Office Space star Richard Riehle dies aged 78
Friends of the actor told TMZ he died of natural causes last Thursday in Los Angeles; the veteran of 400+ screen projects was best known as Tom Smykowski in Office Space.
Office Space star Richard Riehle has died aged 78, TMZ reported on Monday. Friends of the actor told the outlet he died of natural causes last Thursday in Los Angeles, and the news was confirmed the same day by Page Six, Consequence and JustJared.
Riehle was best known as Tom Smykowski, the laid-off Initech product manager in Mike Judge’s 1999 cult comedy Office Space — the character who insists he has “people skills” and uses his post-accident settlement to build the “Jump to Conclusions” mat.
The character actor appeared in more than 400 film and television projects. His film credits included Casino, The Fugitive, Fried Green Tomatoes, Of Mice and Men, The Man from Earth and Bridesmaids, while he played Bob Bigalow, Deuce Bigalow’s father, in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. On television he was Walt Finnerty on Fox’s Grounded for Life and appeared in The West Wing, ER, NCIS, Modern Family and Star Trek: The Next Generation as Batai.
Born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in 1948, Riehle studied at the University of Notre Dame and earned an MFA from the University of Minnesota, making his uncredited screen debut in the 1975 John Wayne western Rooster Cogburn. TMZ last caught up with him in 2018 in Los Angeles after Lifetime’s A Very Nutty Christmas, and his final credit was the 2024 Hallmark movie Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, in which he played Nicolas Young. Page Six said it had contacted his representatives, who did not comment before publication.
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