Dick Solomon

Dick Solomon
Promotional shoot of John Lithgow as Dr. Dick Solomon.
First appearance	"Brains and Eggs"
Last appearance	"The Thing That Wouldn't Die: Part 2"
Created by	Bonnie and Terry Turner
Portrayed by	John Lithgow Kristen Johnston (body switched with Sally in "Two-Faced Dick")
Information
Species	Extraterrestrial
Gender	Male (in human form)
Occupation	High Commander (alien rank) Physics professor (human occupation) Lawyer (alternative universe in "Dick'll Take Manhattan")
Title	"The High Commander"
Family	The Big Giant Head (father)
Significant other(s)	Mary Albright Janet Solomon (ex-wife)

Dr. Richard Solomon, usually known as Dick Solomon, is a character played by John Lithgow in the late 1990s NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. Solomon is the High Commander of a highly trained alien unit, sent to Earth by their leader, The Big Giant Head. His crew is made up of Sally Solomon (played by Kristen Johnston), Harry Solomon (played by French Stewart), and Tommy Solomon (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). In the first episode, "Brains and Eggs", Dick states that he has made a home of a "third rate planet, has a job at a third rate university, and now we are looking at a third floor apartment."

Dick works at Pendelton State University as a professor of physics, and shares an office with Anthropology professor Mary Albright (played by Jane Curtin). In the first episode the office is green with various pictures and certificates adorning the wall; after this, however, the office is antique white with tribal masks featured, presumably from Albright's anthropological studies (later it is found that she simply "bought them at airports"). Dick often uses his class, oddly enough the same throughout all six seasons, to gain a better understanding of humanity by assigning arbitrary essays on which their grade depends. Dick never has the idea that they're actually learning something, but when he finally gets through to them "his father" came in, dismissing the class because he needed to talk to Dick.

Throughout the course of the series, Dick maintains a tense love-hate relationship with Mary Albright. At times they are together, while at others Mary quite clearly disfavors Dick. At one point, at the end of the second season, Dick and Mary are to be married as the other Solomons (Sally, Harry, and Tommy) return to the home planet.