Information about his death was brought by the website Variety.com referring to his cousin, actor Henry Winkler, who posted the information on his Twitter account. The cause of his death was unspecified “respiratory and circulatory problems”.
Sincere condolences to the family were subsequently published and are still being published by more and more colleagues, friends who remembered Belzer with love.
I’m so sad to hear of Richard Belzer’s passing. I loved this guy so much. He was one of my first friends when I got to New York to do SNL. We used to go out to dinner every week at Sheepshead Bay for lobster. One of the funniest people ever. A master at crowd work. RIP dearest. pic.twitter.com/u23co0JPA2
— Laraine Newman (@larainenewman) February 19, 2023
The website specified that the actor passed away in the French city of Beaulieu-sur-Mer this Sunday. “His John Munch is one of the iconic characters of television,” said Dick Wolf, screenwriter of NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, about his death. He specified that his acting performance was exceptional.
According to him, Belzer was similarly special: “Richard brought humor and joy to all of our lives, was a consummate professional and will be greatly missed by all of us.”
A role for decades
Richard Belzer played his legendary series role for 23 years. From 1993 to 2016. He left her because he wanted to retire. He started out in the art world as a stand-up comedian. He subsequently established himself in this profession from the mid-1970s also on television.
Minor roles in films followed. Among the last ones where he was cast, we can mention the successful film directed by Miloš Forman, Man on the Moon (1999).
Richard Belzer (1944-2023)
- He was born on August 4, 1944 in the American city of Bridgeport. In a Jewish family where – as he said – violence, suicides and mental illnesses were quite common.
- He started in show business as a stand-up comedian in the early 1970s. He worked there until 2016, when he decided to retire.
- The audience liked him especially as the face of the series. Next to Law and Order: Special Victims Unit appeared, among others, in the series X-Files, Superman, Crime in the Streets…
- He married three times.
- He died in the French town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer.
