Richard Venture, ‘Scent of a Woman’ and ‘Being There’ Actor, Dies at 94

Richard Venture, character actor in Oscar-nominated projects including All the President’s Men and Scent of a Woman, has died at 94.

Venture’s daughter Rebecca told The Hollywood Reporter he died on December 19 in Chester, Connecticut.

“He wasn’t a household name, but his volume of work and his adaptability always stand out,” she said.

Among those works are more than 80 film and TV appearances spanning from 1964 to 2001. Venture’s most memorable performances include portraying Peter Sellers’ valet in Being There (1979) and as a policeman who takes his own life in The Hunter (1980).

He was also featured as an assistant Metro editor in All the President’s Men (1976), as a U.S. ambassador in Missing (1982) and in Scent of a Woman (1992), he played Al Pacino’s brother, Willie, in an uncomfortable dinner scene on Thanksgiving Day.

Venture’s other credits include roles in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), The Greatest (1977), Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), The Onion Field (1979), Touch and Go (1986), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), The Sicilian (1987), Courage Under Fire (1996) and Red Corner (1997).

Television fans may remember the actor as Blair’s father in The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd or on Seinfeld, in which he played the dad of Jerry’s once-girlfriend (Catherine Keener). His Seinfeld character was also a co-worker of Elaine’s which helped tie things together for a 1992 episode titled “The Letter.”

Venture also held recurring roles on shows including Street Hawk, Falcon Crest, The Boys, Law & Order and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. He also appeared on The Waltons, Knots Landing, Brooklyn Bridge, The Thorn Birds, Valerie, L.A. Law and Murder, She Wrote, among many other series.

Born Richard Venturella on November 11, 1923, the New Jersey native was a U.S. Navy veteran who served in World War II aboard aircraft carriers.

Following his service, he appeared on Broadway in several performances and was later a member of the Arena Stage theater company in Washington, D.C., and the Long Wharf theater company in New Haven, Connecticut.

Venture was married four times to actresses Grace Grant, Olivia Cole and Lorrine O’Donnell, and to Katherine Venture. He is survived by his wife Katherine, his children Anthony, Kathy, Rebecca and John, and nine grandchildren.