William Atherton (born July 30, 1947) is an American film, stage and television actor.
Atherton was born William Atherton Knight II in Orange, Connecticut, the son of Myrtle (née Robison) and Robert Atherton Knight. He attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Pasadena Playhouse.
After a handful of small film roles, Atherton got his big break playing hapless fugitive Clovis Poplin in The Sugarland Express, the feature film debut of St...
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William Atherton (born July 30, 1947) is an American film, stage and television actor.
Atherton was born William Atherton Knight II in Orange, Connecticut, the son of Myrtle (née Robison) and Robert Atherton Knight. He attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Pasadena Playhouse.
After a handful of small film roles, Atherton got his big break playing hapless fugitive Clovis Poplin in The Sugarland Express, the feature film debut of Steven Spielberg. After this, he garnered major roles in dark dramas such as Looking for Mr. Goodbar and The Day of the Locust, as well as the big-budget disaster film The Hindenburg. He also played the young cowboy Jim Lloyd in the 1978 miniseries Centennial, based on the novel by James Michener.
Atherton entered pop culture history in 1984, when he appeared in the hit comedy Ghostbusters as the overbearing EPA agent Walter Peck. Atherton was almost injured on the set when 200 pounds of shaving cream were dumped on him from a crane to simulate...
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