Richard Dunn (actor)
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Richard Dunn (December 18, 1935 – June 4, 2010) was an American
character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...
popularized by
Tim Heidecker Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. He has also appeared in films, including ''Bridesmaids' ...
and
Eric Wareheim Eric Alexander Wareheim (; born April 7, 1976) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, musician, and winemaker. He is best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, alongside Tim Heidecker. He also had a recurring role on the Netf ...
. Dunn was best known to audiences for his appearances on ''
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' is an American sketch comedy series created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Adult Swim and ran until May 2010. The show features surreal and often sat ...
'', a
sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
. Dunn portrayed many different characters (often bizarre versions of himself) in many episodes of ''
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' is an American sketch comedy series created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Adult Swim and ran until May 2010. The show features surreal and often sat ...
'' from 2007 until 2010. In addition, Dunn had small roles in ''
House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
'', ''
Parks and Recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...
'', '' Weeds'' and ''
Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime drama, black comedy, family dra ...
''. He also appeared in the 1998 film ''
The Wedding Singer ''The Wedding Singer'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Christine Taylor, and tells the ...
'' and the
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for Diddy's 2000 single "
Bad Boy for Life "Bad Boy for Life" is a song by American rappers P. Diddy, Black Rob and Mark Curry, featured on Diddy's 2001 third album '' The Saga Continues...''. Produced by Megahertz (Dorsey Wesley), it was released as the second single from the album in Ju ...
.". He first got into show business through his friend, producer Robert Marcus. He volunteered to be a 'gofer' (
production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...
) for Marcus' productions. Marcus wrote a book about how to be a production assistant and dedicated it to Dunn. He first got his start as an actor by taking roles as a
background actor A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera, or ballet production who appears in a nonspeaking or nonsinging (silent) capacity, usually in the background (for example, in an audience or busy street ...
, and subsequently took classes for acting. He performed a number of roles in commercials and music videos. His first few professional roles earned him enough money to become a member of the
Screen Actors' Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...
. Dunn was approached by
Tim Heidecker Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. He has also appeared in films, including ''Bridesmaids' ...
in a parking lot and offered a gig playing Tim's father in the first episode of ''
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' is an American sketch comedy series created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Adult Swim and ran until May 2010. The show features surreal and often sat ...
''. After this, Dunn was a regular feature in the show, as well as other outlets of the Tim and Eric franchise until his death, and was posthumously honored in the first episode of spin-off series ''
Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule ''Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule'' is an American comedy television series starring John C. Reilly as Dr. Steve Brule. The show is a spin-off of ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'', originating in a segment called ''Brule's Rules''. Th ...
'' and the song "Richard Dunn is Done" by fellow ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' regular
David Liebe Hart David Nkrumah Liebe Unger Hart, also credited as D. L. Hart, (born April 19, 1957) is an American musician, painter, puppeteer and actor. He is best known for his appearances on Adult Swim's ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'', performin ...
on his album ''Mixtape''.The Richard Dunn Interview. Derek Cox, 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0LGxUDrzb0


Personal life

Dunn was born in
Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...
, one of four children (himself, two brothers and a sister). During junior high school, he played football and regarded it as one of the few times in his life he was really motivated. His family moved to
Chicago, IL (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
and lived there for a few years, before moving to
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, where they lived for the duration of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. After the war he moved back to Chicago with his family for a brief period until the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, at which time they moved back to California. His mother died when he was 16, and at 17 he joined the
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
, where he went through basic training in
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
. After a four-year Navy career he resumed a normal life in California working with horses, however he shortly joined the
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
, where he remained employed for another four years. After which, he returned to his life of horses for another nine months before re-joining the Navy. He remained in the Navy until March 1977, at which point he retired at the age of 41. He resided in southern California thereafter, where he attended
Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a Public university, public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Althoug ...
. The Navy made a lasting impression on him. Dunn considered his other significant influences to be his mother in law, his junior high coach, and producer Robert Marcus.


See also

*
List of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! sketches and characters The following is a list of recurring characters and featured sketches from ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!''. Some of the recurring characters on the list have also made appearances on ''Tom Goes To The Mayor'' and '' Check It Out! with Dr. ...


References


External links

*
Tim and Eric's tribute to Richard Dunn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Richard 1935 births 2010 deaths American male television actors American male film actors Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery People from Urbana, Illinois