William Atherton

William Atherton (born July 30, 1947) is an American actor. He had starring roles in The Sugarland Express, The Day of the Locust (1975), The Hindenburg (1975) and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), but is most recognized for what have become iconic roles in the Ghostbusters and Die Hard film series.

Early life and education 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.

Career 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 Defiance'''s 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.

Personal life 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''.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1972 The New Centurions Johnson 1973 Class of '44 Fraternity President 1974 The Great Gatsby Singing voice for "What'll I Do" The Sugarland Express Clovis Michael Poplin 1975 The Day of the Locust Tod Hackett The Hindenburg Karl Boerth 1976 Independence Benjamin Rush 1977 Looking for Mr. Goodbar James 1984 Ghostbusters Walter Peck 1985 Real Genius Professor Jerry Hathaway 1986 No Mercy Allan Deveneux 1988 Die Hard Richard Thornburg 1990 Die Hard 2 Richard Thornburg Grim Prairie Tales: Hit the Trail... to Terror Arthur 1991 Oscar Overton 1993 The Pelican Brief Bob Gminski 1994 Saints and Sinners Terence McCone Frank & Jesse Allan Pinkerton 1996 Bio-Dome Dr. Noah Faulkner 1997 Hoodlum Thomas Dewey Mad City Malt Dohlen 1998 Michael Kael vs. the World News Company James Denit 1999 The Stranger Arthur 2000 The Crow: Salvation Nathan Randall Bread and Roses Himself – Party Guest Uncredited 2001 Burning Down the House Arthur Kranston Race to Space Ralph Stanton 2003 The Last Samurai Mr. McCabe Who's Your Daddy? Uncle Duncan "Duncay" Mack 2005 Into the Sun Agent Block Headspace Dr. Ira Gold 2007 Kush King Hacia la oscuridad John Totally Baked Mr. Lyle Funonion Segment: "FunOnion Boardroom" The Girl Next Door Adult David Moran 2008 Black Crescent Moon Jo Dexton 2010 The Kane Files: Life of Trial Daniel Morgan 2012 Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie Earle Swinter Jersey Shore Shark Attack Dolan The Citizen Winston 2013 Getting Back to Zero 2014 Jinn Father Westhoff 2017 Clinical Terry Drummond2018Bad Company 2019 Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters Himself Documentary film 2024 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Mayor Walter Peck TBDWhere Did the Adults Go?The Father

Television Year Title Role Notes 1978–1979 Centennial Jim Lloyd 9 episodesMiniseries 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 episodesVoice 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

Video games 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