William Atherton makes officious men funny by taking their self-importance seriously. We rate him as a supporting actor who gives likeable leads useful opposition, though repeated casting as the objectionable man has narrowed what films ask of him.
Fi1m perspective
In Ghostbusters (1984), William Atherton's Walter Peck has the self-importance of a man who expects his job title to end the discussion. As an EPA agent opposite Bill Murray's deadpan, he gives Ivan Reitman's comedy someone whose officiousness is funny without needing a joke of his own. We laughed at Peck because Atherton takes that officiousness so seriously; he never seems to be asking us to enjoy it. That is what we value in his supporting work, even when the character offers little beyond a reason to dislike him.
He was a leading actor before those obstructive supporting parts became his familiar work. Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express (1974) gave him his breakthrough leading role as Clovis Michael Poplin. He followed it with Tod Hackett in John Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust (1975), then another starring part in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). Real Genius (1985), in which he plays the unctuous Professor Jerry Hathaway, belongs to the later pattern of supporting antagonists.
In John McTiernan's Die Hard (1988), his reporter Richard Thornburg supplies a different sort of nuisance. The film earns its tension through clear staging, Bruce Willis's vulnerability and Alan Rickman's composure; Atherton's contribution is smaller, and we should keep it in proportion. He makes the newsman's self-importance irritating enough to register without treating him as the centre of the film. That is a modest job, done well, in a film whose foolish police business is a more serious distraction.
The cost of such recognisable work is repetition, and a succession of condescending men can make a capable actor feel predictable. The later parts have not always escaped that problem, with Bio-Dome (1996) among the variations on the familiar unpleasant academic. Returning as Mayor Walter Peck in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) gives him the same character with a grander title. Start with Ghostbusters, and spare a little appreciation for the man making himself unwelcome.
Biography
William Atherton is an American actor. Born in Orange, Connecticut, he studied at Carnegie Mellon University and began his career on the New York stage, appearing in productions by playwrights including David Rabe, John Guare and Arthur Miller, and receiving several awards for his work.
He made his feature film debut in The New Centurions (1972) and had early leading roles in The Sugarland Express (1974), The Day of the Locust (1975) and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). Atherton is best known for portraying Walter Peck in Ghostbusters (1984) and Richard Thornburg in Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990). He has also appeared in films such as The Last Samurai (2003) and television series including Lost (2004) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
