Richard Belzer, TV detective and stand-up comedian, dies at 78 – Nationwide

Richard Belzer, the longtime slapstick comedian who turned one in all TV’s most indelible detectives as John Munch in “Murder: Life on the Road” and “Legislation & Order: SVU,” has died. He was 78.

Belzer died Sunday at his residence in Bozouls in southern France, his longtime pal Invoice Scheft instructed The Hollywood Reporter. Comic Laraine Newman first introduced his demise on Twitter. The actor Henry Winkler, Belzer’s cousin, wrote “Relaxation in peace Richard.”

For greater than 20 years and throughout 10 sequence — together with appearances on “30 Rock” and “Arrested Growth” — Belzer performed the wise-cracking murder detective liable to conspiracy theories. Belzer first performed Munch on a 1993 episode of “Murder” and final performed him in 2016 on “Legislation & Order: SVU.”

Belzer by no means auditioned for the position. After listening to him on “The Howard Stern Present,” govt producer Barry Levinson introduced Belzer in to learn for the half.

“I might by no means be a detective. But when I have been, that’s how I’d be,” Belzer as soon as stated. “They write to all my paranoia and anti-establishment dissidence and conspiracy theories. So it’s been a variety of enjoyable for me. A dream, actually.”