Follow-up: Richard Riehle's cause of death revealed — death certificate cites oropharyngeal cancer and stroke; actor cremated October 23
The official cause of death of American character actor Richard Riehle has been revealed. GSM reported on October 20 that Riehle died on October 15 in Los Angeles, California, at age 78; friends at the time described the death only as natural causes, with no specific cause given.
According to TMZ on October 27, the death certificate it obtained shows Riehle died from a stroke, with oropharyngeal cancer — a type of throat cancer — listed as the underlying cause of death. The document also shows he was cremated on October 23. PEOPLE, which obtained the same Los Angeles death certificate, reported that his immediate cause of death was oropharyngeal cancer, with a cerebrovascular accident, or stroke, noted as a significant contributing condition; Entertainment Weekly's account matched PEOPLE's, adding that he died at the Beverly Hills Rehabilitation Centre. The two outlets differ in the order of primary and contributing causes, but both rely on the same certificate.
Riehle was born on May 12, 1948, in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, and studied at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Minnesota. Over a career spanning nearly five decades and more than 400 screen credits, he was best known as Tom Smykowski, the laid-off employee in the 1999 cult comedy Office Space. His films also included Casino, Fried Green Tomatoes and The Fugitive, and several of his final performances remain in upcoming releases. As TMZ previously reported, he had filmed scenes for several forthcoming movies before his death but never saw the finished versions of some of them.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Richard Riehle 本人照片（2016年）。Germar Derron 摄，CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Richard Riehle in 2016. Photo by Germar Derron, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2026-10-20Character Actor Richard Riehle, Known as Tom Smykowski in 'Office Space,' Dies at 78 in Los Angeles
- 2026-10-28Follow-up: Richard Riehle's cause of death revealed — death certificate cites oropharyngeal cancer and stroke; actor cremated October 23This story
