William Atherton

William Atherton

1947-07-30 Orange, Connecticut, USA 63 Credits

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William Atherton Knight (born July 30, 1947) is an American actor, best known for portraying Richard Thornburg in Die Hard and its sequel and Walter Peck in Ghostbusters.

Known For

Filter by:

Complete Filmography

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

2024

as Mayor Walter Peck

6.5
Acting

When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world ...

Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters

Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters

2020

as Self

6.8
Acting

The documentary that tells us the full story from where it all started through to the future of the "Ghostbusters" franchise.

Clinical

Clinical

2017

as Terry Drummond

5.3
Acting

A psychiatrist tries to put her life back together after a violent attack by seeking to repair the life of a new patient, but he has his own terrifyin...

Ghostheads

Ghostheads

2016

as Self

5.9
Acting

A documentary that explores the extreme side of the Ghostbusters fandom. Join us as we travel the world meeting extreme Ghostbusters fans. Every Ghost...

Jinn

Jinn

2014

as Father Westhoff

4.0
Acting

From the beginning, stories of angels and men have captured our imaginations and have been etched into our history crossing all boundaries of culture,...

Jersey Shore Shark Attack

Jersey Shore Shark Attack

2012

as Dolan

4.8
Acting

Many years ago, hundreds of locals and tourists were massacred by giant man-eating sharks in the infamous 1916 Jersey Shore attacks. But that's just a...

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

2012

as Earle Swinter

5.5
Acting

Two guys get a billion dollars to make a movie, only to watch their dream run off course.

The Kane Files: Life of Trial

The Kane Files: Life of Trial

2010

as Daniel Morgan

4.9
Acting

Scott Kane (Drew Fuller), a man with a checkered past is trying to live a clean life. When his son Owen falls ill, Kane finds his only option is to tu...

Ghouls

Ghouls

2008

as Stefan

3.3
Acting

Stefan invites his daughter, Jennifer, to travel to Romania for the funeral of his mother. His mystic girlfriend Liz travels with them to the cursed v...

Black Crescent Moon

Black Crescent Moon

2008

as Jo Dexton

3.9
Acting

A small town sheriff who's investigating a murder at the local diner ends up finding more than he bargained for in the town and in himself.

Aces 'N' Eights

Aces 'N' Eights

2008

as Howard

6.4
Acting

Already taking a gamble settling in the uncharted west, the peaceful settlers of a town destined for railroad greatness suddenly find themselves being...

The Girl Next Door

The Girl Next Door

2007

as Adult David Moran

6.6
Acting

In a quiet suburban town in the summer of 1958, two recently orphaned sisters are placed in the care of their mentally unstable Aunt Ruth. But Ruth's ...

Kush

Kush

2007

as King

2.5
Acting

A young drug dealer Dusty, is torn between the money and getting out. When his partner Christian, is caught up in a kidnapping and murder scheme.

Towards Darkness

Towards Darkness

2007

as John

5.2
Acting

About a kidnapped hostage's life, and the frustration his family, a special ops team, and a man in charge of delivering the ransom money all feel as t...

Into the Sun

Into the Sun

2005

as Agent Block

4.5
Acting

After the assassination of Tokyo's Governor by Yakuza members, the CIA bureau chief (William Atherton) for Tokyo puts out a call to an agent (Steven S...

Headspace

Headspace

2005

as Dr. Ira Gold

5.2
Acting

25-year-old Alex Borden's chance encounter with a mysterious stranger has found his intellect rapidly expanding, but as the power of his mind grows so...

Headspace

Headspace

2005

Co-Producer

5.2
Producing

25-year-old Alex Borden's chance encounter with a mysterious stranger has found his intellect rapidly expanding, but as the power of his mind grows so...

Gone But Not Forgotten

Gone But Not Forgotten

2005

as Sen. Ray Colby

4.9
Acting

An Oregon woman vanishes. In her wake remains a single black rose & a note reading gone but not forgotten. Now a man stands accused: a private eye has...

Who's Your Daddy?

Who's Your Daddy?

2004

as Duncan Mack

4.9
Acting

An adopted Ohio high school senior discovers he is the inherited heir to a porn empire. Dropped into a bitter power struggle, his new flock of beautif...

The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai

2003

as Winchester Rep

7.6
Acting

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and th...

