William Atherton Knight III (born July 30, 1947) is an American film, theatre and television actor.
Atherton was born in Orange, Connecticut to Myrtle (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 lead in the 1978 miniseries Centennial, based on the novel by James Michener.
Atherton entered pop culture history in 1984, when he starred in the hit comedy Ghostbusters as the overbearing EPA agent Walter Peck. Atherton was also almost injured on the set when 200 pounds of shaving cream were dumped on him from a crane to simulate a torrent of molten marshmallow engulfing him, almost knocking him off his feet. After the big success of Ghostbusters, Atherton has said that people have yelled "Dickless" at him when they see him in public.
In 1985, Martha Coolidge chose Atherton to play Professor Jerry Hathaway in the teen comedy Real Genius.
In 1988, Atherton played the reporter Dick Thornburg in the blockbuster action film Die Hard, as well as its 1990 sequel.
Other film credits include No Mercy, The Pelican Brief, Bio-Dome, Mad City, The Crow: Salvation, The Last Samurai, the TV movies Buried Alive, Headspace and Virus. He has also made guest appearances on such TV shows as The Twilight Zone, Desperate Housewives, The Equalizer, and Law & Order. Atherton also provided the voice of Dr. Destiny on Justice League.
According to writer/director Kevin Smith, Atherton was his first choice to play the odious Jared Svenning, the chief villain of his 1995 film Mallrats. Atherton turned it down as he saw the film to be too childish, although Smith humorously added that Atherton had elected instead to play a role in the Pauly Shore vehicle Bio-Dome.
His 2007 appearances included Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, an adaptation of the best selling novel The Girl Next Door.
Veteran character actor often cast as sleazy villain or self-absorbed yuppie. Most remembered for his fantastic role in Ghost Busters (1984) as Walter Peck. Also had memorable role in Die Hard (1988) as yet another scumbag-ish character, Thornburg.
