R.I.P. Richard Riehle, Office Space actor

The mustachioed character actor, who excelled at playing put-upon, short-fused everymen, was 78.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  October 19, 2026 | 3:14pm
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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R.I.P. Richard Riehle, Office Space actor

Richard Riehle has died. The character actor best known as the “Jump To Conclusions” mat inventor, Tom Smykowski, in Office Space, Riehle appeared in more than 400 screen projects. The actor’s friends reported to TMZ that he died of natural causes on October 15. He was 78. 

Born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, on May 12, 1948, Riehle started acting “totally by chance,” as he told The A.V. Club in a 2017 Random Roles. While running out of tuition money at the University of Notre Dame, a friend told him he could finish early through speech and drama courses. He spent his last semester “doing anything and everything that you do in the theater,” impressing his mentors who helped him land a teaching assistantship at the University of Minnesota, where he received his MFA. After graduation, Riehle hit the regional theater circuit before his first screen role in 1975’s True Grit sequel, Rooster Cogburn (…And The Lady), starring John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn. “I was a glorified extra that got bumped up to being Richard Jordan’s stand-in for a while,” he remembered. “I think I was a dead body in two or three different places in there, but I can’t find myself.” He followed it with Joyride in 1977, playing a bartender (with speaking lines) opposite the children of many stars, including Desi Arnaz Jr., Anne Lockhart, Robert Carradine, and Melanie Griffith. 

After those first two experiences, Riehle’s on-screen career took a decade-long break. He didn’t start appearing in what feels like every movie and TV show until 1989, starting with Ridley Scott’s Black Rain and Edward Zwick’s Oscar-nominated Glory. He also began working steadily on television, landing roles in My Two Dads, Dragnet, Quantum Leap, Murder, She Wrote, and L.A. Law. He stayed booked and busy throughout the decade, playing stocky, blustery, and mustachioed put-upon everymen in hits like Free Willy, The Fugitive, Casino, and The West Wing. He even shaved for Patrick Stewart’s favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Inner Light.” Riehle went on to roles in Star Trek: Voyager and Enterprise. 

Though always on screen as a reliable “that guy,” Reihle received his most recognizable role via Mike Judge in 1997’s Office Space. As Tom Smykowski, the suicidal pessimist who has people skills but gets hit by a drunk driver before inventing the “Jump To Conclusions” mat, one of the film’s best gags, he offers star Ron Livingston a grim look at the future. The character’s popularity is due to the actor’s simmering frustration, which stood out among the film’s many great characters, actors, and character actors. Sadly, he reported to The A.V. Club that his famous prop has since disappeared. 

Riehle remained a screen staple throughout the rest of his life. He co-starred on the Fox sitcom Grounded For Life, a role he won after his Office Space co-star Stephen Root dropped out. But he wasn’t limited to any genre; he acted in The Young And The Restless, Psych, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Transformers: Age Of Extinction, Bridesmaids, Wedding Crashers, NCIS, and many, many, many more. His final on-screen role came in 2023 as Warden Reynolds on HBO’s Barry.

 
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