Richard Herd was an American actor of the stage and screen.
A Boston native, Herd began acting in the theater. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he moved to New York City, building his career on the stage before making his screen debut with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Hercules in New York (1970).
His first recurring role in a television series was opposite William Shatner in the cop drama T.J. Hooker, though he is perhaps best known for his role as Mr. Wilhelm, the New York Yankees executive who supervised Jason Alexander's George Costanza, in Seinfeld.
Herd also landed recurring roles in Simon & Simon, Dallas, Knots Landing, Quantum Leap, and NYPD Blue, and make a name for himself in the science fiction world in the miniseries V and its sequel V: The Final Battle, SeaQuest 2032, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Renegades.
He guest starred in numerous other programs including Kojak, The Rockford Files, Starsky and Hutch, M*A*S*H, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Dynasty, Hill Street Blues, Beauty and the Beast, Matlock, The Golden Girls, Tales from the Crypt, Murder, She Wrote, ER, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Caroline in the City, The O.C., Ghost Whisperer, Desperate Housewives, CSI: Miami, Rizzoli & Isles, Shameless, and Hawaii Five-0.
The prolific actor also appeared on the big screen, notably in All the President's Men (1976), The China Syndrome (1979), The Onion Field (1979), Private Benjamin (1980), Summer Rental (1985), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Gleaming the Cube (1989), Sgt. Bilko (1996), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), Get Out (2017), and The Mule (2018).
Herd died May 26, 2020, in Los Angeles, California. He was 87.
