Photo: Ilya Haykinson / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
William Atherton was born on July 30, 1947 in Orange, Connecticut, United States. Public records list William Atherton as a television actor, film actor and stage actor. That works out to 79 years old in 2026. Education on record includes Amity Regional High School and Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts. Awards on record include Theatre World Award (1972).
My Take
William Atherton is one of those actors Hollywood absolutely needed — someone who could make you genuinely hate a character while still being completely riveted by him. He trained at Carnegie Mellon and cut his teeth on stage before landing serious dramatic roles in the mid-70s with The Sugarland Express and The Day of the Locust, proving he had real range. But let's be honest: his legacy is built on being the most infuriating bureaucratic villain in cinema history. Walter Peck in Ghostbusters and Richard Thornburg in Die Hard are practically a two-film masterclass in oily, smug antagonism — the kind of characters audiences love to despise. That takes genuine craft. He never played it campy; he played it completely straight, which made it so much funnier and so much more satisfying when things went wrong for him.
This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- William Atherton
- Name (Japanese)
- ウィリアム・アザートン
- Reading
- うぃりあむ・あざーとん
- Born
- July 30, 1947 (age 79)
- Origin
- Orange, Connecticut, United States
- Occupation
- television actor / film actor / stage actor / actor
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Boar
2. Background
- High school
- Amity Regional High School
- University
- Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts
Awards & achievements
- 1972 Theatre World Award
3. Links
4. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.
Frequently asked questions
When was William Atherton born?
Born July 30, 1947 (age 79).
Where is William Atherton from?
William Atherton is from Orange, Connecticut, United States.
What does William Atherton do?
William Atherton works as television actor, film actor, stage actor, actor.
Television actor — see all → · Film actor — see all → · More people from the United States →