smiley723
02-06-2006, 06:21 AM
'Grandpa Munster' Al Lewis Dies
Actor Was 82 Years Old
POSTED: 1:00 pm EST February 5, 2006
NEW YORK -- Actor Al Lewis, who played the cigar-chomping patriarch of TV's Munster family, has died at age 82.
Lewis was a basketball scout, a restaurateur and a political candidate over the years, but will be remembered for playing the character "Grandpa" on "The Munsters" between 1964 and 1966.
The actor died Friday night with his wife at his bedside. He was widely reported to have been born in 1910, but his son Ted Lewis said yesterday that his father was born in 1923 and would have celebrated his 83rd birthday in April.
His death was announced yesterday by WBAI F-M radio, where the actor hosted a weekly program for years.
Lewis became a pop culture icon playing the father-in-law to Fred Gwynne's ever-bumbling Herman Munster.
He was also one of the stars of another classic TV comedy, playing Officer Leo Schnauzer on "Car 54, Where Are You?"
Lewis' life off the small screen ranged far beyond his acting antics.
He worked as a basketball talent scout familiar to coaching greats like Jerry Tarkanian and Red Auerbach, operated a successful Greenwich Village restaurant called Grandpa's, and ran for governor against George Pataki.
Actor Was 82 Years Old
POSTED: 1:00 pm EST February 5, 2006
NEW YORK -- Actor Al Lewis, who played the cigar-chomping patriarch of TV's Munster family, has died at age 82.
Lewis was a basketball scout, a restaurateur and a political candidate over the years, but will be remembered for playing the character "Grandpa" on "The Munsters" between 1964 and 1966.
The actor died Friday night with his wife at his bedside. He was widely reported to have been born in 1910, but his son Ted Lewis said yesterday that his father was born in 1923 and would have celebrated his 83rd birthday in April.
His death was announced yesterday by WBAI F-M radio, where the actor hosted a weekly program for years.
Lewis became a pop culture icon playing the father-in-law to Fred Gwynne's ever-bumbling Herman Munster.
He was also one of the stars of another classic TV comedy, playing Officer Leo Schnauzer on "Car 54, Where Are You?"
Lewis' life off the small screen ranged far beyond his acting antics.
He worked as a basketball talent scout familiar to coaching greats like Jerry Tarkanian and Red Auerbach, operated a successful Greenwich Village restaurant called Grandpa's, and ran for governor against George Pataki.