Richard Overton (born August 10, 1954) is an American actor and screenwriter. His writing credits include ''

Dennis Miller Live ''Dennis Miller Live'' is an American weekly late-night talk show on HBO, hosted by comedian Dennis Miller. The show ran 215 episodes from 1994 to 2002, and received five Emmy awards and 11 Emmy nominations. It was also nominated six times for th ...

'' (1994–2002), for which he received a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

, while his acting credits include '' Gung Ho'' and '' Odd Jobs'' (both 1986), '' Million Dollar Mystery'' (1987), ''

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

'' (1988), '' The Rocketeer'' (1991), ''

Eight Legged Freaks ''Eight Legged Freaks'' (originally titled ''Arac Attack'', under which it was released in some parts of Europe and other countries around the world) is a 2002 monster comedy horror film directed by Ellory Elkayem and starring David Arquette, ...

'' (2002) and '' Northfork'' (2003).

Life and career

Overton was born on August 10, 1954, in

Forest Hills, Queens Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is adjacent to Corona to the north, Rego Park and Glendale to the west, Forest Park to the south, Kew Gardens to the southeast and Flushing ...

, New York, the son of Nancy Overton (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Swain), a singer, and Hall Overton, a teacher and music arranger. He grew up in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Engle ...

, where he attended Dwight Morrow High School. Overton made his first onscreen appearance performing his standup act in 1981's ''HBO Presents The 6th Annual Young Comedians''. His first movie role was in the 1982 film '' Young Doctors in Love'', followed by a small role in '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' later that year. In 1987, he wrote an episode of '' The New Adventures of Beans Baxter'' while also appearing in various films and television shows including ''

'', ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...

'' and '' Million Dollar Mystery''. In 1992, he landed a role in the FOX Network

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 ...

show ''

The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is a British-Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist o ...

''. The show ended in 1993. Later that year, Overton appeared in two episodes of ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'' and landed a small role in '' Mrs. Doubtfire''. The following year, he won an Emmy for writing an episode of ''Dennis Miller Live''. In 2005, Overton appeared on '' Alias'' and ''

Joan of Arcadia ''Joan of Arcadia'' is an American fantasy family drama television series telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi ( Amber Tamblyn), who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on Fridays on CBS f ...

''; in the latter he played God explaining to the title character the meaning of real wealth. He also portrayed both

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

and

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

in a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

episode of '' The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd'' that same year. In 2009, Overton appeared in the film ''A Fork in the Road'' alongside

Jaime King Jaime Barbara King (born April 23, 1979) is an American actress and model best known for her roles in TV series '' Hart of Dixie'' (2011–2015) and ''Black Summer'' (2019–2021), and films such as ''Pearl Harbor'' (2001), ''Slackers'' (200 ...

. In 2010s, Overton appeared in a

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

commercial.

Filmography

*''Target...Earth?'' (1980, Documentary) – Himself *'' Young Doctors in Love'' (1982) – Dr. Thurman Flicker *'' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982) – Clerk *''

Beverly Hills Cop ''Beverly Hills Cop'' is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, with a screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., and story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr. It stars Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Det ...

'' (1984) – Bonded Warehouse Night Supervisor *'' Odd Jobs'' (1986) – Roy *'' Gung Ho'' (1986) – Googie *'' A Fine Mess'' (1986) – Companion *'' Modern Girls'' (1986) – Marsalis *'' Million Dollar Mystery'' (1987) – Stuart Briggs *''

'' (1988) – Franjean *''

Traxx Alstom Traxx (sold as Bombardier TRAXX before 2021) is a modular product platform of mainline diesel-electric and electric locomotives. It was produced originally by Bombardier Transportation and later Alstom, and was built in both freight an ...

'' (1988) – Frank Williams *'' Earth Girls Are Easy'' (1988) – Dr. Rick *'' That's Adequate'' (1989) – Stand-up Comic *'' A Sinful Life'' (1989) – Janitor *'' Blind Fury'' (1989) – Tector Pike *'' The Rocketeer'' (1991) – South Seas Patron *'' Galaxies Are Colliding'' (1992) – Rex *''

Groundhog Day Groundhog Day (, , , ; Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a tradition observed regionally in the United States and Canada on February 2 of every year. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if ...

