Silent Laughter: The Reel Inspirations of 'Silent Movie'
2009 · Movie
as Self
Jack Riley
1935-12-30
•
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
John Albert Riley Jr. (December 30, 1935 – August 19, 2016) was an American actor, comedian and writer. He was known for playing Elliot Carlin, a chronic psychology client of the main character on The Bob Newhart Show, and for voicing Stu Pickles, one of the parents in the animated Rugrats franchise. Riley was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Agnes C. Riley (née Corrigan) and John Albert Riley. After attending Saint Ignatius High School and John Carroll University, he served in the U.S. Army. After being discharged, Riley became a popular radio personality in Cleveland, along with his radio partner and "straight man" Jeff Baxter; The Baxter & Riley Show on WERE (1300 AM) featured not only music but comedy sketches and a slew of offbeat characters that Riley and Baxter voiced. Riley gave up the radio show in the mid-1960s and moved to Los Angeles, where his Cleveland friend Tim Conway helped him obtain work writing comedy sketches, which later led to acting opportunities. First a semi-regular in the cast of the 1960s sitcom Occasional Wife, a short-lived show on NBC in which he played Wally Frick, Riley was perhaps most famous for playing Elliot Carlin, the neurotic, sour, and selfish patient on The Bob Newhart Show 1972–1978. In 1973, he was cast as Gomez Addams in The Addams Family Fun-House, then in 1979, he starred in ABC's holiday telefilm The Halloween That Almost Wasn't (a.k.a. The Night Dracula Saved The World) as Warren the Werewolf (Wolf Man) of Budapest. Riley then, in 1980, appeared in a comedy special for HBO called The Wild Wacky Wonderful World of Winter. He was a regular cast member in The Tim Conway Show, a comedy-variety show that aired on CBS from March 1980 through late summer 1981, acting in sketch comedy in each episode. In 1985, he reprised his Bob Newhart Show role of Elliot Carlin on St. Elsewhere, and did so again in a 1987 episode of ALF. Among his other TV credits are multiple appearances on such shows as Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (parodying Lyndon Johnson), M*A*S*H, Barney Miller, Hogan's Heroes, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, One Day at a Time, Gomer Pyle, Diff'rent Strokes, and Night Court. He was also a favorite of Mel Brooks, appearing in several of his films: High Anxiety (1977), History of the World: Part I (1981), To Be or Not to Be (1983), and (cameo only) Spaceballs (1987). Riley often provided voiceovers for television and radio commercials, most notably in spots for Country Crock margarine. He also voiced the character "P.C. Modem, the computer genius" in radio commercials for CompUSA that aired in the 1990s. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Riley was known for voicing Stu Pickles (father of the main protagonist Tommy) in the animated series Rugrats. The franchise consisted of the TV series, the spin-off All Grown Up! and the film trilogy. He continued to make guest appearances during the 1990s in popular sitcoms, showing up in episodes of Seinfeld, Son of the Beach, Friends, Coach, The Drew Carey Show, That '70s Show, and, in a gag appearance, as an unnamed but obvious Mr. Carlin in a 1988 episode of Newhart. He made a cameo appearance on the November 23, 2013, episode of Saturday Night Live, as a subway passenger during the sketch "Matchbox 3". That episode would be his final acting role.
Filmography
The Garfield Show
2009 · TV Show
as Ghost Cat (voice)
Avenging Angel
2007 · Movie
as Elder
Room 6
2006 · Movie
as James Brewster
Rugrats: Tales from the Crib: Snow White
2005 · Movie
as Stu (voice)
Rugrats Go Wild
2003 · Movie
as Stuart 'Stu' Pickles (voice)
Burl's
2003 · Movie
as Gym Instructor
All Grown Up!
2003 · TV Show
as Stu Pickles (voice)
Rugrats: All Growed Up
2001 · Movie
as Stu Pickles (voice)
Recess: School's Out
2001 · Movie
as Golfer #1 (voice)
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
2000 · Movie
as Stu Pickles (voice)
Son of the Beach
2000 · TV Show
Yes, Dear
2000 · TV Show
as Mr. Shipley
Oh, Grow Up
1999 · TV Show
The Rugrats Movie
1998 · Movie
as Stuart 'Stu' Pickles (voice)
Chairman of the Board
1998 · Movie
as Condom Boss
That '70s Show
1998 · TV Show
as Old Man Shinsky
Boogie Nights
1997 · Movie
as Lawyer
A Rugrats Vacation
1997 · Movie
as Stu Pickles (voice)
Mike Hammer, Private Eye
1997 · TV Show
Working
1997 · TV Show
as Chaplain
George & Leo
1997 · TV Show
A Rugrats Chanukah
1996 · Movie
as Stu Pickles (voice)
Theodore Rex
1995 · Movie
as Alaric
The Drew Carey Show
1995 · TV Show
as Mr. Jones
A Rugrats Passover
1994 · Movie
as Stu Pickles (voice)
Touched by an Angel
1994 · TV Show
as Leo
A Dangerous Woman
1993 · Movie
as Bandleader
Sesame Street Stays Up Late!
