Description:
Richard Belzer is most known for playing Sgt. John Munch in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Homicide: Life on the Street. His character as John Munch has also made in appearances in The X-Files, The Beat, Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Arrested Development and The Wire.
Trade Mark:
Dark glasses
His Long-running Role as Detective John Munch
Trivia:
Wrestler Hulk Hogan hurt him while demonstrating a wrestling move on a 1986 TV show called "Hot Properties" (1985). He was knocked unconscious and required stitches on his head. He sued Hogan for $5 million, but later settled out
Richard Belzer is most known for playing Sgt. John Munch in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Homicide: Life on the Street. His character as John Munch has also made in appearances in The X-Files, The Beat, Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Arrested Development and The Wire.
Trade Mark:
Dark glasses
His Long-running Role as Detective John Munch
Trivia:
Wrestler Hulk Hogan hurt him while demonstrating a wrestling move on a 1986 TV show called "Hot Properties" (1985). He was knocked unconscious and required stitches on his head. He sued Hogan for $5 million, but later settled out of court.
Is a frequent guest on "The Howard Stern Radio Show" (1998).
Became the third person to play the same character in six different prime-time TV series, playing Detective "John Munch" in "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993) (originating series), "Law & Order" (1990) (crossover), "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005)(crossover), "The X-Files" (1993) (crossover), "The Beat" (2000) (guest appearance in the short-lived UPN series), and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999). He followed John Ratzenberger and George Wendt, who played "Cliff Clavin" and "Norm Peterson" in "Cheers" (1982), "St. Elsewhere" (1982), "The Tortellis" (1987), "Wings" (1990), "The Simpsons" (1989), and "Frasier" (1993). Belzer upped his record to seven series with a cameo appearance in the 4th-to-last episode of David Simon's HBO series "The Wire: Took (#5.7)" (2008) (originally airing February 17, 2008); the appearance brought the character of Munch full circle as the character was born out of Simon's first series, Homicide, and in the scene he is hanging out in a police bar commenting on his experience owning a bar, which he did in Homicide.
Appeared on the 25 March 1978 episode of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) with Christopher Lee as the host and musical guest, Meat Loaf.
Appeared on the 2 October 1976 episode of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) with Eric Idle as the host and musical guests George Harrison, Joe Cocker, and Stuff.
Played himself in the movie Fame (1980).
Robert De Niro studied Belzer for his role in The King of Comedy (1982).
Auditioned for the role of Groucho Marx in the Tommy Tune production "A Day in Hollywood, a Night in the Ukraine." Belzer taught himself two songs from the 1930s ("Satin Doll" and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"), but did not get the part.
Was going to appear in Chevy Chase's movie, Modern Problems (1981), but scheduling conflicts could not be worked out. The date for the shooting of his scene was postponed twice and the day his scene was supposed to be shot, Belzer had a lucrative club date in New York, which was postponed at the last minute.
Testified on behalf of a low-level criminal who ran onto the set of "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993) while fleeing actual Baltimore police and surrendered to the actors; Belzer said the look on the guy's face was sufficient punishment
Cousin of Henry Winkler.
Appeared in episodes of three different series with Jerry Orbach: "Law & Order" (1990), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993), and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999).
Has appeared in episodes of three different television series with Jesse L. Martin: "Law & Order" (1990), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005).
His character Detective John Munch, whom he has played continuously on "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) since January 1993, is currently the longest-running character on U.S. prime-time drama television.
Was born on the same day that Anne Frank and her family were arrested by the Gestapo.
Has appeared in episodes of four different series with Sam Waterston: "Law & Order" (1990), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005).
Stepfather of Bree Benton.
Was an assistant emcee for the Comedy Central Presents: The N.Y. Friars Club Roast of Rob Reiner.
Appears on the cover of Billy Joel's "Turnstiles" album (1976).
Was one of the original emcees at Rick Newman's Catch a Rising Star, along with Elayne Boosler, in the mid to late 1970s.
He lives in France and speaks fluent French.
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.
Survived testicular cancer in 1984.
A paper boy in his youth in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he later worked as a reporter for the Bridgeport Post and several other newspapers around the country. Other jobs included teacher, census-taker, jewelry salesman and dockworker.
Supporter of the North Shore Animal League. However his poodle fox terrier, Bebe, was adopted in France when he followed Belz home one day. Bebe is his near-constant companion, especially at public events.
Was friend of George Carlin.
Was considered for the role of Clark Griswold in Vacation (1983).
Friend of Richard Lewis'.
Divides his time between New York City and his home in France.
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Tags: Born 1944 (2), Died 2023 (2), American (1), Author (1), Comedian (1), Jewish (1), Actor (1), Connecticut (1), Testicular Cancer (1), Died Aged 78 (1), Born In Connecticut (1), Born August 4 (1), Democratic (1), Dean College (1)
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