William Atherton

• Name — William Atherton • Birth Name — William Atherton Knight • Born — 30 July 1947 • Birthplace — Orange, Connecticut, U.S. • Education — Carnegie Mellon University (BFA) • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 1972–present

Atherton was born July 30, 1947, in Orange, Connecticut. He studied acting at the Drama School at Carnegie Tech and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1969.

Atherton was successful on the New York stage immediately after graduating and worked with many of the country's leading playwrights including David Rabe, John Guare, and Arthur Miller, winning numerous awards for his work on and off Broadway. He got his big break playing hapless fugitive Clovis Poplin in The Sugarland Express (1974), the feature film debut of Steven Spielberg. After this, he garnered major roles in dark dramas such as The Day of the Locust (1975) and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), as well as the big-budget disaster film The Hindenburg (1975). He provided lead vocals for "What'll I Do", the main title theme for the Robert Redford film version of The Great Gatsby. Atherton also starred as cowboy Jim Lloyd in the miniseries Centennial (1978), based on the novel by James Michener. He appeared in the comedy Ghostbusters (1984) as the officious and condescending EPA agent Walter Peck. Martha Coolidge chose Atherton to play Professor Jerry Hathaway in the teen comedy Real Genius (1985). He played reporter Richard "Dick" Thornburg in the blockbuster action film Die Hard (1988), and reprised the role in its sequel Die Hard 2 (1990). Other film credits include No Mercy (1986), The Pelican Brief (1993), Bio-Dome (1996), Mad City (1997), The Crow: Salvation (2000), The Last Samurai (2003), Grim Prairie Tales (1990), the TV movies Buried Alive (1990), Headspace (2005) and Virus (1995). He has also made guest appearances on such television series as The Twilight Zone, Murder, She Wrote, Desperate Housewives, Law & Order, The Equalizer, Boston Legal, Castle and Monk. Atherton provided the voice of Dr. Destiny on Justice League. He had a recurring role in NBC's detective drama Life. His 2007 appearances included the film The Girl Next Door, an adaptation of the best-selling Jack Ketchum novel of the same name. He also reprised his role as Walter Peck in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, released on June 16, 2009. Atherton was cast in the final season of ABC's Lost. He appeared in the musical Gigi for the Reprise Theatre in Los Angeles as "Honoré Lachailles" in 2011. Following his work on the musical, he stepped into a comedic role in Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012), produced by Will Ferrell's Funny or Die, Gary Sanchez Productions and Abso Lutely Productions. In summer 2014, Atherton was cast in a recurring role as Viceroy Mercado in the Syfy series Defiances second season. Atherton co-starred in the 2017 Netflix thriller, Clinical, and appears in several upcoming documentaries on his most iconic films. The first to be released is Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters (2019) which features the original 1984 cast. In 2024, Atherton reprised his role as Walter Peck, now the mayor of New York City, in the film Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Atherton has been married to writer Bobbi Goldin since December 8, 1980. On The Phil Donahue Show in 1981, Atherton claimed that he was once homosexual but changed due to the Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel. Atherton has sung in various productions in later years. In 2011, he performed "I Remember It Well," a popular song from Gigi with his former Reprise Theater co-star, Millicent Martin, at a sold-out performance in Palm Springs for Michael Childers's One Night Only, benefiting the Jewish Family Service of the Desert. He returned in 2013 to the same sold-out event to sing the classic, "Isn't It Romantic?" Atherton appeared with his former Centennial costar Stephanie Zimbalist in the Gregory Peck Reading Series, a project of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles benefiting the Los Angeles Public Library. Roddy McDowall was host for the event. In December 2018, Atherton participated in the Library Foundation's reading of excerpts from book editor and critic, David Kipen's best-seller, Dear Los Angeles: The City in Diaries and Letters, 1542 to 2018.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1978–1979 — Centennial — Jim Lloyd — 9 episodes Miniseries • 1981 — The House of Mirth — Lawrence Selden — Television film • 1983 — Malibu — Stan Harvey — Television film • 1985, 1987 — The Twilight Zone — Mr. Dundee/Brian Wolfe — 2 episodes • 1985, 1987, 1991 — Murder, She Wrote — Larry Holleran/Greg Dalton/Andy Henley — 3 episodes • 1987 — The Equalizer — Martin "Alpha" Loeber — Episode: "Blood and Wine" • 1989 — The Equalizer — Gideon — Episode: "17 Zebra" • 1990 — Buried Alive — Cortland "Cort" van Owen — Television film • 1991 — Tales from the Crypt — Malcolm Mayflower — Episode: "Easel Kill Ya" • 1992 — Diagnosis: Murder – Diagnosis of Murder — Eric Walker — Television film • 1995 — Virus — Dr. Reginald Holloway — Television film • 1996 — Nash Bridges — Dr. Linus Mills — Episode: "Key Witness" • 1997, 1999 — The Practice — D.A. Keith Pratt — 3 episodes • 1998 — The Outer Limits — Franklin Murdoch — Episode: "To Tell the Truth" • 1999 — Introducing Dorothy Dandridge — Darryl Zanuck — Television film • 2001 — Night Visions — William Price — Episode: "Hate Puppet/Darkness" Segment: "Hate Puppet" • 2002, 2004 — Law & Order — Don Snyder/Dan Jensen — 2 episodes • 2003 — Justice League — John Dee / Doctor Destiny — 2 episodes Voice • 2005 — Boston Legal — A.D.A. Howard Zale — Episode: "It Girls and Beyond" • 2006 — Stargate SG-1 — Varta — Episode: "Collateral Damage" • Desperate Housewives — Dr. Barr — 2 episodes • 2007 — Numb3rs — Warren Pierce — Episode: "Tabu" • 2008 — Monk — Commander Nathan Whitaker — Episode: “Mr. Monk Is Underwater” • 2008–2009 — Life — Mickey Rayborn — 8 episodes • 2010 — Lost — Principal Donald Reynolds — Episode: "Dr. Linus" • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Ned Bogden — Episode: "Bedtime" • 2011 — Castle — Dr. Ari Weiss — Episode: "Head Case" • 2012 — Workaholics — Thor Holmvik — Episode: "The Meat Jerking Beef Boys" • 2013 — Defiance — Viceroy Berto Mercado — 5 episodes

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 2009 — Ghostbusters: The Video Game — Walter Peck — Voice • 2019 — Planet Coaster — Walter Peck — Voice • Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered — Walter Peck — Voice

William Atherton is recorded as actor.