William Atherton

Received his Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1969).

William Atherton's career has spanned motion pictures, Broadway and television. He first achieved international recognition as the leading man in Steven Spielberg's debut feature The Sugarland Express (1974), and next starred in John Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust (1975), Robert Wise's The Hindenburg (1975) and Richard Brooks' Looking for Mr.

Goodbar (1977).

On television, he has starred in numerous miniseries including the classic Western Centennial (1978) and headed the all-star cast in Malibu (1983).

He is known worldwide for what have become his signature film characters: the television reporter, Dick Thornburg in the action blockbusters Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990), the EPA official, Walter Peck in Ghostbusters (1984), Professor Jerry Hathaway, the conniving professor in Real Genius (1985) and Dr.

Among his more than 30 feature films are co-starring roles in John Landis' Oscar (1991), Bill Duke's Hoodlum (1997), Richard Pearce's No Mercy (1986), Alan J.

Pakula's The Pelican Brief (1993), Costa-Gavras' Mad City (1997) and Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai (2003).

His many made-for-TV movies include leading roles in TNT's production of Joan Didion's Broken Trust (1995) and his portrayal of Darryl F.

Noah Faulkner, the mad scientist in Bio-Dome (1996).

Zanuck in HBO's Golden Globe winner Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999).

Has sung Irving Berlin's, "What'll I Do?" for the opening title sequence in "The Great Gatsby". This was also featured in Robert Evans' documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002).

Atherton was a recurring series lead opposite Damien Lewis on NBC-TV's Life (2007) and portrayed Principal Reynolds in the final season of Lost (2004).

Has starred as Honore in the 2011 Los Angeles production of "Gigi" and performed the show's enormously popular song, "Yes, I Remember It Well", with his co-star, Millicent Martin at the McCallum Theatre's annual charity event in Palm Springs.