# David Rasche

David Rasche (/ˈræʃi/ RASH-ee;) (born August 7, 1944) is an American theater, film, and television actor who is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the 1980s satirical police sitcom Sledge Hammer!. Since then he has often played characters in positions of authority, in both serious and comical turns. In television he is known for his main role as Karl Muller in the HBO drama series Succession and his role as Alden Schmidt in the TV Land comedy series Impastor, as well as recurring and guest performances in numerous programs including L.A. Law, Monk, The West Wing, Veep, Bored to Death, and Ugly Betty.

## Early life

Rasche was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His father was a minister and farmer.
Rasche graduated from Elmhurst College in 1966; his grandfather was also an alumnus. Coming from "a long line of Evangelical and United Church of Christ ministers", he attended the University of Chicago Divinity School for two years, then quit. He did, however, receive a graduate degree in English from the University of Chicago.
Rasche studied acting under Sanford Meisner.

## Career
### Early years

He worked as a writer and teacher, including teaching English for two years at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. He performed for two years in Chicago's Second City improvisation group after studying there, and he also helped fund Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago.
After Second City, he starred in the Organic Theater's 1974 production of David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago, which established the playwright's characteristic blend of earthy, sometimes brutal dialogue.
He began appearing on television and films in 1977, making his film debut in 1978 in An Unmarried Woman, directed by Paul Mazursky. The following year, he had a small part in Woody Allen's Manhattan.
He played a terrorist in the 1983 television film Special Bulletin. He appeared on the Miami Vice episode "Bushido" (first aired November 22, 1985) as a KGB agent attempting to capture a former colleague of Lt. Castillo (Edward James Olmos). During his subsequent starring role on Sledge Hammer! his character often made jokes about Miami Vice.
Rasche played Petruchio to Frances Conroy's Kate in a production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew directed by Zoe Caldwell at the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut in the mid-1980s.

### Sledge Hammer!

Rasche is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the satirical television sitcom Sledge Hammer!, which ran from 1986 to 1988. The show was a spoof of police dramas and concerned the character Sledge Hammer, a violent and chauvinistic – but also somewhat clumsy – police inspector with a taste for large and powerful weaponry.

### Later work

Rasche had a minor role as a photographer in the movie Cobra alongside Brigitte Nielsen.
Shortly after Sledge Hammer! ended, he played to critical acclaim in the Broadway production of Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, and he later appeared in an Off-Broadway revival of Mamet's Edmond.
Rasche was lead character Buddy Wheeler in the 1990 biker comedy Masters of Menace. He played Parnelli, one of two corrupt narcotics police officers, in the 1989 Tom Selleck crime drama, An Innocent Man.
Rasche played the role of Ted Forstmann in the 1993 made-for-television movie Barbarians at the Gate, about the leveraged buyout (LBO) of RJR Nabisco. Rasche had a leading role in the 1997 Columbo episode, "A Trace of Murder".
In addition to his work as a screen actor, Rasche can also be heard as Captain Piett in the NPR radio adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back.
Rasche portrayed Donald Greene, one of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, in Paul Greengrass' 2006 9/11 film United 93. He had a major role in the 2009 satirical political comedy In the Loop, as a US official pushing for an invasion of an unspecified Middle Eastern country.
Starting February 14, 2017 he played George Antrobus in Theatre for a New Audience's production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, opposite Kecia Lewis as Maggie Antrobus. Rasche had a main role in HBO's Succession as Karl Muller from 2018 to 2023. He also participated in an industry reading of Rob Sedgwick's play, Please Leave, on February 13, 2023.

## Personal life

Rasche met his future wife Heather Lupton after he moved to New York City in 1976. She has taught acting at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Lupton made a guest appearance in Sledge Hammer! as Hammer's ex-wife. They have three children. Rasche owns a house in Santa Barbara, California.

