Law & Order star and comedian Richard Belzer died on Sunday, February 19, 2023. His longtime friend, writer Bill Scheft, announced his passing and stated that Belzer had had multiple health issues. He was 78 years old.

Belzer played investigator John Munch from ’93 to 2016. First, he played him on Homicide: Life on the Street for seven seasons and 122 episodes. Then he moved over to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit where he played the detective for 326 episodes across 14 seasons. He played Munch on other incarnations of Law & Order, as well as on other series like The X-Files, The Beat, Arrested Development, The Wire, 30 Rock, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

He was born on August 4, 1944, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Belzer spoke candidly about how his mother was physically abusive, so he learned to use his comedic talents to make her laugh to distract her. His stand-up comedy career began as a member of the Channel One comedy troupe and he was a warm up comedian for Saturday Night Live from ’75 to ’80.

Belzer’s first onscreen work was in 1974 in The Groove Tube, followed by two episodes of Sesame Street in the late ‘70s. Over the next decade, he starred in popular projects like Fame, Night Shift, Flicks, Scarface, episodes of Moonlighting and Miami Vice, Freeway, and Fletch Lives.

Before he started playing Munch, he starred in The Flash TV series, Missing Pieces, and Mad Dog and Glory. He was also in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, The Larry Sanders Show, Girl 6, Mad About You, Man on the Moon, 3rd Rock from the Sun, and The Comedian.