Jack Riley, American actor, Died at 80

  Actors

John A. “Jack” Riley Jr. was born on December 30, 1935, in Cleveland, Ohio, and died on August 19, 2016.
He was an American actor, comedian and voice artist.
Riley was known for playing Elliot Carlin on The Bob Newhart Show and voicing Stuart “Stu” Pickles in the Rugrats franchise.
After leaving the army, Riley became a popular radio personality in Cleveland, along with his radio partner and “straight man” Jeff Baxter; The Baxter & Riley Show on WERE (1300 AM) featured not only music but comedy sketches and a slew of offbeat characters that Riley and Baxter voiced.
Then, he gave up the radio show in the mid-1960s and moved to Los Angeles, where his friend Tim Conway helped him receive work writing comedy sketches, which later led to acting opportunities.
Initially, he was a semi-regular in the cast of the 1960s sitcom Occasional Wife, a short-lived show on NBC in which he played Wally Frick, Jack was perhaps most famous for playing Elliot Carlin, the neurotic, sour and selfish patient on The Bob Newhart Show.
During 1973, he was cast as Gomez Addams in The Addams Family Fun-House, then during 1979, Jack starred in ABC’s holiday telefilm The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t (aka The Night Dracula Saved The World) as Warren the Werewolf (Wolf Man) of Budapest.
Jack Riley then appeared in a HBO comedy special in 1980 called The Wild Wacky Wonderful World of Winter.
Jack was a regular cast member in The Tim Conway Show, a comedy-variety show that aired on CBS from March 1980 through the late Summer of 1981, acting in sketch comedy in each episode.
During 1985, he reprised his Bob Newhart Show role of Elliot Carlin on St. Elsewhere.
His other TV credits are multiple appearances on such shows as Barney Miller, Hogan’s Heroes, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, One Day at a Time, Gomer Pyle, Diff’rent Strokes and Night Court.
Jack was also a favorite of Mel Brooks, appearing in several of his films: High Anxiety, History of the World: Part I, To Be or Not to Be, and (cameo only) Spaceballs.
Ginger Lawrence was his wife with whom he had two children with.
He died in Los Angeles, due to pneumonia.
Jack Riley passed away at 80 years old.