Longtime ‘Law and Order’ Actor Dies at Age 78

Richard Belzer passed away at his home in France on Sunday, it was confirmed

Richard Belzer attends The Paley Center For Media Presents: "Homicide: Life On The Street: A Reunion" at The Paley Center for Media in New York on May 24, 2018. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Richard Belzer, comedian and former “Law & Order” star, died at age 78 at his home in France, said his friend and his manager.

Belzer “passed away peacefully” on Sunday morning local time at his home, said manager Eric Gardner in a statement to several media outlets.

“He passed at home early this morning in the south of France—in his home in the south of France—with his family around him,” writer Bill Scheft, a longtime friend of the actor, said in a statement to outlets.

When speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Scheft, a former writer for the “Late Show with David Letterman,” said that Belzer suffered from a number of health issues.

Belzer is best known for his role as Detective John Munch, a character who first appeared on NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street” between 1993 and 1999. Later, he appeared as the same character in numerous “Law & Order: SVU” seasons.

“I would never be a detective, but if I were, that’s how I’d be,” he said during an interview with The Boomer Tube. “The character is very close to how I would be. They write to all my paranoia and anti-establishment dissidence and conspiracy theories, so it’s been a lot of fun for me. It’s been a dream actually.”

Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Belzer was drawn to comedy, he said, during an abusive childhood in which his mother would beat him and his older brother, Len. “My kitchen was the toughest room I ever worked,” Belzer told People magazine in 1993.

After being expelled from Dean Junior College in Massachusetts, Belzer embarked on a life of stand-up in New York in 1972. At Catch a Rising Star, Belzer became a regular. He made his big-screen debut in Ken Shapiro’s 1974 film “The Groove Tube,” a TV satire co-starring Chevy Chase, a film that grew out of the comedy group Channel One that Belzer was a part of.

Before “Saturday Night Live” changed the comedy scene in New York, Belzer performed with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and others on the National Lampoon Radio Hour. In 1975, he became the warm-up comic for the newly launched “SNL.” While many cast members quickly became famous, Belzer’s roles were mostly smaller cameos. He later said SNL creator Lorne Michaels reneged on a promise to work him into the show.

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In a statement posted on Twitter, “Law & Order” producer Dick Wolf said Belzer’s character was “one of television’s iconic characters.”

“I first worked with Richard on the ‘Law & Order’ / ‘Homicide’ crossover and loved the character so much. I told Tom (Fontana) that I wanted to make him one of the original characters on ‘SVU.’ The rest is history,” Wolf wrote online. “Richard brought humor and joy into all our lives, was the consummate professional, and we will all miss him very much.”

Other colleagues, including Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay, gave praise to their former co-star.

“Goodbye my dear, dear friend,” Hargitay said on Instagram. “I will miss you, your unique light, and your singular take on this strange world. I feel blessed to have known you and adored you and worked with you, side by side, for so many years.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.