By Jake Coyle | Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Belzer, the longtime humorist who turned considered one of TV’s most indelible detectives as John Munch in “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Law & Order: SVU,” has died. He was 78.
Belzer died Sunday at his residence in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, in southern France, his longtime pal Bill Scheft mentioned. Scheft, a author who had been engaged on a documentary about Belzer, mentioned there was no recognized reason behind dying, however that Belzer had been coping with circulatory and respiratory points. The actor Henry Winkler, Belzer’s cousin, tweeted, “Rest in peace Richard.”
For greater than 20 years and throughout 10 collection — even together with appearances on “30 Rock” and “Arrested Development” — Belzer performed the wise-cracking, acerbic murder detective susceptible to conspiracy theories. Belzer first performed Munch on a 1993 episode of “Homicide” and final performed him in 2016 on “Law & Order: SVU.”
Belzer by no means auditioned for the position. After listening to him on “The Howard Stern Show,” government producer Barry Levinson introduced the comic in to learn for the half.
“I would never be a detective. But if I were, that’s how I’d be,” Belzer as soon as mentioned. “They write to all my paranoia and anti-establishment dissidence and conspiracy theories. So it’s been a lot of fun for me. A dream, really.”
From that unlikely starting, Belzer’s Munch would turn into considered one of tv’s longest-running characters and a sunglasses-wearing presence on the small display for greater than 20 years. In 2008, Belzer printed the novel “I Am Not a Cop!” with Michael Ian Black. He additionally helped write a number of books on conspiracy theories, about issues like President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
“He made me laugh a billion times,” his longtime pal and fellow stand-up Richard Lewis mentioned Sunday on Twitter.
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Belzer was drawn to comedy, he mentioned, throughout an abusive childhood through which his mom would beat him and his older brother, Len. He would do impressions of his childhood idol, Jerry Lewis. “My kitchen was the toughest room I ever worked,” Belzer advised People journal in 1993.
After being expelled from Dean Junior College in Massachusetts, Belzer launched into a lifetime of stand-up in New York in 1972. At Catch a Rising Star, Belzer turned an everyday performer and an emcee. He made his big-screen debut in Ken Shapiro’s 1974 movie “The Groove Tube,” a TV satire co-starring Chevy Chase, a movie that grew out of the comedy group Channel One that Belzer was part of.
Before “Saturday Night Live” modified the comedy scene in New York, Belzer carried out with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and others on the National Lampoon Radio Hour. In 1975, he turned the warm-up comedian for the newly launched “SNL.” While many solid members rapidly turned well-known, Belzer’s roles have been largely smaller cameos. He later mentioned “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels reneged on a promise to work him into the present.
But Belzer turned one of many period’s prime stand-ups. He was recognized particularly for his biting, cynical perspective and his witty, generally combative banter with the viewers. As one of the vital influential comedians of the ’70s, Belzer was a grasp of crowd work.
“My style evolved from dealing with drunken people at twelve, one, two in the morning and trying to be like an alchemist and get the lead of their lives and turn it into golden jokes,” Belzer advised Terry Gross on “Fresh Air.”
Belzer would later write an irreverent self-help e book titled “How to Be a Stand-Up Comic” with recommendation on issues like find out how to apologize to Frank Sinatra while you made enjoyable of him onstage or find out how to take care of hecklers. One of his favourite strains was: “I have a microphone. You have a beer. God has a plan and you’re not in on it.”
Belzer typically performed a stand-up comedian in movie, together with in Nineteen Eighties’ “Fame” and 1983’s “Scarface.” He had small roles right here and there, together with in “Night Shift” in 1982, and “Fletch Lives” in 1989. But Munch would change Belzer’s profession.
As “Homicide” co-creator Tom Fontana mentioned, “Munch was the spice in these dishes,” Belzer advised the AV Club. “Munch was based on a real guy in Baltimore who was a star detective, in a way. He would come onto grisly murder scenes, start doing one-liners, because someone had to break the tension. So Munch served a very important function. Not only was he a dissident who said what was on his mind, he kind of had the gallows humor that’s needed in a homicide squad.”
When “Homicide” wrapped in early 1999, Munch known as Dick Wolf to see if the character may be a part of one other NBC collection, “Law & Order,” the place Munch had popped up in a couple of earlier episodes. Wolf already had his leads for “Law & Order,” however he needed Belzer to star in a by-product. That fall, “Law & Order: SVU” premiered, with Belzer starring alongside Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni in a storyline written as if Munch had transferred from Baltimore to New York.
“Richard Belzer’s Detective John Munch is one of television’s iconic characters,” Wolf mentioned in an announcement.”I first labored with Richard on the ‘Law & Order’/’Homicide’ crossover and cherished the character a lot,” Wolf mentioned. “I wanted to make him one of the original characters on ‘SVU.’ The rest is history. Richard brought humor and joy into all our lives, was the consummate professional and we will all miss him very much.”
Belzer is survived by his third spouse, the actress Harlee McBride, whom he married in 1985. For the previous 20 years, they lived largely in France, in properties he bought partially from the proceeds of a lawsuit with Hulk Hogan. In 1985, Belzer had Hogan as a visitor on his cable TV speak present “Hot Properties” to carry out a chin-lock on him. Belzer handed out, hit his head and sued Hogan for $5 million. They settled out of court docket.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”