Sad news today as it’s been announced that Richard Riehle, the veteran character actor best known for Office Space, died of natural causes on October 15 in Los Angeles. He was 78.
Riehle was one of those actors who seemed to turn up in just about everything. You may not have always known his name, but you certainly recognized him each time he showed up, and he was always wonderful.
Office Space and So Much More
Riehle played Tom Smykowski in Office Space, a product manager at Initech who is laid off and survives a hit-and-run accident before winning a huge payout from a lawsuit, which enables him to follow his dreams…albeit from a full-body cast.
Speaking of that body cast…it was the real deal. “We didn’t have a regular effects person to put me into a body cast for my scene after the character’s accident, so we hired an EMT guy to put me in a real cast,” he said in a 2011 interview. “I couldn’t get out of it for 8 hours — and when the EMT had to go to work he left a cast-cutter for the PA [production assistant]. That was fun.“
But that film was merely a small part of his amazingly long career that spanned over 400 projects across six decades. The man truly was everywhere, and we were better for it.
Riehle appeared in movies such as Black Rain, Glory, Fried Green Tomatoes, Free Willy, The Fugitive, Casino, Executive Decision, Desperate Measures, Mercury Rising, Lethal Weapon 4, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Joe Dirt, Wedding Crashers, Hatchet, Halloween II, Bridesmaids, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, and so many more.
On the small screen, you can catch him in episodes of Quantum Leap, Murder, She Wrote, Ferris Bueller, The Golden Girls, Roseanne, Diagnosis: Murder, Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Columbo, The West Wing, Grounded for Life, The Legend of Korra, Barry, and more.
He Was in One of the Best Star Trek Episodes Ever
Personally, I always think of his appearances across the Star Trek franchise. He played Batai in The Inner Light, one of the very best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (and the whole damn franchise); played Seamus Driscol, a holographic resident of Fair Haven, in two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager; and played Dr. Jeremy Lucas, a friend of Doctor Phlox, in two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Our thoughts and condolences go out to Riehle’s family, friends, and loved ones.
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