Race to Space

Race to Space

2001

as Ralph Stanton

5.9
Acting

In the 1960s a young woman works at NASA as an animal trainer responsible for the chimpanzee who will go into space.

Burning Down the House

2001

as Arthur Kranston

10.0
Acting

A down-on-his-luck film director sets fire to his home so he can collect the insurance money and fund his new movie. But crime apparently does pay, be...

Bread and Roses

Bread and Roses

2000

as Party Guest (uncredited)

6.3
Acting

Maya is a quick-witted young woman who comes over the Mexican border without papers and makes her way to the LA home of her older sister Rosa. Rosa ge...

The Crow: Salvation

The Crow: Salvation

2000

as Nathan Randall

5.5
Acting

Alex Corvis, a man wrongly executed for the murder of his girlfriend, returns from the dead and sets out to find the real killer.

The Stranger

The Stranger

1999

2.0
Acting

A young woman's dreams become real-life nightmares after a mysterious stranger comes into her life.

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

1999

as Darryl Zanuck

6.5
Acting

An acclaimed stage performer, Dorothy still struggled with the challenge of her color, in a time that wouldn't let some stars in by the front door. Ye...

Michael Kael vs. the World News Company

Michael Kael vs. the World News Company

1998

as James Denit

3.4
Acting

A naive French reporter is sent to an African town to cover a sensational news story, unaware that it has been faked by an international news giant in...

Mad City

Mad City

1997

as Dohlen

6.2
Acting

A misguided museum guard who loses his job and then tries to get it back at gunpoint is thrown into the fierce world of ratings-driven TV gone mad.

Executive Power

Executive Power

1997

as President Fields

6.5
Acting

While protecting the U.S. President, Secret Service agent Nick Sager helps him to dispose of the body of a young girl, who accidentally died during an...

Hoodlum

Hoodlum

1997

as Thomas E. Dewey

6.4
Acting

In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Queen—the powerful woman who runs the scam in Harle...

Raven Hawk

Raven Hawk

1996

as Philip Thorne

3.7
Acting

A Native-American woman, who was framed for the murders of her parents years before, returns to her reservation to seek revenge.

Bio-Dome

Bio-Dome

1996

as Dr. Noah Faulkner

4.5
Acting

Bud and Doyle are a pair of aimless slackers with no real direction in life. While their environmentally-conscious girlfriends are passionate about sa...

Broken Trust

Broken Trust

1995

as Neil Roemer

5.2
Acting

A scrupulously honest judge finds he's a pawn in a federal sting to ferret out corrupt members of the bench, many of whom are his friends.

A Night to Die For

A Night to Die For

1995

as Self

Acting

TV special worth watching if only for the incongruous interviews with Wayne Newton, Wayne Gretzky, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Rudolph Giuliani, Mike Ditka, a...

Virus

Virus

1995

as Dr. Reginald Holloway

4.6
Acting

Who could have deliberately released a rare and deadly African plague that is now spreading uncontrollably throughout America's largest urban areas? A...

Frank & Jesse

Frank & Jesse

1994

as Allan Pinkerton

5.2
Acting

At the end of the Civil War, Frank and Jesse James and other former guerillas who rode with Quantrill and Bill Anderson take the oath of allegiance to...

Saints and Sinners

Saints and Sinners

1994

as Terence

4.3
Acting

After many years Pooch returns to his neighbourhood. To Big Boy, his best friend, Pooch is valuable asset in his plans of becoming local crime lord. T...

The Pelican Brief

The Pelican Brief

1993

as Bob Gminski

6.6
Acting

A law student's theory about the recent deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a far-reaching web of murder, corruption, and greed.

Chrome Soldiers

Chrome Soldiers

1992

as Sheriff Blackwell

3.8
Acting

Five ex-soldiers go to a small town in Oregon to help a friend investigate the murder of his brother.

Diagnosis Murder: Diagnosis of Murder

Diagnosis Murder: Diagnosis of Murder

1992

as Eric Walker

8.3
Acting

Convinced that his long-time patient Nick Osborn didn't murder his boss, Mark Sloan starts investigating the case himself, supported by a junior docto...

Oscar

Oscar

1991

as Overton

6.3
Acting

Angelo "Snaps" Provolone made his dying father a promise on his deathbed: he would leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Despite ...

