Richard Jay Belzer (born August 4, 1944) is an American stand-up comedian, author, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as John Munch, whom he has portrayed as a regular cast member on the NBC police drama series Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as in guest appearances on a number of other series. Belzer was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He grew up in a Jewish family. After high school, Belzer worked as a reporter for the Bridgeport Post. He attended what was then Dean Junior College in Franklin, Massachusetts. Belzer's first two marriages were to Gail Susan Ross and boutique manager Dalia Danoch , both of which ended in divorce. In 1981 in Los Angeles he met 31-year-old Harlee McBride, a divorcee with two daughters, Bree and Jessica. McBride, who had been seen in Playboy magazine four years earlier as part of that year's sex-in-cinema feature, in conjunction with Young Lady Chatterley, was appearing in TV commercials for the auto maker Ford and acting in free theater, when she met Belzer at the suggestion of a friend. The two married in 1985. He owns property in the south of France, where he and his wife live when Belzer is not working in the United States. Belzer survived testicular cancer in 1983. His HBO special and comedy CD Another Lone Nut pokes fun at this as well as his status as a well-known conspiracy theorist.
