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Comedian and actor Richard Belzer's passing at the age of 78 was announced today.
While perhaps best known for his portrayal of Detective John Munch on a number of TV series, including Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: SVU and even The X-Files, Belzer has a pretty unique connection to professional wrestling as well.
In 1985, Belzer was hosting a Lifetime cable talk show out of New York City titled Hot Properties when he interviewed Hulk Hogan and Mr. T to promote the first WWF Wrestlemania event.
The segment started with Belzer interviewing Mr. T, who was very much in character. When Belzer used a word T didn't know, and T said he didn't understand it, Belzer quipped, "Well, I was from the streets too but I learned it", which didn't go over well with T.
The next segment featured Hogan and T with Hogan giving a presentation on a wrestling hold, which he called a "front chinlock." Hogan locked a front facelock on Belzer and asked T when he should let go. T never said, so Belzer quickly was choked out, initially playing his arms up in a comedic fashion before grabbing to hold onto Hogan. Hogan, likely not realizing what he had done, let Belzer slip out. The unconscious comedian snapped backwards, falling to the hard floor, where he smacked the back of his head.
Belzer woke up and sent the show to commercial but when they returned, he was gone from the broadcast as he smashed the back of his head open and was bleeding all over himself. Hogan remained on the show, putting over the dangers of professional wrestling to someone who was not properly trained and apologized for Belzer getting hurt.
The incident was all over New York City news at the time. Belzer sued and the lawsuit made it all the way to court in New York's Supreme Court 1990 with Hogan settling just as they were to go to trial. Belzer used the confidential settlement (reportedly $400,000) to buy a home in France (where he was when he passed this weekend) and named it Chez Hogan.
The video of the incident and Belzer speaking about it years later can be found below:
PWInsider.com sends our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Richard Belzer.
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