William Atherton

Highest Rated: 97% Ghostbusters (1984 Original) (1984)

Lowest Rated: 4% Bio-Dome (1996)

Birthday: Jul 30, 1947

Birthplace: Not Available

For those who grew up in the 1980s, many will remember hating actor William Atherton for his hissable characters in such films as Ghostbusters (1984) and Real Genius (1985). Specializing in heady, clueless bureaucrats who never cease to hinder the protagonist and who often get what's coming to them before the credits roll, Atherton is one of those busy character actors who audiences are not likely to forget, even if they can't remember where they know him from. A Connecticut native who got his start on the stage while still in high school, Atherton would subsequently move on to become the youngest member ever accepted into New Haven's Long Wharf Theater repertory. Studies at the Pasadena Playhouse and Carnegie Tech led Atherton to pursue more theater roles, and a few short years later the seasoned stage actor made his leap to the big screen with The New Centurions (1972). A role in Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express (1974) found Atherton's feature career getting off to a solid start, and the fledgling actor would continue career momentum with featured roles in The Hindenburg (1975) and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). In the 1980s Atherton would develop a convincingly weasel-like persona with roles as the popcorn-hating professor of Real Genius and a relentlessly obnoxious EPA agent who unleashes a nightmare upon New York in Ghostbusters. Following up with a memorably sleazy reporter in Die Hard (1988) and its sequel, Atherton would remain busy in the 1990s with roles in The Pelican Brief (1993), Bio-Dome (1996), Hoodlum, and Mad City (both 1997). The millennial turnover found Atherton appearing in such fare as The Crow: Salvation (2000) and Race to Space (2001), and as 2003 approached his feature career seemed to be having a bit of a resurgence with such major releases as Who's Your Daddy? and The Last Samurai.

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

Movies

		Credit
No Score Yet	Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters	Actor	—	2019
No Score Yet	Bad Company	Actor	—	2018
No Score Yet	Clinical	Terry	—	2017
18%	Jinn	Father Westhoff	$0.2M	2014
No Score Yet	The Citizen	Winston	$24.8K	2013
No Score Yet	Getting Back To Zero	Actor	—	2013
36%	Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie	Earle Swinter	$0.2M	2012
No Score Yet	Jersey Shore Shark Attack	Dolan	—	2012
No Score Yet	The Kane Files: Life Of Trial	Daniel Morgan	—	2010
No Score Yet	Black Crescent Moon	Actor	—	2009
No Score Yet	Ghouls	Stefan	—	2008
No Score Yet	Kush	King	—	2008
No Score Yet	Kush	Actor	—	2008
67%	Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door	Adult David	—	2007
11%	Towards Darkness	John	—	2007
No Score Yet	Totally Baked: A Pot-u-mentary	Actor	—	2007
No Score Yet	Gone But Not Forgotten	Sen. Colby	—	2005
No Score Yet	Into the Sun	Agent Block	—	2005
No Score Yet	Who's Your Daddy	Uncle Duncan	—	2005
50%	Headspace	Producer Dr. Ira Gold	—	2005
66%	The Last Samurai	Winchester Rep	$111.1M	2003
67%	Bread and Roses	Himself (uncredited)	—	2001
71%	Race to Space	Stanton	—	2001
No Score Yet	Burning Down the House	Arthur Kranston	—	2001
22%	The Crow - Salvation	Nathan Randall	—	2000
No Score Yet	Grim Prairie Tales	Arthur	—	2000
No Score Yet	Executive Power	Actor	—	1999
83%	Introducing Dorothy Dandridge	Darryl F. Zanuck	—	1999
No Score Yet	The Stranger	Actor	—	1999
No Score Yet	Michael Kael contre la World News Company	James Denit	—	1998
36%	Mad City	Dohlen	—	1997
43%	Hoodlum	Thomas Dewey	—	1997
No Score Yet	Executive Power	President John Fields	—	1997
No Score Yet	Raven Hawk	Thorne	—	1996
4%	Bio-Dome	Dr. Faulkner	—	1996
No Score Yet	Confianza Perdida	Neil Roemer	—	1995
No Score Yet	Virus	Dr. Reginald Holloway	—	1995
20%	Frank & Jesse	Pinkerton	—	1995
No Score Yet	Saints and Sinners	McCone	—	1995
No Score Yet	Formula for Death	Dr. Reginald Holloway	—	1994
53%	The Pelican Brief	Bob Gminski	—	1993
No Score Yet	Chrome Soldiers	Sheriff Blackwell	—	1992
12%	Oscar	Overton	—	1991
68%	Die Hard 2	Dick Thornberg	—	1990
No Score Yet	Buried Alive	Cortland 'Cort' van Owen	—	1990
93%	Die Hard	Thornburg	—	1988
No Score Yet	Intrigue	Doggett	—	1988
21%	No Mercy	Allan Deveneux	—	1986
No Score Yet	A Fight for Jenny	Michael Rosen	—	1986
75%	Real Genius	Prof. Jerry Hathaway	—	1985
97%	Ghostbusters (1984 Original)	Walter Peck	—	1984
No Score Yet	Beyond the Darkness (Buio Omega)	Actor	—	1984
No Score Yet	Tomorrow's Child	Actor	—	1982
No Score Yet	Centennial	Jim Lloyd	—	1978
71%	Looking for Mr. Goodbar	James	—	1977
No Score Yet	Independence	Benjamin Rush	—	1976
60%	The Day of the Locust	Tod Hackett	—	1975
33%	The Hindenburg	Boerth	—	1975
39%	The Great Gatsby	Actor	—	1974
89%	The Sugarland Express	Clovis Michael Poplin	—	1974
No Score Yet	Class of '44	Fraternity President	—	1973
No Score Yet	The New Centurions	Johnson	—	1972

