ice chat, and that's one of the things I asked him:  Where's the Jump to Conclusions mat?' He said,  It disappeared.' 

Riehle was born on May 12, 1948, in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. His mother, Mary Margaret, was a nurse; his father, Herbert, who worked for the post office, died when he was 2.

He graduated in 1970 from the University of Notre Dame, where he acted in plays, built sets and served as a stage manager, then studied German abroad.

Riehle gained acting experience at the Academy of Dramatic Art at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, then did lots of regional theater in the Pacific Northwest. That got him work as an extra in Rooster Cogburn (1975), starring John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn, and his first big-screen speaking part as a bartender in Joyride (1977), starring Desi Arnaz Jr. and Melanie Griffith.

Riehle made it to Broadway in 1986 with a role in the Emily Mann drama Execution of Justice, which centered on the trial of Dan White, who assassinated San Francisco mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.

In 1999, he returned to Broadway to star as the corrupt ex-cop Pat McGloin alongside Kevin Spacey in a revival of The Iceman Cometh, nominated for five Tony Awards.

Riehle's film résumé included Black Rain (1989), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Shadows and Fog (1991), Free Willy (1993), Body of Evidence (1993), Stuart Saves His Family (1995), Executive Decision (1996), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), Mercury Rising (1998), The Fluffer (2001), Bridesmaids (2011) and The Cowboy Killer (2026).

He also portrayed Principal Ed Rooney on the 1990-91 NBC adaptation of Ferris Bueller and showed up over the years on The West Wing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Golden Girls, Boston Legal, ER, NCIS, Modern Family, L.A. Law, NCIS, The Middle, Maron and Barry.