Jack Riley Movies and Career Information

Jack Riley (born December 30, 1935) is an American comedic actor probably most recognizable as the irascible Elliot Carlin from Bob Newhart's 1970s TV sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show, and as the voice of Stu Pickles in Rugrats and All Grown Up! Riley was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Agnes C. (née Corrigan) and John A. Riley. After attending Saint Ignatius High School and John Carroll University, he served in the US Army. After being discharged, Riley became a popular radio personality in Cleveland; along with his radio partner and "straight man" Jeff Baxter,The Baxter & Riley Show on WERE featured not only music but comedy sketches and a slew of offbeat characters that Riley and Baxter both voiced. The show also expanded for a time to local television on WEWS. He gave up the radio show in the mid 1960s and moved to Los Angeles, where his friend Tim Conway helped him receive work writing comedy sketches, which later led to acting jobs. Riley was first a semi-regular in the cast of the 1960s sitcom Occasional Wife, a short-lived show on NBC in which he played Wally Frick. But perhaps his greatest fame came as Carlin, the sour and selfish group therapy patient on The Bob Newhart