'' (1993) – Ralph *'' Mrs. Doubtfire'' (1993) – Maitre D' *'' The High Crusade'' (1994) – Sir Roger *'' Devil in the Flesh'' (1998) – Dr. Milletson *'' My Giant'' (1998) – Director *'' EDtv'' (1999) – Barry *'' Jackpot'' (2001) – Roland *''Extreme Honor'' (2001) – Dr. Lumber *''Shoot or Be Shot'' (2002) – Sasha *''

'' (2002) – Deputy Pete Willis *'' Northfork'' (2003) – Rudolph *''Motocross Kids'' (2004) – Hook *'' Serial Killing 4 Dummys'' (2004) – Mr. Korn *''Off the Lip'' (2004) – McReady *''

Taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

'' (2004) – Man at Taxi Convention *'' Fat Albert'' (2004) – Coach Gillespie *''

Frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when someone is exposed to extremely low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occ ...

'' (2005) – Bartender *'' A Lot Like Love'' (2005) – Tailor *''Keep Your Distance'' (2005) – Dr. Floyd Beasley *'' Popstar'' (2005) – Mr. Thomas *'' Fun with Dick and Jane'' (2005) – Head Shop Clerk *''Blue Sombrero'' (2005) – General Hard / Fabio / Major Cajones *'' Cloud 9'' (2006) – Buckner *''Billy Schulz'' (2006) – Billy Schulz *''The Last Stand'' (2006) – Redneck Heckler *''Comedy Hell'' (2006) – Wayne *'' The Tripper'' (2006) – Mayor Hal Burton *'' The Astronaut Farmer'' (2006) – Arnold 'Arnie' Millard *'' National Lampoon's Pledge This!'' (2006) – Janitor Jones *''Chasing Robert'' (2007) – Thadeus Wrazinski *''The Metrosexual'' (2007) – Meter Maid *'' A Plumm Summer'' (2007) – Agent Brinkman *''Totally Baked'' (2007) – Himself – Street Interview *''

Cloverfield ''Cloverfield'' is a 2008 American Found footage (film technique), found footage monster movie, monster horror film directed by Matt Reeves and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller (in his film debut), Mic ...

'' (2008) – Frantic Man *''So Long Jimmy'' (2008) – Dimitri Adams *''The Whole Truth'' (2009) – Uri Standinoff *'' Year One'' (2009) – Sodom Officer Rick (uncredited) *'' The Informant!'' (2009) – Terry Wilson *''A Fork in the Road'' (in post-production, 2010) – Sheriff Thompson *''Jelly'' (Post-Production, 2010) – Tad Wasserstein *'' Dinner for Schmucks'' (2010) – Chuck – Beard Champion *''

InSight Insight is the understanding of a specific causality, cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of se ...

'' (2011) – Det. Gehrke *'' Bad Teacher'' (2011) – Philip *''Frogtown'' (2011) – Steve *'' The Babymakers'' (2012) – Officer Raspler *'' Noobz'' (2012) – Martin Wilson *'' A Haunted House 2'' (2014) – Professor Wilde *'' Such Good People'' (2014) – Sidney Talmadge *'' Muffin Top: A Love Story'' (2014) – Steve *''Lethal Seduction'' (2015) – Deacon Williams *''Body High'' (2015) – Abe *''30 Years of Dark Seduction'' (2015) – Himself *'' Dave Made a Maze'' (2017) – Hobo *''

Literally, Right Before Aaron ''Literally, Right Before Aaron'' is a 2017 American comedy film written and directed by Ryan Eggold. The film stars Justin Long, Cobie Smulders, Ryan Hansen, John Cho, Kristen Schaal, Dana Delany, Peter Gallagher, Lea Thompson and Luis Guzmán. T ...

