бе́лзер (англ. Richard Belzer; род. 4 августа 1944, Бриджпорт) — американский актёр.

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