On the NBC police drama programs Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Richard Belzer played a regular cast member in addition to making guest roles on several other shows.
From 1993 until his retirement in 2016, he spent 23 years playing the part.
Is Richard Belzer still on law and order?
He then played police investigator John Munch in both the Baltimore-based Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999) and the New York City–based Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2013) television series.
Belzer performed lines from the script for “Gone for Goode,” the first episode of the series, during his audition, and Barry Levinson, the executive producer of Homicide, called him a “lousy actor.” Levinson instructed Belzer to reread the material, practice it, and then read it once again. Belzer was “still horrible” at his second reading, according to Levinson, but the actor ultimately gained confidence in his portrayal.
Why did Belzer leave law and order?
The real-world mandatory retirement age for the New York Police Department, which is 63 years old, turned out to be the cause. Despite this, Richard continued to appear as a guest on the show even after quitting it.