Willie Garson

Willie Garson was the actor who played Riga in the fifth season episode .
Garson was born in Highland Park, New Jersey. A graduate of Weslayan University where he majored in theater, he is best known for his recurring role as Stanford Blatch in the HBO series , starring actress Kim Cattrall. He reprised this role for the feature films and , again with Cattrall in both films and with stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker in the former. He also had recurring roles on Mr. Belvedere, Boy Meets World, , the science fiction series , and . In the latter series, he worked alongside the likes of Gordon Clapp, Sharon Lawrence, Steve Rankin, and Don Stark.
Garson also co-starred twice with future actors Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell in , most notably a 1992 two-parter in which he played Lee Harvey Oswald. Garson's many other television credits include Cheers (starring Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth), (with Mädchen Amick, Richard Beymer, Carel Struycken, Kenneth Welsh and Ray Wise), (with Daniel Benzali, Corbin Bernsen, and Larry Drake), (one episode with Thomas Kopache and another with Nicholas Worth), (with Anne Elizabeth Ramsay and Alan Ruck), The Practice (with Charles Cooper, Robin Gammell, Natalia Nogulich, and Craig Wasson), (two episodes, including one with Bob Gunton and Albert Hall), (in an episode with Richard Herd), Friends, Spin City (starring Alan Ruck), (with Stanley Kamel), , and . Garson also appeared in (2002, with Matt Frewer, Gwynyth Walsh, Anton Yelchin, Emily Bergl, Brian Markinson, Roger Cross, and Karen Austin).
Garson was seen in three films directed by Bobby and Peter Ferrelly: (1996, with Googy Gress), (1998), and (2005, with Jack Kehler and James B. Sikking). He also appeared in many other popular films, including (1991, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Teri Hatcher), (1993), (1995, co-starring Christopher Lloyd, Bill Cobbs, Don Stark, Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jr., Bill Bolender, and Bill Erwin), (1996, with Tony Todd and Marshall R. Teague), (1996, with Paul Winfield, Michael Reilly Burke, and Jeanne Mori), and (1999). He later appeared in (2003) and (2005), both co-starring Rosalind Chao (with the latter also featuring Ron Canada).
He also appeared White Collar (TV series) on from 2009 to 2014. Also, he played a recurring role as Gerard Hirsch on the Hawaii Five-0 reboot from 2015 to 2019.
He died on 21 September 2021. 
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Category:Performers
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