Richard Schaal Biography

Fast Facts

• Was part of the second cast of the sketch comedy theater Second City in 1962, where he provided an essential blue-collar physicality
• Owned his own construction company in Chicago and ran a comedy-improv company in Chicago Heights before being hired by Second City
• Quote: "What improvisational theaters and workshops would want to help everybody discover is․․․a wider understanding and more feeling․ I've seen stiff spines soften and narrow minds broaden; people just go through incredible metamorphoses in this work․"
• Was a regular guest star on TV series like "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "That Girl," and "The Bob Newhart Show" in the 1960s and 1970s
• Best known as a character actor who appeared on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its spin-offs "Rhoda" and "Phyllis․"
• Continued to teach and direct physical comedy and improv until his death, even when he was confined to a wheelchair
• Made notable appearances in the films "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" in 1966 and "Slaughterhouse-Five" in 1972
• Was the first to fill one of the popular Second City "types," the "regular Chicago guy," which was later played by the likes of John Belushi and George Wendt