It is rather a difficult task to make someone laugh with funny jokes. It becomes even more challenging when you perform comedy and fail to make the audience happy and laugh. Attempting to make his mother laugh to save himself from her physical abuse, stand-up comedian Richard Belzer eventually became a world-famous comedian and an accomplished actor.
His personal life is not as simple as we think as it consists of both happy and sad moments. Wanna know more about his family life, wife, and children? Let's get in.
Cancer Survivor Richard Belzer's Married Life With Harlee McBride
Stand-up comedian Richard Belzer is now, very happy in his life with Harlee McBride. After lots of challenges in his career, family issues including a serious health issue, it seems he's definitely achieved the best in his life.
He married his third wife McBride in 1985. She is an American actress best known for starring in Young Lady Chatterley and Young Lady Chatterley II.
They met for the first time in 1981 at the suggestion of a friend. She was a divorcee with two daughters Bree and Jessica. Soon after the first encounter, the two became inseparable.
He is, in fact, a cancer survivor. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1983 and it was the same year he became cancer free. He said,
"I found out about it on a Friday and went into the hospital on Saturday. I was operated on and had 16 radiation treatments and I’m totally cured. My vision of life has improved. I’m very happy."
Though Belzer and McBride don't have children of their own, they are definitely very happy raising two daughters from McBride's past relationship.
We wish them a blissful marriage with no divorce or extra-marital affairs till the end.
Richard Belzer's Family Life And Past Affairs
Belzer had a troubled childhood. His parents didn't feel shy at all to give corporal punishment to their kids. With an attempt of self-defense, he turned to comedy.
He said,
"If I made my mother laugh she wouldn’t hit me."
As he belonged to a poor family, he worked a string of dead-end jobs for his day to day living. Everything was going smoothly until something tragic occurred in his family. His father committed suicide in 1968.
Not only that, but his first two marriages also failed after some years of living together. He married his first wife Gail Susan in 1966 but they separated with no kids in 1972.
He married boutique manager Dalia Danoch in 1976. Their conjugal life lasted only for two years as they separated with an official divorce in 1978.
Well, it was not just the end of tragic incidents in his life. His elder brother Leonard Belzer, 73, committed suicide jumping from the roof of his 16-floor Upper West Side apartment building in 2014.
Leonard was married to award-winning 'Sesame Street' director Emily Squires until her tragic death in November 2012.
With so much of emotional distress in past, we can say that Belzer is living a stable life with his loving wife.
Richard Belzer: Quick Facts
- Born on 4 August 1944 in Bridgeport, Connecticut to the family of Frances and Charles Blazer.
- He stands at a height of 6.06 feet (1.85m).
- He studied at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts.
- Previously, he worked in various sectors for his living including jewelry salesman, obit writer, and as a census taker in late 60s.
- He is best known for playing the role of BPD Detective and DA Investigator on the NBC police drama series Homicide: Life on the Street.
- He filed a lawsuit against Hulk Hogan for $5 million when Hogan tried his signature movie on Belzer on his cable TV show Hot Properties.
- He appeared in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit alongside Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Michelle Hurd, Stephanie March, Ice-T, and Diane Neal.
- He has an estimated net worth of about $16 million at present.