R.I.P.: Peter Mark Richman, Jason Takes Manhattan villain Charles McCulloch

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Word has come out that we've lost another great character actor, as Peter Mark Richman has passed away from natural causes at the age of 93.

Over the course of a screen acting career that lasted from 1953 through 2016, Richman earned over 150 credits – but I'll always remember him for a credit that came right in the middle of his career. For me, he is Charles McCulloch from Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. In the later Friday the 13th movies, as viewers started to side with iconic slasher Jason Voorhees more and more, there would also be seconday villains in the mix, and Richman made McCulloch a real pain. An obstinate know-it-all who, in one of his douchier moments, put his niece through a very traumatic experience.

The other Richman performance I'm especially familiar with is his three episode role in one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Three's Company. There he played Reverend Snow, the father of Suzanne Somers' Chrissy Snow.

Beyond those two projects, Richman's many credits include episodes of Rawhide, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Cain's Hundred (in which he played the title character Nick Cain), The Twilight Zone, Combat!, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Hawaii Five-O, Mannix, Mission: Impossible, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Dallas, Wonder Woman, Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels, The Incredible Hulk, The Fall Guy, Fantasy Island, Dynasty, The Love Boat, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Matlock, Swamp Thing (the '90s version), Beverly Hills 90210, and Murder, She Wrote. For several decades, if there was a popular TV show, there was a chance Richman was going to show up on it. He also did voice work on Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and Superman: The Animated Series, and appeared with Leslie Nielsen in the 1965 horror film Dark Intruder, the 1991 comedy The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, and two episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

When he wasn't working on movies or TV shows, Richman found time to do theatre work, including writing his own plays. He also wrote novels and short stories, and was an accomplished painter. He was twice awarded for his charitable work, receiving the Silver Medallion from The Motion Picture and Television Fund and the Sybil Brand Humanitarian Award from the Jeffrey Foundation.

Richman was also a family man. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Helen Richman; five children; and six grandchildren.

Our sincere condolences go out to Richman's family, friends, and fans.

The moment we were all waiting for in Jason Takes Manhattan