‘Night Court’ star was 80 years old – The Hollywood Reporter

Richard Moll

On Galella Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images

Richard Moll, the fun-loving actor who played the tall, kind-hearted Sheriff Aristotle Nostradamus “The Bull” Shannon on all nine seasons of the popular NBC sitcom. Night court During its original run, it died. He was 80 years old.

His publicist announced that Moll died peacefully on Thursday at his home in Big Bear Lake, California.

Fit for his 6-foot-8 frame, Moll played the Abominable Snowman alongside Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach in the comedy. Caveman (1981), and he was a creepy and decaying Vietnam veteran in the horror film a house (1986).

Moll also did a lot of voiceover work, playing the immortal bodyguard Norman in the syndicated series. Mighty Max And transforms as Harvey Dent/Two-Face for three Batman animation.

Maul had a shaved head, and he did so to play the warrior Huruk in the sci-fi film Metal Storm: Destruction of Jared Sin (1983) – When he auditioned for the role of Shannon Night courtcreated by Reinhold Wieg.

“Richard, a shaved head looks good,” they said. Are you going to shave your head for the part?” He remembers in a 2010 interview. “I said, ‘Are you kidding? I’ll shave my legs for this part. I’ll shave my armpits, I don’t care.’

with Night court Three times nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, Moll coined a catchphrase – “Oooo-kay” – appearing in all but one of the show’s 193 episodes from 1984 to 1992 alongside the likes of Harry Anderson and John Larroquette . Charlie Robinson and Markie Post.

Moll was not involved in Larroquette’s roster Night court The reboot has returned to NBC for the 2022-23 season.

Charles Richard Moll was born in Pasadena on January 13, 1943. His mother, Violet, was a nurse and his father, Harry, was an attorney.

He majored in history and psychology at UC Berkeley, graduating in 1964, then worked as a deputy probation officer in Alameda County and in a women’s stocking shop in San Francisco.

He came to Los Angeles in 1968 to pursue acting but found it difficult at first. He landed the role of a cannibal in a Hertz commercial opposite Don Adams and then Joseph Smith in a 1977 biopic about Brigham Young before getting parts in episodes. Welcome back, Cotter, And Rockford Files.

In 1979, Moll was cast as a gangster in the two-parter happy Days “Fonzie’s Funeral” episode, which led to him appearing in two other shows created by Garry Marshall, Laverne and Shirley And Mork and Mindy.

He filled his resume with work in films including Hard country (1981) and Ralph Bakshi American pop (1981) and in television programs such as The Adventures of Sheriff Lobo, BJ and the bear, Buck Rogers in the 25th century, T. J. Hooker, Alice And Dukes of Hazzard before landing on Night court.

He said Paul would be “very tough”. the people magazine in 2003, “But I think they saw something in me that made it softer.” In Manhattan Municipal Criminal Court, his character was associated nicely with bailiffs Selma Hacker (Selma Diamond, who died between seasons two and three), Flo Kleiner (Florence Halop, who died between seasons three and four), and Rose Russell (Marsha Warfield). .

Moll also played himself in 1987 in a two-part episode on NBC Facts of life She recurred as The Drifter in the Nickelodeon comedy from 1999-2002. 100 Works by Eddie McDodd.

As it appeared on Highlander, Babylon 5, Married with children And Anger control And in the movies Flintstones (1994), But I’m a cheerleader (1999) and Scary movie 2 (2001).

An avid birdwatcher and nature lover, Moll was twice married and divorced; His second wife, Susan, was the daughter of Milton Berle’s third and last wife, Lorna Adams. Survivors also include his children, Chloe and Mason, and stepchildren Cassandra and Morgan.