Grim Prairie Tales

Grim Prairie Tales

1990

as Arthur

5.8
Acting

Two travelers meet on the open prairie, and pass their time together by trading stories with each other. Their tales become a sort of competition, eac...

Die Hard 2

Die Hard 2

1990

as Richard Thornberg

7.0
Acting

One year after his heroics in Los Angeles, John McClane is an off-duty cop who is the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a snowy Chris...

Buried Alive

Buried Alive

1990

as Cortland "Cort" van Owen

6.7
Acting

A married woman and her lover plot to kill her husband to make off with the insurance money. However, their attempt to murder him using poisonous fish...

Intrigue

Intrigue

1988

as Doggett

5.5
Acting

A spy is looking for his old colleague who now works for the other side.

Die Hard

Die Hard

1988

as Richard Thornburg

7.8
Acting

NYPD cop John McClane's plan to reconcile with his estranged wife is thrown for a serious loop when, minutes after he arrives at her offices Christmas...

The Equalizer - The Movie: Blood & Wine

The Equalizer - The Movie: Blood & Wine

1987

as Martin 'Alpha' Loeber

8.7
Acting

Robert McCall is forced to work with a former terrorist turned monk by the name of Joseph Heiden(Telly Savalas), whom he despises and mistrusts, on a ...

No Mercy

No Mercy

1986

as Allan Deveneux

5.8
Acting

An unconventional undercover Chicago cop and his partner are recruited to commit the murder of a New Orleans criminal kingpin.

A Fight for Jenny

A Fight for Jenny

1986

as Michael Rosen

7.0
Acting

When Kelsey remarries, her struggle to get custody of her daughter from her first marriage is complicated by her current husband being black.

Real Genius

Real Genius

1985

as Professor Hathaway

6.7
Acting

When teenage geniuses Mitch Taylor and Chris Knight, working on an advanced laser project, learn that the military wants to use it as a weapon, they d...

Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters

1984

as Walter Peck

7.5
Acting

After losing their academic posts at a prestigious university, a team of parapsychologists goes into business as proton-pack-toting "ghostbusters" who...

Malibu

Malibu

1983

as Stan Harvey

3.0
Acting

A young couple from Milwaukee moves into the fabled, high-society Malibu beach community and becomes involved with the lives of the various people liv...

Tomorrow's Child

Tomorrow's Child

1982

as Jim Spence

2.0
Acting

The wife of a research geneticist agrees to the experimental procedure of a 'test-tube baby' by having her fetus brought to full term in a glass jar i...

The House of Mirth

1981

as Lawrence Selden

Acting

Lily Bart, a well-born, but penniless woman of the high society of New York City, who was raised and educated to become wife to a rich man. As an unma...

Looking for Mr. Goodbar

Looking for Mr. Goodbar

1977

as James

6.3
Acting

A short, unhappy affair with a married man leads a dedicated schoolteacher into the alcohol-and-drug fueled underworld of singles’ bars, where she beg...

Independence

Independence

1976

as Benjamin Rush

Acting

John Huston directs this film giving relevance and life to the hallowed buildings and ground making up Independence National Historical Park. Through ...

The Hindenburg

The Hindenburg

1975

as Boerth

6.3
Acting

Colonel Franz Ritter, a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security....

The Day of the Locust

The Day of the Locust

1975

as Tod Hackett

6.4
Acting

Hollywood, 1930s. Tod Hackett, a young painter who tries to make his way as an art director in the lurid world of film industry, gets infatuated with ...

The Sugarland Express

The Sugarland Express

1974

as Clovis Poplin

6.6
Acting

Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Je...

Class of '44

Class of '44

1973

as Fraternity President

5.9
Acting

During the last years of World War II, Hermie, Oscy, and Benjie are coming of age. They went their separate ways when they graduated from high school ...

The New Centurions

The New Centurions

1972

as Johnson

6.7
Acting

An idealistic rookie cop joins the LAPD to make ends meet while finishing law school, and is indoctrinated by a seasoned veteran. As time goes on, he ...

Midnight Men: A John Schlesinger and Michael Childers Story

Midnight Men: A John Schlesinger and Michael Childers Story

N/A

Acting

A documentary on John Schlesinger and Michael Childers.

Where Did the Adults Go?

Where Did the Adults Go?

N/A

as The Father

Acting

Every year, on the anniversary of their parents’ death, Cynthia, Bryce, and Miles gather at the family summer home to reminisce and have brunch at the...