Richard Moll, who rose to fame as a bailiff in the original sitcom ‘Night Court’, dies aged 80

NEW YORK – Richard Moll, the character actor who achieved enduring fame as the eccentric but gentle giant bailiff on the original “Night Court” sitcom, has died. He was 80 years old.

Moll died Thursday at her home in Big Bear Lake, California, according to family spokesman Jeff Sanderson.

Moll played “Bull” Shannon on NBC’s “Night Court” from 1984 to 1992, alongside stars Harry Anderson and John Larroquette. Her character formed a close friendship with the court’s other bailiff, Roz Russell, played by Marsha Warfield. Bull was known for his shaved head, “Ohh-kay” catchphrase, and dull but sweet view of the world.

After “Night Court” ended, Moll contributed his distinctive gruff voice to various video games and comic book projects such as “Batman: The Animated Series” as Harvey Dent, and appeared in horror films such as “Ghost Shark” (2013) and “Slay Belles” took. (2018).

He voiced Scorpion in 1990’s “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” and had minor roles in 1994’s “The Flintstones,” Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comedy “Jingle All the Way” and “Scary Movie 2.”

In 1999, he appeared in the satire “But I’m a Cheerleader” with Natasha Lyonne and starred in “Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage” alongside Peter O’Toole, Marcia Gay Harden and Ed Asner.

The famous actor, who is 1.80 tall, did not participate in the reshoots of “Night Court”, starring Larroquette. The original “Night Court” finale ended with her character being kidnapped by aliens who needed someone tall to reach items on the highest shelves.

Raised in Pasadena, California, Moll majored in history and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1964. She became an assistant probation officer in Alameda County and later worked as a “women’s stocking stockist” for a company. a San Francisco store.

The idea of ​​pursuing acting as a career came when Moll asked herself: “’What do you want to do? ‘What should you do?’ not. or ‘What do you need to do?’ “That’s when I started studying acting,” he told People magazine in 2003.

He moved to Hollywood in 1968, but the decade that followed was filled with stops and starts. “It took me 10 years to find my way to the bathroom,” she told People.

Moll is survived by her children, Chloe and Mason Moll; ex-wife Susan Moll; and her stepchildren, Cassandra Card and Morgan Ostling.

First Publication Date: 27 October 2023, 18:01