NEW YORK – Richard Moll, a character actor who rose to prominence on the original “Night Court” sitcom as an eccentric but gentle gigantic bailiff, has died. He was 80.
According to Jeff Sanderson, a spokesman for Chasen & Company, Moll died Thursday at his residence at Big Bear Lake, California.
From 1984 to 1992, Moll appeared on NBC’s “Night Court” as “Bull” Shannon, with stars Harry Anderson and John Larroquette. His character became great friends with the court’s other bailiff, Marsha Warfield’s Roz Russell. Bull was noted for his catchphrase “Ohh-kay” and his bleak but endearing worldview.
After “Night Court,” Moll’s signature gravelly voice was used in video games and comic book projects such as “Batman: The Animated Series” by Harvey Dent, as well as horror films such as “Ghost Shark” (2013) and “Slay Belles” (2018).
He portrayed Scorpion in “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” in the 1990s and had minor roles in “The Flintstones,” “Jingle All the Way,” and “Scary Movie 2.”
Richard Moll, a character actor who rose to prominence on the original “Night Court”
The 6-foot-8-inch-tall actor did not join the revival of “Night Court” starring Larroquette. His character was captured by aliens who needed someone tall to reach the items on their top shelves in the original “Night Court” climax.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1968 to pursue acting but found it difficult at first. He got to portray a cannibal in a Hertz commercial alongside Don Adams, then Joseph Smith in a Brigham Young biography in 1977, before appearing in episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter and The Rockford Files.
In 1979, Moll played a gangster in the two-part Happy Days episode “Fonzie’s Funeral,” which led to roles on two other Garry Marshall-created sitcoms, Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy.
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Moll leaves behind his children, Chloe and Mason Moll, as well as his ex-wife, Susan Moll, and stepchildren Cassandra Card and Morgan Ostling.
Before coming on Night Court, he worked in films such as Hard Country (1981) and Ralph Bakshi’s American Pop (1981), as well as T.V. shows such as The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, B.J. and the Bear, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, T.J. Hooker, Alice, and The Dukes of Hazzard.
Bull was supposed to be “very hard-edged,” he said People magazine in 2003, “but I think they saw something in me that would make him a lot softer.” His character formed beautiful bonds with female bailiffs Selma Hacker (Selma Diamond, who died between seasons two and three), Flo Kleiner (Florence Halop, who died between seasons three and four), and Roz Russell (Marsha Warfield) at the Manhattan Municipal Criminal Court.
He also appeared in the movie The Flintstones (1994), But I’m a Cheerleader (1999), and Scary Movie 2 (2001), as well as on Highlander, Babylon 5, Married… With Children and Anger Management.
Moll was married and divorced twice; his second wife, Susan, was the daughter of Milton Berle’s third and final wife, Lorna Adams. His children, Chloe and Mason, and his stepchildren, Cassandra and Morgan, are also survivors.
SOURCE – (AP)