1993 · Movie
as Jack(uncredited)
Dave's World
1993 · TV Show
as Guy
The Player
1992 · Movie
as Jack Riley
Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
1992 · TV Show
as Mr. Graves
No image
The Bob Newhart Show 19th Anniversary Special
1991 · Movie
as Elliot Carlin
Rugrats
1991 · TV Show
as Stu Pickles (voice)
Harry and the Hendersons
1991 · TV Show
as Leonard
C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud
1989 · Movie
as Wade
Gleaming the Cube
1989 · Movie
as Homeowner
Seinfeld
1989 · TV Show
as Rider
Coach
1989 · TV Show
as Oliver
Family Matters
1989 · TV Show
as Wayne
Payback
1988 · Movie
as Coroner
Portrait of a White Marriage
1988 · Movie
as Roy Bloomer
Rented Lips
1988 · Movie
as Herb the Auditor
Spaceballs
1987 · Movie
as TV Newsman
Martin Mull Live from North Ridgeville, Ohio
1987 · Movie
as Self
Mathnet
1987 · TV Show
as Mr. Dwight Ledbetter
No image
Roxie
1987 · TV Show
as Leon Buchanan
Married... with Children
1987 · TV Show
as Wendell
The History of White People in America: Volume II
1986 · Movie
as Scientist
No image
Throb
1986 · TV Show
Blacke's Magic
1986 · TV Show
First the Egg
1985 · Movie
as Mr. White
The History of White People in America
1985 · Movie
as Scientist
Lots of Luck
1985 · Movie
as Marvin
No image
Washingtoon
1985 · TV Show
Night Patrol
1984 · Movie
as Doctor Ziegler
The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers
1984 · Movie
as Sexton / Deacon
Finders Keepers
1984 · Movie
as Ormond
Night Court
1984 · TV Show
as Dr. Flick, Emil Dutton, Beepo the Clown, Jim Wimberly
Charles in Charge
1984 · TV Show
as Professor Kleeman
Punky Brewster
1984 · TV Show
as Snipes
Body Language
1984 · TV Show
as Self
To Be or Not to Be
1983 · Movie
as Dobish
When Your Lover Leaves
1983 · Movie
as Ralph
Frances
1982 · Movie
as Bob Barnes
Love in the Present Tense
1982 · Movie
as Alex
The Rules of Marriage
1982 · Movie
as Herb Gallup
St. Elsewhere
1982 · TV Show
as Elliot Carlin
Family Ties
1982 · TV Show
as Earl Quigley
Newhart
1982 · TV Show
as Patient
Faerie Tale Theatre
1982 · TV Show
as Sexton / Deacon
History of the World: Part I
1981 · Movie
as Stoned Soldier #2 - The Roman Empire
Simon & Simon
1981 · TV Show
as Dr. Robert P. Medlow
Marriage Is Alive and Well
1980 · Movie
as Owen
Ladies' Man
1980 · TV Show
The Tim Conway Show
1980 · TV Show
as Self
The Halloween That Almost Wasn't
1979 · Movie
as Wolf Man
Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
1979 · Movie
as Messenger
Hart to Hart
1979 · TV Show
as Norman Culp
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
1978 · Movie
as Salesman
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
1978 · Movie
as Citizen (uncredited)
Diff'rent Strokes
1978 · TV Show
as Mr. Crocker
Joe and Valerie
1978 · TV Show
as Ed Sweetzer
High Anxiety
1977 · Movie
as The Desk Clerk
The World's Greatest Lover
1977 · Movie
as Projectionist
Eight Is Enough
1977 · TV Show
The Love Boat
1977 · TV Show
as Miles Metcalf
Silent Movie
1976 · Movie
as Executive
Alice
1976 · TV Show
Barney Miller
1975 · TV Show
as Frederick Clooney, Robert Lovell
California Split
1974 · Movie
as Second Bartender
The Bank Shot
1974 · Movie
as Agent Jackson, Jackson
Happy Days
1974 · TV Show
as Officer O'Reilly
The Rockford Files
1974 · TV Show
as Adrian Lyman
Police Woman
1974 · TV Show
as Joe
Harry O
1974 · TV Show
as Eddie Stern, Barney Hamilton
The Long Goodbye
1973 · Movie
as Riley
The Snoop Sisters
1973 · TV Show
as Ollie Robertson
Barnaby Jones
1973 · TV Show
as Norm Ricks
M*A*S*H
1972 · TV Show
as Capt. Kaplan
The Bob Newhart Show
1972 · TV Show
as Elliot Carlin
Kung Fu
1972 · TV Show
as Royal
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
1971 · Movie
as Riley Quinn
In Broad Daylight
1971 · Movie
as Cab Driver #3 (uncredited)
The Todd Killings
1971 · Movie
as Record Company Executive
Columbo
1971 · TV Show
as Director
Cannon
1971 · TV Show
No image
Getting Together
1971 · TV Show
Catch-22
1970 · Movie
as Doctor
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1970 · TV Show
as Barry Barlow, Eldon Colfax
The Partridge Family
1970 · TV Show
as Corporal Wrzesinski
Love, American Style
1969 · TV Show
as Danny
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
1968 · TV Show
as Self, Lyndon B. Johnson (uncredited)
The Flying Nun
1967 · TV Show
as Leo
Occasional Wife
1966 · TV Show
I Dream of Jeannie
1965 · TV Show
as Frank
Hogan's Heroes
1965 · TV Show
as Captain
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
1964 · TV Show
as Larry
Days of Wine and Roses
1963 · Movie
as Waiter (uncredited)
The Mike Douglas Show
1961 · TV Show
as Self
The Red Skelton Show
1951 · TV Show
as Gunslinger, Clergyman, Minor Role, Paul