## Theatre productions

| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
| 1977 | Isadora Duncan Sleeps with the Russian Navy | Ivan Miroski / German Entrepreneur/ Lenin | American Place Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1977 | The Shadow Box | Mark | Morosco Theatre, Broadway |
| 1979 | Loose Ends | Ben | Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway |
| 1980 | Lunch Hour | Peter | Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway |
| 1982 | Geniuses | Eugene Winter | Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway |
| 1984 | To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday | David | Circle in the Square Downtown, Off-Broadway |
| 1985 | The Custom of the Country | Raymond De Chelles | McGinn/Cazale Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1988 | Speed-the-Plow | Bobby Gould | Royale Theatre, Broadway |
| 1990 | The Country Girl | Frank Elgin | Union Square Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1996 | Edmond | Edmond | Linda Gross Theater, Off-Broadway |
| 1998 | Getting and Spending | Richard O'Neill | Helen Hayes Theatre, Broadway |
| 2003 | Last Dance | Randall | New York City Center, Off-Broadway |
| 2004 | Five by Tenn | Josie Cartwright / Lawrence / Two | New York City Center, Off-Broadway |
| 2005 | Moonlight and Magnolias | Victor Fleming | New York City Center, Off-Broadway |
| 2006 | Lovely Day | Performer | Samuel Beckett Theatre, New York |
| 2006 | Elvis and Juliet | Joey Francis Lesley | June Havoc Theatre, New York |
| 2006–07 | Regrets Only | Jack McCullough | New York City Center, Off-Broadway |
| 2008 | The Seagull | Yevgeny Sergeyevich Dorn | Classic Stage Company, Off-Broadway |
| 2008 | To Be or Not to Be | Josef Tura | Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Broadway |
| 2012 | Warrior Class | Nathan | McGinn/Cazale Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 2013 | Little Miss Sunshine | Grandpa Hoover | Tony Kiser Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 2014 | The Country House | Walter Keegan | Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Broadway |
| 2017 | The Skin of Our Teeth | Mr. Antroubus | Polonsky Shakespeare Center, Brooklyn |
| 2024 | Cult of Love | William "Bill" Dahl | Helen Hayes Theatre, Broadway |
* 1 2 3 4 Second Stage Theater is a theatre company that stages Off-Broadway productions at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre and at the Tony Kiser Theater, and Broadway theatre productions at the Hayes Theatre since 2015. Thus, Second Stage is not associated with the 1998 Broadway production Rasche appeared in at the then-named Helen Hayes Theatre.
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 Manhattan Theatre Club is a theatre company that stages Off-Broadway productions at the New York City Center, and Broadway theatre productions at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1978 | An Unmarried Woman | Man at Bar | Uncredited |
| 1979 | Manhattan | Television Actor #3 | |
| 1979 | Something Short of Paradise | David Ritchie | |
| 1980 | Just Tell Me What You Want | Stopwatch Producer | |
| 1981 | Honky Tonk Freeway | Eddie White | |
| 1982 | Fighting Back | Michael Taylor | |
| 1984 | Best Defense | KGB Agent Jeff | |
| 1986 | Cobra | Dan | |
| 1986 | Native Son | Buckley | |
| 1987 | Made in Heaven | Donald Sumner | |
| 1989 | Wicked Stepmother | Steve Fisher | |
