‘Regulation & Order: SVU’ actor Richard Belzer dies at 78

Actor Richard Belzer, a core member of the “Regulation & Order” community behemoth, has died at age 78.

He was recognized for sporting his tinted glasses and doling out his cynical takes as Detective John Munch on the franchise’s “Regulation & Order: SVU” spinoff, which has aired for a record-breaking(Opens in a brand new tab) 24 years and stays probably the most watched packages on tv.

Belzer’s loss of life was introduced by mates and Hollywood friends on social media, who shared reminiscences from the actor’s lengthy profession. No additional info on his passing has been launched, apart from a press release to The Hollywood Reporter(Opens in a brand new tab) that he had suffered from “a number of well being points.”

In a press release to Selection(Opens in a brand new tab), present creator Dick Wolf mentioned, “Richard Belzer’s Detective John Munch is one in all tv’s iconic characters… Richard introduced humor and pleasure into all our lives, was the consummate skilled and we are going to all miss him very a lot.”

The function of Detective Munch was history-making in its personal proper — Munch appeared in additional tv sequence (9 whole) than every other fictional character. Belzer performed the function for 21 years, originating the acerbic detective on the 1993 present Murder: Life on the Road. Belzer departed from the function on “SVU” in 2013, however briefly returned to the present in 2016 and continued a sequence of visitor spots throughout quite a lot of exhibits. Previous to his detective function, Belzer was recognized for his comedic abilities as each an actor and slapstick comedian.

Whereas long-time followers mourn the “Regulation & Order” loss, Belzer’s good friend and author Invoice Scheft mentioned he left the world with one remaining Munch-ian line(Opens in a brand new tab): “Fuck you, motherfucker.”