Jack Riley, mainstay to such comedy giants as Bob Newhart and Mel Brooks, died today at 80
Jack Riley, a veteran comic actor of television and film died today at 80 year old. According to multiple reports, Riley passed due to complications of pneumonia and infection. His wife Ginger and two children survive him.
Famous for his deadpan vocal style, Riley was a mainstay of popular 1960s era television shows. He guest starred on such pop culture milestones as I Dream of Jeannie, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Partridge Family, and Hogan’s Heroes. His most iconic role, however, came with The Bob Newhart Show. Jack Riley played a neurotic patient of Newhart’s psychologist who suffered from a massive persecution complex. Riley had a career renaissance in the 90’s in Nickelodeon’s animated classic Rugrats as Stu Pickles.
Riley also achieved notoriety for his comic appearances in Mel Brooks’ High Anxiety, History of the World, Part 1 (1981), and Spaceballs.
