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William Atherton Knight III (born July 30, 1947, Orange, Connecticut) is an American actor best known to Ghostbusters fans for his role as Walter Peck across the film series. He has built a career spanning stage, film, and television since the early 1970s, and is widely recognized for his recurring antagonist roles in Ghostbusters, Die Hard, and the cult film Real Genius.
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Atherton trained at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He made his Broadway debut in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window and went on to build an extensive stage career in New York. He originated the title role in Joseph Papp's production of David Rabe's The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, earning the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Circle Critics Award, two Obie nominations, and the Theatre World Award. Other notable stage credits include the original production of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves (as Ronnie), Rich and Famous, Steven Tesich's The Passing Game, and the Kennedy Center's bicentennial production of The Scarecrow.
His screen career began with Steven Spielberg's debut feature The Sugarland Express (1974), opposite Goldie Hawn. Before Ghostbusters he also appeared in John Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust and Robert Wise's The Hindenburg. Later films include Die Hard (1988), Die Hard 2 (1990), The Pelican Brief (1993), Real Genius, and Bio-Dome.
On television he has appeared in the miniseries Centennial, the PBS adaptation of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth (opposite Geraldine Chaplin), and the network productions Tomorrow's Child (NBC) and Malibu (ABC).
Atherton came to Ghostbusters already acquainted with its comedic leads through the New York theater world: he and Gilda Radner had worked together on Broadway, which is how he first knew the Saturday Night Live circle. When meeting with director Ivan Reitman, Atherton's stated approach to playing Peck was deliberate: "These are the greatest comedians in the country right now. What am I gonna do, try and be funny?" Playing the role entirely straight, against the improvisational energy of the cast, was the key to making Peck an effective foil.
A late production moment required Atherton and other cast members to be buried under a large quantity of shaving cream after the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man's destruction. The crew estimated the total amount at around 2,000 pounds. Reitman had a stuntman test the drop and declared it safe. Atherton, however, went to the assistant directors directly and asked how much the cream weighed. They told him approximately 100 pounds. Atherton asked that the impact be tested again before he stood under it; another stuntman was brought in and knocked flat on his back. Atherton recommended taking out roughly 25 pounds of the load before proceeding.
The Walter Peck role had immediate and lasting real-world effects. About a year after the film's release, Reitman ran into Atherton and found him genuinely angry about public reactions to the character. By Atherton's own account, he could not walk into a bar without people wanting to fight him, children screamed and taunted him wherever he went, and strangers regularly quoted the "dickless" line, including a bus full of teenagers. Harold Ramis later noted that people were still calling out that line to Atherton when they saw him in public years after the film came out.
On April 21, 2023, Atherton was photographed filming alongside Ernie Hudson and Paul Rudd at the St. James' Park Tube Station in London. Additional filming at that location also took place at the 55 Broadway building.