| 1989 | An Innocent Man | Detective Mike Parnell | |
| 1989 | Wedding Band | Sloane Vaughn | |
| 1990 | Masters of Menace | Buddy Wheeler | |
| 1991 | Delirious | Dr. Paul Kirkwood / Dennis | |
| 1991 | Bingo | Hal Devlin | |
| 1993 | Twenty Bucks | Baker | |
| 1994 | A Million to Juan | Jeff | |
| 1994 | Bigfoot: The Unforgettable Encounter | Chaz Frederick | |
| 1995 | Magic in the Water | Phillip | |
| 1995 | Pie in the Sky | Amy's Dad | |
| 1997 | That Old Feeling | Alan | |
| 1999 | Friends & Lovers | Richie Wickham | |
| 1999 | The Settlement | Denny | |
| 1999 | The Big Tease | Stig Ludwigssen | |
| 1999 | Pros & Cons | Jack Stanford | |
| 2001 | Teddy Bears' Picnic | Elliot Chevron | |
| 2002 | Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood | Taylor Abbott | |
| 2003 | Just Married | Mr. McNerney | |
| 2003 | Exposed | Warren Ward | |
| 2004 | Off the Lip | Dr. Martin Shutte | |
| 2005 | The L.A. Riot Spectacular | Performer | |
| 2005 | Perception | Phil | |
| 2006 | The Sentinel | President John Ballentine | |
| 2006 | United 93 | Donald Freeman Greene | |
| 2006 | Flags of Our Fathers | Senator | |
| 2007 | The Girl in the Park | Doug | |
| 2008 | Burn After Reading | CIA Officer Palmer DeBakey Smith | |
| 2009 | Peter and Vandy | Alan | |
| 2009 | In the Loop | Linton Barwick | |
| 2009 | Crimes of the Past | Thomas Sparrow | |
| 2009 | Blue Eyes | Marshall | |
| 2011 | Collaborator | Radio Host (voice) | |
| 2011 | Remembrance | Daniel Levine | |
| 2012 | Missed Connections | George | |
| 2012 | Revenge for Jolly! | Eichelberger | |
| 2012 | Men in Black 3 | Agent X | |
| 2012 | Petunia | Percy Petunia | |
| 2012 | The Discoverers | Cyrus Marshall | |
| 2012 | The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich | Hills | |
| 2013 | Kill Your Darlings | Harry Carman | |
| 2013 | The Big Wedding | Barry O'Connor | |
| 2014 | Amira & Sam | Jack | |
| 2014 | Freedom | Jefferson Monroe | |
| 2019 | Swallow | Michael | |
| 2020 | Paper Spiders | Bill Hoffman | |
| 2021 | Americanish | Jim | |
| 2021 | The Good House | Scott Good | |
| 2023 | Theater Camp | Dr. Bill Rauch | |
| 2023 | About My Father | Bill Collins | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1977 | The Andros Targets | Smitty | Episode: "Death in a Toy Balloon" |
| 1978 | On Our Town | Performer | Episode: "A Friend, Indeed" |
| 1978–1981 | Ryan's Hope | Wes Leonard | 34 episodes |
| 1979 | Sanctuary of Fear | Jack Collins | Television movie |
| 1979 | Mrs. Columbo | William Gardner | Episode: "Falling Star" |
| 1981–1982 | Love, Sidney | J.M. | 2 episodes |
| 1982 | SCTV Network | Robert Wellesly | Episode: "Melonvote" |
| 1983 | Special Bulletin | Dr. David McKeeson | Television movie |
| 1984 | The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck | Donald Catton | Television movie |
| 1984 | Search for Tomorrow | Colonel Tom Burns | 3 episodes |
| 1985 | Sara | David Collier | Episode: "David Returns" |
| 1985 | Code Name: Foxfire | Sam Rawlings | Episode: "Slay it Again, Sam" |
| 1985 | Miami Vice | Surf | Episode: "Bushido" |
| 1986 | Kate & Allie | Richard Lubin | Episode: "Thank You, Shirley" |
| 1986–1988 | Sledge Hammer! | Sledge Hammer | 41 episodes |
| 1988 | Secret Witness | Sandy | Television movie |
| 1990 | Silhouette | Sheriff Kyle Lauder | Television movie |
| 1991 | The Trials of Rosie O'Neill | Patrick | Episode: "Wolf Pack" |
| 1992 | L.A. Law | David McCoy | 2 episodes |
