This article has been updated since its publication.
Variety and other outlets report that veteran character actor Richard Moll died on Thursday, October 26, at his home in Big Bear Lake, California. He was 80 years old. Moll, who possessed a deep voice and a 6 foot 8 stature, was best known for playing the bailiff Bull Shannon on Night Court from 1984 to 1992, and Harvey Dent/Two-Face on Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures from 1992 to 1998, where he became the first actor to play the character’s evil alter-ego.
Charles Richard Moll was born in Pasadena, California on January 13, 1943, and graduated with a history degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964. He began his career performing Shakespeare at the Will Geer Theatre, as well as with the 1977 film Brigham, where he played Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saints movement. He made guest appearances on various TV shows before being cast as the bald, gentle giant Aristotle Nostradamus “Bull” Shannon on Night Court. During his time on the sitcom, Moll appeared as the main antagonist in the 1986 horror film House, for which he received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
As Two-Face, Moll channeled the breathy, growling voice of Xusia, the sorcerer he played in 1982’s The Sword and the Sorcerer. His audition for Harvey’s alter-ego was reportedly so eerie that it stopped the Batman: The Animated Series production staff dead in their tracks. The show marked the first time Two-Face appeared outside the comics: while Billy Dee Williams had played Dent in Batman (1989), he did not portray his alter-ego until 2017’s The LEGO Batman Movie, making Moll the first actor to ever play Two-Face.
Moll only played Dent in his first few appearances, as well as other parts, including the Bat-Computer, before taking center stage in the two-part origin story “Two-Face.” The episode reunited Moll with Murphy Cross, who’d guest starred on Night Court, as Dent’s fiancée Grace Lamont. A movie centering Moll as Two-Face was mooted, although the show’s writers and producers moved towards what became Mask of the Phantasm instead, and Paul Dini repurposed the premise for the first two issues of 1995’s “The Batman and Robin Adventures.” His version of the character would later make a cameo in 2019’s Justice League vs. the Fatal Five, although he did not return to the role, with Bruce Timm filling in for the voice.
Moll’s association with the DCAU led him to voice Emperor Spooj on Superman: The Animated Series, Krick on The Zeta Project, and Java on Justice League, plus a different version of Two-Face, and Lew Moxon, on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Other voiceover roles included Scorpion (who was originally voiced by Martin Landau) on the ’90s Spider-Man series, the Abomination (originally played by Kevin Schon) on the decade’s Incredible Hulk cartoon, and Vorn the Unspeakable on Freakazoid! He voiced Cabbot in the original Fallout game, Devil Hulk in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and Death and King Minos in 2010’s Dante’s Inferno.
Further projects from Moll included 1994’s Flintstones movie, Jingle All the Way, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd, But I’m a Cheerleader, Evolution, Scary Movie 2, two DTV Casper movies, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Smallville, and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster. He largely spent the final years of his career appearing in low budget films and TV movies before retiring with the 2018 horror film Slay Belles. Outside of acting, Moll was reportedly an avid bird watcher and nature lover, making Big Bear Lake the ideal place to retire.
Moll was married and divorced twice, and is survived by his children Chloe and Mason Moll; his second ex-wife, Susan Brown; and stepchildren Cassandra Card and Morgan Ostling. He marks the fourth major Batman: The Animated Series player to have passed away in the past year, following Harley Quinn voice actress Arleen Sorkin, story editor Michael Reaves, and the voice of Batman himself, Kevin Conroy. Conroy once remarked of Moll back in 2020, “[He] was so wonderful as Two-Face. He’s a very quirky guy and very quiet. Very reserved. But boy did he nail that character.”
