William Atherton (born William Atherton Knight; July 30, 1947) is an American movie, stage and television actor. He is known for his roles as Richard "Dick" Thornburg in Die Hard and in Die Hard 2 and as Walter Peck in Ghostbusters.
Atherton was born on July 30, 1947 in Orange, Connecticut. He studied acting at the Drama School at Carnegie Tech and graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1969.