| 1992–1994 | Nurses | Jack Trenton | 46 episodes |
| 1993 | Empty Nest | Jack Trenton | Episode: "Love and Marriage" |
| 1993 | Barbarians at the Gate | Ted Forstmann | Television movie |
| 1994 | Burke's Law | John Ramsey | Episode: "Who Killed the Legal Eagle?" |
| 1994 | Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die | Alfred Raine | Television movie |
| 1995 | Aaahh!!! Real Monsters | Friggit (voice) | Episode: "Where Have All the Monsters Gone?" |
| 1995 | Signs and Wonders | Brother Nahum | 4 episodes |
| 1995 | Duckman | Baron Von Dillweed | Episode: "Married Alive" |
| 1995 | Perry Mason | Ben Landry | Episode: "The Case of the Jealous Jokester" |
| 1995 | Dead Weekend | Payne | Television movie |
| 1995 | Out There | Don Polson | Television movie |
| 1995–1996 | High Society | Peter Thomas | 10 episodes |
| 1997 | Columbo | Patrick Kinsey | Episode: "A Trace of Murder" |
| 1998 | The Wonderful World of Disney | Derek Early | Episode: "Tourist Trap" |
| 1998 | Recess | Mr. E (voice) | Episode: "The Substitute" |
| 1998 | Just Shoot Me! | Michael Tenzer | Episode: "War and Sleaze" |
| 1999 | Grown Ups | Kenny Daniels | Episode: "Family Circus" |
| 1999 | The West Wing | Carl | Episode: "The State Dinner" |
| 2000 | Suddenly Susan | Evan | 2 episodes |
| 2000–2001 | DAG | President Whitman | 5 episodes |
| 2001 | The Lot | Eddie Moran | Episode: "The Mob Scene" |
| 2001 | For Your Love | Dr. Bruckner | Episode: "The Birth Day" |
| 2002 | MDs | Mr. Baranski | Episode: "Reversal of Fortune" |
| 2002 | Providence | Doc Croc | Episode: "The Wedding Planner" |
| 2002 | What Leonard Comes Home To | Performer | Television movie |
| 2003 | Malcolm in the Middle | The Lawyer | Episode: "Grandma Sues" |
| 2003 | Monk | Coach Patterson | Episode: "Mr. Monk Goes Back to School" |
| 2003 | She Spies | Norton Andrews | Episode: "While You Were Out" |
| 2003 | Robbery Homicide Division | Lee | Episode: "Hellbound Train" |
| 2004 | Las Vegas | Tim Valentine | Episode: "Die Fast, Die Furious" |
| 2006 | The Book of Daniel | Donald Warwick | Episode: "Acceptance" |
| 2008 | All My Children | Robert Gardner | 38 episodes |
| 2009 | Law & Order | Joe Delaney | Episode: "Anchors Aweigh" |
| 2009 | Sherri | Bart | 3 episodes |
| 2009 | Can Openers | Dr. Steven Miller | Television movie |
| 2009–2010 | Ugly Betty | Cal Hartley | 10 episodes |
| 2010 | The Electric Company | The Ronald | Episode: "The Junior Assistant" |
| 2010 | Rubicon | James Wheeler | 7 episodes |
| 2011 | Are We There Yet? | "Thunder" Clark | Episode: "She Got Game" |
| 2011 | Royal Pains | Charles Woodward | Episode: "Rash Talk" |
| 2011 | Bored to Death | Bernard | 6 episodes |
| 2013–2017 | Veep | Jim Marwood | 8 episodes |
| 2014 | Black Box | Hunter Black | 2 episodes |
| 2015–2016 | Impastor | Alden Schmidt | 20 episodes |
| 2016 | Understudies | Clement Shaw | Episode: "Table Manners" |
| 2016 | Madam Secretary | Ambassador Arlen Maxwell | Episode: "The Middle Way" |
| 2018–2023 | Succession | Karl Muller | 28 episodes |
| 2022 | Inside Amy Schumer | CEO | Episode: "Quiet Pills" |
| 2025 | Dying for Sex | Dr. Pankowitz | Upcoming miniseries |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Project | Result | Ref. |
| 2022 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Succession | Won | |
| 2024 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Succession | Won | |