TV

		Credit
77%	Defiance 2013-2015	Viceroy Berto Mercado Viceroy Mercado	2015 2014
80%	Castle 2009-2016	Dr. Ari Weiss	2011
85%	Lost 2004-2010	Principal Don Reynolds	2010
70%	Life 2007-2009	Mickey Rayborn	2009 2008 2007
70%	Desperate Housewives 2004-2012	Dr. Barr	2009 2006 2005
90%	Monk 2002-2009	Cdr. Whitaker	2008
86%	Boston Legal 2004-2008	ADA Howard Zale	2008 2005
No Score Yet	Numb3rs 2005-2010	Warren Pierce	2007
No Score Yet	Law & Order 1990-2010	Dan Jensen Don Snyder	2004 2002
95%	Justice League 2004	Voice	2003
No Score Yet	Night Visions 2001-2002	William Price	2001
No Score Yet	The Practice 1997-2004	Pratt A.D.A. Keith Pratt	1999 1997
No Score Yet	The Outer Limits 1995-2002		1998
No Score Yet	Diagnosis Murder 1993-2001	Eric Walker	1992
82%	Tales from the Crypt 1989-1996		1991
No Score Yet	Murder, She Wrote 1984-1996	Greg Dalton Larry Holleran Andy Henley	1991 1987 1985
No Score Yet	The Equalizer 1985-1989	Gideon	1989 1987
No Score Yet	The Twilight Zone 1985-1989	Dundee	1985
No Score Yet	The Unknown 2012

QUOTES FROM William Atherton CHARACTERS

Maj. Carnagle says: Where's the laser?

Prof. Hathaway says: It's coming.

Maj. Carnagle says: Coming? Ha! It's not even breathing hard.

Adult David says: It's what you do last that counts.

Thornburg says: [After C4 Explosion] Tell me you got that!

Cameraman says: Ya.

Raymond Stantz says: Everything was fine with our system until the power grid was shut off by dickless here.

Walter Peck says: They caused an explosion!

Mayor says: [to the Ghostbusters] Is this true?

Peter Venkman says: Yes, it's true: this man has no dick.

Raymond Stantz says: Powergrid was shut off by dickless here.

Raymond Stantz says: Everything was fine with our system until the power grid was shut off by dickless here.

Walter Peck says: They caused an explosion!

Mayor says: Is this true?

Peter Venkman says: Yes, it's true. This man has no dick.

Peter Venkman says: Yes it's true. [pause] This man has no dick.

Adult David says: You think you know about pain? Talk to my second wife. When she was nineteen she got between a couple of fighting cats, and one of them went at her, climbed her like a tree, tore gashes out of her thighs and breasts and belly that you can still see today. She got thirty stitches and a fever that lasted for days. My second wife says that's pain. She doesn't know shit, that woman.