Richard Moll Dies: ‘Night Court’ Star Was 80

Richard Moll, best known for starring as the bailiff on the original Night Court, has passed away.

Moll died at the age of 80, “peacefully … at his home in Big Bear Lake, California” on October 26, according to his publicist (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Moll faced problems early on in his career due to his tall stature — he was 6-foot-8-inches — but he used it to his advantage to play the dimwitted but loveable bailiff Aristotle Nostradamus “Bull” Shannon (pictured below) on the hit sitcom Night Court throughout its nine-season run on NBC (1984-1992).

Prior to that career-defining role, Moll had spent the better part of a decade languishing in commercials, forgettable features and undistinguished made-for-television movies. But as one of the more popular characters on Night Court, he was able to branch out into larger films and even voiceover work on animated series, often relishing the chance to play the bad guy.

Warner Bros./Courtesy: Everett Collection

Moll had over 170 credits to his name, with his first coming in the 1977 film Brigham. He then guest starred in series like Welcome Back, Kotter, The Rockford Files, How the West Was Won, Happy Days, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Bad News Bears, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, T.J. Hooker, Remington Steele, Fantasy Island, and The Dukes of Hazzard, and appeared in films including Hard Country, Liar’s Moon, and The Sword and the Sorcerer before landing his role on Night Court.

After the NBC sitcom ended in 1992, he guest starred on shows like Highlander, Martin (pictured, top), Due South, Babylon 5, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Baywatch, Married… with Children, and Smallville. He also found life in animation as the voice of Harvey Dent/Two-Face on Batman: The Animated Series (1992-95) and Scorpion on Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994-98), while finding time for small parts in big studio movies like The Flintsones, Jingle All the Way, and Scary Movie 2.

His last onscreen roles came in 2017’s Circus Kane and the short For Play and 2018’s Slay Belles.

Moll is survived by his children, Chloe and Mason, and his stepchildren, Cassandra and Morgan.