Richard Dunn (actor)
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Richard Dunn (December 18, 1935 – June 4, 2010) was an American
character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrie ...
popularized by
Tim Heidecker Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. As an actor, Heidecker's filmography includes roles in ' ...
and
Eric Wareheim Eric Alexander Wareheim (; born April 7, 1976) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, and musician. He is best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, alongside Tim Heidecker. He also had a recurring role on the Netflix series ...
. Dunn was best known to audiences for his appearances on ''
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. It premiered on February 11, 2007 and originally ...
'', a
sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...
television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...
. Dunn portrayed many different characters (often bizarre versions of himself) in many episodes of ''
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. It premiered on February 11, 2007 and originally ...
'' from 2007 until 2010. In addition, Dunn had small roles in ''
House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
'', '' Parks and Recreation'', ''
Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...
'' and ''
Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States for six seasons from 2003 to 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime, black comedy, family drama, sati ...
''. He also appeared in the 1998 film ''
The Wedding Singer ''The Wedding Singer'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Christine Taylor, and tells th ...
'' and the
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for Diddy's 2000 single "
Bad Boy for Life "Bad Boy for Life" is a song by American rappers P. Diddy, Black Rob and Mark Curry, featured on Diddy's 2001 third album '' The Saga Continues...''. Produced by Megahertz (Dorsey Wesley), it was released as the second single from the album i ...
.". He first got into show business through his friend, producer Robert Marcus. He volunteered to be a 'gofer' (
production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...
) for Marcus' productions. Marcus wrote a book about how to be a production assistant and dedicated it to Dunn. He first got his start as an actor by taking roles as a
background actor A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera, or ballet production who appears in a nonspeaking or nonsinging (silent) capacity, usually in the background (for example, in an audience or busy street ...
, and subsequently took classes for acting. He performed a number of roles in commercials and music videos. His first few professional roles earned him enough money to become a member of the
Screen Actors' Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...
. Dunn was approached by
Tim Heidecker Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. As an actor, Heidecker's filmography includes roles in ' ...
in a parking lot and offered a gig playing Tim's father in the first episode of ''
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. It premiered on February 11, 2007 and originally ...
''. After this, Dunn was a regular feature in the show, as well as other outlets of the Tim and Eric franchise until his death, and was posthumously honored in the first episode of spin-off series '' Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule'' and the song "Richard Dunn is Done" by fellow ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' regular
David Liebe Hart David Nkrumah Liebe Unger Hart, also credited as D. L. Hart, (born April 19, 1957) is an American outsider artist, musician, painter, puppeteer and actor. He is best known for his appearances on Adult Swim's ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job ...
on his album ''Mixtape''.The Richard Dunn Interview. Derek Cox, 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWHuJuyWxgk


Personal life

Dunn was born in
Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. It is a principal city of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents i ...
, one of four children (himself, two brothers and a sister). During junior high school, he played football and regarded it as one of the few times in his life he was really motivated. His family moved to
Chicago, IL Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and lived there for a few years, before moving to
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, where they lived for the duration of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. After the war he moved back to Chicago with his family for a brief period until the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
, at which time they moved back to California. His mother died when he was 16, and at 17 he joined the
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
, where he went through basic training in
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
. After a four-year Navy career he resumed a normal life in California working with horses, however he shortly joined the
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...
, where he remained employed for another four years. After which, he returned to his life of horses for another nine months before re-joining the Navy. He remained in the Navy until March 1977, at which point he retired at the age of 41. He resided in southern California thereafter, where he attended
Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a Public university, public community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. The coll ...
. The Navy made a lasting impression on him. Dunn considered his other significant influences to be his mother in law, his junior high coach, and producer Robert Marcus.


See also

*
List of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! sketches and characters The following is a list of recurring characters and featured sketches from ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!''. Some of the recurring characters on the list have also made appearances on ''Tom Goes To The Mayor'' and '' Check It Out! with Dr. ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Richard 1935 births 2010 deaths American male television actors American male film actors Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery People from Urbana, Illinois