Richard Belzer, the long-time stand-up comedian who became one of TV’s most indelible detectives as John Munch in Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: SVU, has died aged 78.
Belzer died on Sunday at his home in Bozouls in southern France, his long-time friend Bill Scheft told The Hollywood Reporter.
“He had lots of health issues, and his last words were, ‘F— you, motherf—er,’” Scheft said.
Comedian and former Saturday Night Live star Laraine Newman announced his death on Twitter, calling Belzer “one of the funniest people ever”.
The actor Henry Winkler, Belzer’s cousin, wrote “Rest in peace Richard”.
“I will miss you, your unique light, and your singular take on this strange world,” wrote SVU co-star Mariska Hargitay.
For more than two decades and across 10 series – including appearances on 30 Rock and Arrested Development – Belzer played the wise-cracking homicide detective prone to conspiracy theories.
Belzer first played Munch on a 1993 episode of Homicide and last played him in 2016 on Law & Order: SVU.
Belzer never auditioned for the role.
After hearing him on The Howard Stern Show, executive producer Barry Levinson brought Belzer in to read for the part.
“I would never be a detective. But if I were, that’s how I’d be,” Belzer once said.
“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 beginning, Belzer’s Munch would become one of TV’s longest-running characters and a sunglasses-wearing presence on the small screen for more than two decades.
In 2008, Belzer published the novel I Am Not a Cop! with Michael Ian Black.
He also helped write several books on conspiracy theories, about issues such as President John F Kennedy’s assassination and the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
“He made me laugh a billion times,” his long-time friend and fellow stand-up Richard Lewis said on Twitter.
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Belzer was drawn to comedy, he said, during an abusive childhood in which his mother would beat him and his older brother, Len.
“My kitchen was the toughest room I ever worked,” Belzer told People magazine in 1993.
After being expelled from Dean Junior College in Massachusetts, Belzer embarked on a life of stand-up in New York in 1972.
At Catch a Rising Star, Belzer became a regular.
He made his big-screen debut in Ken Shapiro’s 1974 film The Groove Tube, a TV satire co-starring Chevy Chase, a film that grew out of the comedy group Channel One that Belzer was a part of.
Before Saturday Night Live changed the comedy scene in New York, Belzer performed with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and others on the National Lampoon Radio Hour.
In 1975, he became the warm-up comic for the newly launched SNL.
While many cast members quickly became famous, Belzer’s roles were mostly smaller cameos.
He later said SNL creator Lorne Michaels reneged on a promise to work him into the show.
-with AAP
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