William Atherton

William Atherton
Atherton in February 2009
Born	William Robert Atherton Knight, Jr. (1947-07-30) July 30, 1947 (age 69) Orange, Connecticut, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1972–present

William Robert Atherton Knight Jr. (born July 30, 1947), known professionally as William Atherton, is an American film, stage and television actor.

Atherton was born in Orange, Connecticut, the son of William Robert Atherton Sr. and Myrtle (maiden name Robison) Knight. 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 from Carnegie Mellon University in 1969 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, the feature film debut of Steven Spielberg. After this, he garnered major roles in dark dramas such as The Day of the Locust and Looking for Mr. Goodbar, as well as the big-budget disaster film The Hindenburg. Atherton also starred as cowboy Jim Lloyd in the 1978 miniseries Centennial, based on the novel by James Michener. In 1984, Atherton appeared in the comedy Ghostbusters as the EPA agent Walter Peck. In 1985, Martha Coolidge chose Atherton to play Professor Jerry Hathaway in the teen comedy Real Genius. In 1988, Atherton played reporter Richard "Dick" Thornburg in the blockbuster action film Die Hard, and reprised the role in its 1990 sequel Die Hard 2.