New York — Richard Riehle, a prolific character actor in TV and film who often played authority figures but was equally adept at comedy, most notably playing a sad-sack product manager in “Office Space,” has died. He was 78.
Wright Entertainment Inc. said. Monday that Riehle had died on Oct. 15 but did not reveal a cause or details. “Our industry has lost a great talent, and our community has lost a great one,” the statement said.
Riehle’s nearly five-year career included playing a quartermaster in the Civil War drama “Glory,” a prison guard in “The Fugitive,” an air marshal in “Executive Decision,” a police officer in a guest spot on “The West Wing” and a principal on the TV adaptation of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
“If a casting director has found they need a burly, blustery, mustachioed guy for their project, Richard Riehle seems to have been near the top of their list,” the AV Club said in 2017.
He fell to becoming a senior at the University of Notre Dame. He could not stay another year but was told that he could take all the credits he needed in speech and drama in one semester. He stayed.
“I spent a semester doing anything and everything you do in the theater – acting, directing, building sets, etc. – and then for some reason they liked what I did enough that they got me a teaching assistantship at the University of Minnesota. So I went ahead and got my MFA (Masters of Fine Arts).
His first lines were in the 1977 film “Joyride” alongside Desi Arnaz Jr., Anne Lockhart, Robert Carradine and Melanie Griffith. He would go on to appear in the broad comedy “Bridesmaids”, the comedy mystery “Shadows and Fog” for Woody Allen, “Black Rain” with Michael Douglas and the sitcom “Grounded For Life”.
He had an affinity for the “Star Trek” world, landing in three franchises – “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in 1992, “Star Trek: Voyager” in 2000 and “Star Trek: Enterprise” in 2004. He was on Broadway three times, playing Paul Giamatti in a 1999 revival of “The Iceman Cometh.”
One of his most popular roles was in the 1999 film “Office Space,” as Tom Smykowski, a spendthrift employee at Initech who faces being fired despite insisting, “I have people skills!”
“In addition to his immense talent, he will be remembered for his genuine kindness, boundless kindness, and unwavering generosity, especially to emerging actors and filmmakers, whom he encouraged and supported at every opportunity,” Wright Entertainment said.