Richard Libertini was an actor best known for his role as the insane character General Garcia in the 1979 adventure-comedy The In-Laws. The film, which starred Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, followed the days leading up to a wedding between the children of Falk and Arkin’s characters.
Libertini also appeared on many television series, including That Girl, Mary Tyler Moore, The Jeffersons, Quincy M.E., Charlie’s Angels, Baretta, Good Times, The Bionic Woman, Soap, The Bob Newhart Show, Alice, Laverne & Shirley, Barney Miller, Mork & Mindy, The Twilight Zone, Moonlighting, Head of the Class, Murphy Brown, L.A. Law, Chicago Hope, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Cosby, Columbo, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Drew Carey Show, Monk, Numb3rs and Supernatural.
Additionally, he appeared in the films Don’t Drink the Water, with Jackie Gleason; The Out of Towners, starring Jack Lemmon; Catch-22, with Arkin and Martin Balsam; Lady Liberty, starring Sophia Loren; Fire Sale, with Arkin and Rob Reiner; Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, with Richard Gere and Sam Shepard; Popeye, starring Robin Williams; Best Friends, with Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn; Deal of the Century, with Chevy Chase, Sigourney Weaver and Gregory Hines; All of Me, with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin; Fletch and Fletch Lives, starring Chevy Chase; Big Trouble, with Falk and Arkin; and Awakenings, with Robert De Niro and Williams.
Richard Libertini was an actor best known for his role as the insane character General Garcia in the 1979 adventure-comedy The In-Laws. The film, which starred Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, followed the days leading up to a wedding between the children of Falk and Arkin’s characters.
Libertini also appeared on many television series, including That Girl, Mary Tyler Moore, The Jeffersons, Quincy M.E., Charlie’s Angels, Baretta, Good Times, The Bionic Woman, Soap, The Bob Newhart Show, Alice, Laverne & Shirley, Barney Miller, Mork & Mindy, The Twilight Zone, Moonlighting, Head of the Class, Murphy Brown, L.A. Law, Chicago Hope, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Cosby, Columbo, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Drew Carey Show, Monk, Numb3rs and Supernatural.
Additionally, he appeared in the films Don’t Drink the Water, with Jackie Gleason; The Out of Towners, starring Jack Lemmon; Catch-22, with Arkin and Martin Balsam; Lady Liberty, starring Sophia Loren; Fire Sale, with Arkin and Rob Reiner; Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, with Richard Gere and Sam Shepard; Popeye, starring Robin Williams; Best Friends, with Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn; Deal of the Century, with Chevy Chase, Sigourney Weaver and Gregory Hines; All of Me, with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin; Fletch and Fletch Lives, starring Chevy Chase; Big Trouble, with Falk and Arkin; and Awakenings, with Robert De Niro and Williams.
Libertini got his start in Chicago, as a member of the famed comedy troupe Second City. In 1966, he made his Broadway debut in the role of a priest, in Woody Allen’s Don’t Drink the Water. Two years later, he earned his first screen credit on William Friedkin’s The Night They Raided Minsky’s.
From 1963 to 1978, Libertini was married to Oscar-nominated actress Melinda Dillon.
He died January 7, 2016, in Los Angeles. He was 82.
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