Homicide: Life On The Street and Law & Order: SVU star Richard Belzer has died aged 78. The veteran stand-up comedian died on Sunday at his home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, southern France, his friend Bill Scheft said.
Scheft, a writer who had been working on a documentary about Belzer, said there was no known cause of death but Belzer had been dealing with circulatory and respiratory issues. He is best known for playing John Munch, a wise-cracking, acerbic homicide detective prone to conspiracy theories, across ten series - even including appearances on 30 Rock and Arrested Development.
Belzer first played Munch on a 1993 episode of Homicide and last played him in 2016 on Law & Order: SVU. He never auditioned for the role - after hearing him on The Howard Stern Show, executive producer Barry Levinson brought the comedian in to read for the part.
