If it’s great, Hollywood has lost it.
Richard Belzer – the actor, comedian and writer perhaps best known for starring as Detective John Munch on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – has passed away.
He was 78 years old.
Belzer died early Sunday at his home in Bojoles, southwest France, according to writer Bill Schaft, a longtime friend of the actor.
“He had a lot of health problems, and his last words were, ‘Fuck you, motherfucker,'” Schaft told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday.
Belzer made his big screen debut in The Groove Tube (1974) and then wowed audiences in the early days of Saturday Night Live.
He made his first appearance in 1993 in the first episode of Homicide and last appeared as Mulk in 2016 on Law & Order: SVU.
Between those two NBC dramas, Belzer portrayed the same tired and jaded police force member. Eight other programs.
“I have never asked anyone to appear on his show. So it’s doubly flattering to me that I’m featured in a script and I’m so recognizable and lovable as the sarcastic detective and the smart-ass,” Belzer said in a 2008 interview.
“To my delight, because he’s a great character to me, it’s fun for me.
“So I’m not bothered at all about being typecast.”
After news of his death became public earlier today, Belzer was mourned by many famous friends and famous names.
“Richard Belzer passed away. He was an original. One of the greats, babe. I loved the guy. RIP,” wrote Marc Maron, for example.
“Belz … even holding her dog she was always the coolest cat in the room,” added Jeff Ross, sharing an old photo of Belz with his Poodle-Fox Terrier mix Babe.
In 2016, Belzer released the book Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination.
His other books include, but are not limited to, UFOs, JFK and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don’t Have to Be Crazy to Believe and Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country’s Most Controversial Cover-Ups.
Belzer is survived by his wife, Harley McBride, whom he married in 1985.
May his soul rest in peace.
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