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Richard Belzer
Richard Belzer
Character
John Munch
Date of birth
August 4, 1944
Place of birth
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Date of death
February 19, 2023
Place of death
Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France
IMDb profile

Richard Jay Belzer was an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor, best known for his work as Detective John Munch on several television shows.

He was the maternal first cousin of actor Henry Winkler.

He first appeared as Munch in all seven seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street. His character later transferred from Baltimore to New York City to work in the Special Victims Unit. He was a regular cast member on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for the first fourteen seasons, and his character Munch was eventually promoted to the rank of sergeant. At the time of his departure from the main cast of Special Victims Unit, Belzer had portrayed his character for over 20 consecutive years (a record previously set by James Arness as Matt Dillion on Gunsmoke, and Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane on Cheers and Frasier).

He appeared in the Law & Order episodes "Charm City", "Baby, It's You", "Sideshow", and "Entitled". He also appeared in the Law & Order: Trial by Jury episode "Skeleton". Since his departure from Special Victims Unit, he has returned for guest appearances in the episodes "Spring Awakening" and "Fashionable Crimes".

Other television series that Belzer appeared in as John Munch are The X-Files (episode "Unusual Suspects"), The Beat (episode "They Say It's Your Birthday"), Arrested Development (episode "Exit Strategy"; Belzer also appeared in episode "S.O.B.s", but as himself), and The Wire (episode "Took"). He also appeared in the satirical The Brady Bunch movie A Very Brady Sequel as Munch in a parody crossover of Homicide: Life on the Street.

Munch is the only fictional character played by a single actor to appear on eight different television shows. These shows were on four different networks: NBC (Homicide: Life on the Street, the Law & Order shows), FOX (The X-Files, Arrested Development), UPN (The Beat), and HBO (The Wire).

Belzer passed away on February 19, 2023, in his home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France from complications of unspecified circulatory and respiratory conditions. This was three days after his character of John Munch was mentioned in the SVU twenty-fourth season episode "Dutch Tears". The following SVU episode, "King Of The Moon", was dedicated to his memory. Munch's character died in the twenty-fifth season episode "Tunnel Blind" to coincide with Belzer's death, ten seasons after departing the main cast and eight seasons since his final appearance in the series.


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