Law & Order star Richard Belzer dead at 78

Law & Order: SVU star Richard Belezer has reportedly died aged 78, at his dwelling in Bozouls in Southern France.

The beloved actor starred within the present for 15 seasons as Detective John Munch. He additionally starred in (*78*): Life on the Street for seven seasons.

Belzer had a protracted and various profession together with as a comic.

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Richard Belzer death — Richard Belezer has died aged 78, at his dwelling in Bozouls in Southern France. (Getty)

It was fellow comic Laraine Newman who first broke the information to the general public through Twitter, recalling their time collectively on Saturday Night Live.

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She shared on Twitter: ”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 exit to dinner each week at Sheepshead Bay for lobster. One of the funniest folks ever. A grasp at crowd work. RIP dearest.”

Belzer’s representatives and family are yet to issue a statement.

Julie Martin, who also served as a writer on Homicide: Life on the Street, tweeted: “Missing Richard Belzer immediately.

“Working with him on Homicide to SVU has been a hilarious, surprising and always joyful experience. I’m sure he’s giving ’em all a lot of laughs upstairs.”

TV host Jon Stewart tweeted: “Rest in Peace Belz. No better time than sitting back at Catch watching Richard wreck crowd after crowd…a master.”

Belzer was born in Connecticut within the US in 1944, starting his profession as a comic. He moved to New York City to proceed his profession the place he carried out stand-up and commenced showing on TV reveals and in films.

While he was by no means a foremost forged member on SNL, Belzer made common visitor appearances on the present within the late Seventies and behind the scenes he was accountable for warming up the group for the stay viewers.

His earliest film roles included The Groove Tube, Fame, Café Flesh, Night Shift, and Scarface.

It was in 1993 that Belzer landed his breakout function as Detective John Munch on Law & Order: SVU. The character of Detective Munch appeared on 11 completely different reveals throughout six networks together with on Law & Order spinoffs on NBC, The X-Files on Fox, The Beat on UPN, The Wire on HBO and Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.

More just lately he appeared as Munch on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix in addition to different comedies like Arrested Development on Fox and 30 Rock on NBC.

After being written out of Law & Order: SVU in 2016 after 325 episodes, Belzer retired from performing. He authored 4 non-fiction books about conspiracy theories, a lot of which reportedly mirrored his private beliefs concerning the dying of US President John F Kennedy and UFOs.

He survived testicular most cancers in 1983.

Belzer was married thrice and is survived by his third spouse, mannequin and actress Harlee McBride whom he married in 1985.

He is survived by McBride and his two stepdaughters.

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