Richard Riehle, the character actor behind Tom Smykowski in Mike Judge's Office Space, has died at 78, Rolling Stone reports. A cause of death wasn't immediately disclosed.

Riehle is best known for his role in the 1999 cult classic, where he played the hapless middle-manager trying to justify his existence. He delivered the line "I have people skills!" with such conviction that it became the anthem of every cubicle worker questioning their career choices. Two decades later, that line still resonates.

According to Rolling Stone, Riehle amassed over 400 credits across film and television during his career, with 10 more projects in the pipeline. He appeared in Martin Scorsese's Casino, Gloria, and The Fugitive, and made guest appearances on everything from Murder, She Wrote to multiple Star Trek franchises (The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise).

Riehle embodied the character actor's craft: someone who could hold scenes without being the name above the title, who understood that comedy lives in specificity. Tom Smykowski's "Jump to Conclusions mat", a literal mat with conclusions printed on it, works because Riehle played it with earnest conviction, as if this genuinely might work.

The Hollywood character actor ecosystem has been shrinking for years. Streaming and prestige television have shifted how ensembles are built, and the mid-career journeyman, the person who could float between network TV, indie films, and blockbusters, is increasingly rare. Riehle represented that disappearing tradition: a performer whose IMDb page reads like a map of American entertainment, someone who spent decades in ensemble pieces.

His early career in regional theater around the Pacific Northwest shaped his gift. Riehle learned to build characters from the ground up and to trust subtlety over spectacle. When he transitioned to screen in the late 1980s, he brought that discipline with him.

Office Space devotees will keep rewatching that film, and Tom Smykowski will keep trying to explain his job to the world. That's how legacy works for character actors, not in award speeches, but in clips reshared on Reddit, in dialogue that refuses to die.