Grandpa Munster DEAD!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Grandpa Munster DEAD!

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:01:55 AM EDT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/04/AR2006020400618_pf.html

'Grandpa Munster' Al Lewis Dies at 95

By LARRY McSHANE
The Associated Press
Saturday, February 4, 2006; 2:36 PM

NEW YORK -- Al Lewis, the cigar-chomping patriarch of "The Munsters" whose work as a basketball scout, restaurateur and political candidate never eclipsed his role as Grandpa from the television sitcom, died after years of failing health. He was 95.

Lewis, with his wife at his bedside, passed away Friday night, said Bernard White, program director at WBAI-FM, where the actor hosted a weekly radio program. White made the announcement on the air during the Saturday slot where Lewis usually appeared.

"To say that we will miss his generous, cantankerous, engaging spirit is a profound understatement," White said.

Lewis, sporting a somewhat cheesy Dracula outfit, became a pop culture icon playing the irascible father-in-law to Fred Gwynne's ever-bumbling Herman Munster on the 1964-66 television show. He was also one of the stars of another classic TV comedy, playing Officer Leo Schnauzer on "Car 54, Where Are You?"

But Lewis' life off the small screen ranged far beyond his acting antics. A former ballplayer at Thomas Jefferson High School, he achieved notoriety as a basketball talent scout familiar to coaching greats like Jerry Tarkanian and Red Auerbach.

He operated a successful Greenwich Village restaurant, Grandpa's, where he was a regular presence _ chatting with customers, posing for pictures, signing autographs.

Just two years short of his 90th birthday, a ponytailed Lewis ran as the Green Party candidate against incumbent Gov. George Pataki. Lewis campaigned against draconian drug laws and the death penalty, while going to court in a losing battle to have his name appear on the ballot as "Grandpa Al Lewis."

He didn't defeat Pataki, but managed to collect more 52,000 votes.

Lewis was born Alexander Meister in upstate New York before his family moved to Brooklyn, where the 6-foot-1 teen began a lifelong love affair with basketball. He later became a vaudeville and circus performer, but his career didn't take off until television did the same.

Lewis, as Officer Schnauzer, played opposite Gwynne's Officer Francis Muldoon in "Car 54, Where Are You?" _ a comedy about a Bronx police precinct that aired from 1961-63. One year later, the duo appeared together in "The Munsters," taking up residence at the fictional 1313 Mockingbird Lane.

The series, about a family of clueless creatures plunked down in middle America, was a success and ran through 1966. It forever locked Lewis in as the memorably twisted character; decades later, strangers would greet him on the street with shouts of "Grandpa!"

Unlike some television stars, Lewis never complained about getting typecast and made appearances in character for decades.

"Why would I mind?" he asked in a 1997 interview. "It pays my mortgage."

Lewis rarely slowed down, opening his restaurant and hosting his WBAI radio program. At one point during the '90s, he was a frequent guest on the Howard Stern radio show, once sending the shock jock diving for the delay button by leading an undeniably obscene chant against the Federal Communications Commission.

He also popped up in a number of movies, including the acclaimed "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and "Married to the Mob." Lewis reprised his role of Schnauzer in the movie remake of "Car 54," and appeared as a guest star on television shows such as "Taxi," "Green Acres" and "Lost in Space."

But in 2003, Lewis was hospitalized for an angioplasty. Complications during surgery led to an emergency bypass and the amputation of his right leg below the knee and all the toes on his left foot. Lewis spent the next month in a coma.

A year later, he was back offering his recollections of a seminal punk band on the DVD "Ramones Raw."

He is survived by his wife, Karen Ingenthron-Lewis, three sons and four grandchildren.

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:04:03 AM EDT

[#1]

Al Lewis was great. He was on Stern about 15 years ago.
Funny old man. Guy was a riot on that show.
Hoiman! Hoiman!

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:04:45 AM EDT

[#2]

He will be missed. His personality was truly as happy go lucky as the characters he played.

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:05:04 AM EDT

[#3]

Nooo.

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:10:35 AM EDT

[#4]

Awwww man

I loved Grandpa Al.

Was my favorite on the Munsters too, the guy was a riot !

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:14:11 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Awwww man I loved Grandpa Al.

Was my favorite on the Munsters too, the guy was a riot !

Me too,

RIP Grandpa.

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:15:48 AM EDT

[#6]

He'll be missed.

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:16:21 AM EDT

[#7]

R.I.P.

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:18:37 AM EDT

[#8]

He was a pretty wild cat!!

RIP

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:23:15 AM EDT

[#9]

Well theres another old TV series I need on DVD now.

When was the last time you saw a TV show with jokes about cooking up some Nitro in the cellar...

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:27:11 AM EDT

[#10]

R.I.P. Al 'Grandpa Munster' Lewis

_______________________

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:35:36 AM EDT

[#11]

I'm gonna miss him...keep 'em laughing in heaven, Grandpa.

Posted: 2/4/2006 11:36:51 AM EDT

[#12]

Yeah, I remember watching the orignals of the "Car 54 Where Are You?" and "The Munsters." Fred Gwayne who played the tall skinny guy died a few years back.

Posted: 2/4/2006 12:01:41 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Yeah, I remember watching the orignals of the "Car 54 Where Are You?" and "The Munsters." Fred Gwayne who played the tall skinny guy died a few years back.

When I was a kid, I got Joe E. Ross's autograph. That was a big thrill.

Farewell, Leo Schnauzer.

Posted: 2/4/2006 12:12:37 PM EDT

[#14]

I went to his resturant, coffee, dessert place in NY. Met him there working the crowd.

Posted: 2/4/2006 6:10:40 PM EDT

[#15]

He was indeed himself, which set him apart from the rest....

Professional dirty man, old had nothing to do with it.

Posted: 2/4/2006 6:14:10 PM EDT

[#16]

He seemed like he'd be a cool dude. Sorry to see him go.

P.S. Dibs on the Dragster.

Posted: 2/4/2006 6:22:16 PM EDT

[#17]

RIP Gramps, but don't forget he was a huge, almost psycho liberal. Made Schumer look like a conservative.

Posted: 2/4/2006 6:27:28 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
RIP Gramps, but don't forget he was a huge, almost psycho liberal. Made Schumer look like a conservative.

I didn't know that.

That's more depressing than the fact that he croaked.

Posted: 2/4/2006 7:29:15 PM EDT

[#19]

One more childhood memory passing along.

R.I.P. Grandpa

Posted: 2/4/2006 7:31:58 PM EDT

[#20]

CNN's website says he was 83 and the artcile in this thread says he was 95. I would sooner believe he was 95.

Posted: 2/4/2006 7:32:42 PM EDT

[#21]

I wish he'd beaten Pataki when he ran for governor last time around.

Posted: 2/4/2006 7:35:30 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Al Lewis was great. He was on Stern about 15 years ago.
Funny old man. Guy was a riot on that show.
Hoiman! Hoiman!

+1 Good trip Al.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Grandpa Munster DEAD!

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