'' (2017) – Dean *'' A Futile and Stupid Gesture'' (2018) – First Publisher *'' Duck Duck Goose'' (2018) – Stanley (voice)

Television

*''HBO Presents The 6th Annual Young Comedians'' – Himself *'' Remington Steele'' (1 episode, 1983) – New Wave Cop *''Help Wanted: Kids'' (1986) – Photographer *''Double Switch'' (1987) – DeeJay *''

'' (1 episode, 1987) – John Aubrey *''Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge'' (1987, TV Movie) – Additional Improviser *''Encyclopedia Brown'' (1 episode, 1989) – Buddy Claggett *'' Babes'' (10 episodes, 1990) – Ronnie Underwood * ''Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures'' (animated) (1991) – voice of Rufus * ''Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures'' (live action)'(1992) – Rufus *''

'' (7 episodes, 1992–1993) *''

'' (2 episodes, 1993) – The Drake *''Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 Women'' (1994, TV Movie) – Officer Brown *'' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' (2 episodes, 1994–1995) – Victor *''

Duckman ''Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man'', commonly known simply as ''Duckman'', is an American adult animated sitcom created and developed by Everett Peck, based on the characters he created in his 1990 one-shot comic book published by Dark Horse Com ...

'' (1 episode, 1995) – (voice) *''Encino Woman'' (1996, TV Movie) – Raji *'' The Single Guy'' (2 episodes, 1996) – Carl Gannon / Gannon *'' Married... with Children'' (2 episodes, 1996) – Dr. Fisher *'' Ned and Stacey'' (1 episode, 1997) – Rod *'' ER'' (1 episode, 1997) – Mr. McNamara *'' The Weird Al Show'' (1 episode, 1997) – Mr. Molasses *'' Mad About You'' (2 episodes, 1998) – Earl / Shepherd *'' Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show'' (1 episode, 1998) – George *'' It's Like, You Know...'' (2 episodes, 1999–2001) – Evan / Milosevic *'' The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne'' (5 episodes, 2000) – Count Gregory *''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadc ...

'' (3 episodes, 2000) – Triad Member #3 *'' JAG'' (1 episode, 2001) – William Markey *''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'' (1 episode, 2001) – Angry Gentile *''Comic Remix'' (1 episode, 2002) *''My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star'' (11 episodes, 2002) – Dole Greyson *''

NYPD Blue ''NYPD Blue'' is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble ca ...

'' (1 episode, 2002) – Richard Webb *'' According to Jim'' (1 episode, 2004) – Rick *'' Six Feet Under'' (1 episode, 2004) – Thomas Sheedy *''

'' (1 episode, 2004) – Bad Stand-Up Comedian God *'' Alias'' (1 episode, 2005) – Alexei Vasilevich *''Family Plan'' (2005, TV Movie) – Owens *'' Lost'' (1 episode, 2005) – Matthew Reed *''Van Stone: Tour of Duty'' (2006, TV Movie) – Gary Seibert's Dad *'' Rodney'' (1 episode, 2006) – Max *'' Drive'' (1 episode, 2007) – Bank Manager *'' Leverage'' (3 episodes, 2008–2009) – Taggert / FBI Agent Taggert *''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'' (2 episodes, 2009) – William Beesly *'' True Jackson, VP'' (1 episode, 2010) – Jimmy's Dad * ''

The George Lucas Talk Show ''The George Lucas Talk Show'' is an improvised talk show in New York City hosted by comedian Connor Ratliff, who appears as George Lucas, the creator of ''Star Wars'', and he interviews real guests as themselves in a panel format. He is jo ...

'' (1 episode, 2020) – Self * '' Secret Level'' (1 episode, 2024) – Dr. Light

Video game

*'' The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction'' (2005)

Writer

*''An Evening at the Improv'' (1 episode, 1983) *'' The New Adventures of Beans Baxter'' (1 episode, 1987) *''

'' (Unknown episodes, 1994)

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

*Nominated: Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program, ''

'' (1997) *Won: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program, ''Dennis Miller Live'' (1996)

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

*Nominated: Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series, ''Dennis Miller Live'' (1997)

References

External links

www.realrickoverton.com
*
Rick Overton on MySpaceRick Overton interviewed about growing up with a jazz legend father
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overton, Rick 1954 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors American male screenwriters American male comedians Dwight Morrow High School alumni Male actors from Queens, New York People from Forest Hills, Queens Male actors from Englewood, New Jersey Primetime Emmy Award winners 20th-century American male actors Comedians from New Jersey Comedians from Queens, New York 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from New Jersey