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Dick Shawn (born Richard Schulefand, December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. During the 1960s, he played small roles in madcap comedies, usually portraying caricatures of counterculture personalities, such as the hedonistic but mother-obsessed Sylvester Marcus in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and the hippie actor Lorenzo Saint DuBois ("L.S.D.") in The Producers (1967). Besides his film work, he appeared in numerous television shows from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Dick Shawn | |
|---|---|
 Shawn in 1964 | |
| Born | Richard Schulefand December 1, 1923 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 17, 1987 (aged 63) San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Other names | Richy Shawn |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1956–1987 |
| Spouse |
Rita Bachner (m. 1946) |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Joey Travolta (son-in-law) |
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 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2022) |
Born in Buffalo, New York to a Jewish family, and raised in nearby Lackawanna,[1] Shawn performed his stand-up comedy act for over 35 years in nightclubs around the world.[2] His award-winning one-man stage show, The Second Greatest Entertainer in the Whole Wide World, was sometimes performed with a unique opening. When the audience entered the theater, they saw a bare stage with a pile of bricks in stage center. When the play began, Shawn emerged from the pile of bricks. The startling effect of this required complete concentration and breath control because the slightest movement of the bricks could ruin the surprise appearance.
In addition to roles in more than 30 movies and seven Broadway productions, Shawn made television appearances, toured often, and periodically performed a one-man show that mixed songs, sketches, and pantomime. He was a speaker at the Friars Club Roasts in Los Angeles and New York. At one of the X-rated roasts (a 1986 Playboy roast of Tommy Chong) that had overdosed on tasteless routines by previous speakers, Shawn walked up to the microphone, took a long pause, and "vomited" pea soup onto himself and other speakers at the dais.
In the Mel Brooks 1967 movie The Producers, Shawn won accolades[3][4][5][6] for his portrayal of Lorenzo St. DuBois, whose "friends call" him LSD, an actor auditioning for and winning the part of Hitler in a theatrical production that was intentionally meant to fail.
Shawn's television appearances included The Ed Sullivan Show, TV movies, sitcoms (including Three's Company on which he played Jack Tripper's father), dramas including St. Elsewhere and Magnum, P.I., and a music video for "Dance" by the hair metal band Ratt (1986). In the UK he appeared in Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 1958.
Amongst his roles in anthology TV series, he starred in an Amazing Stories episode "Miss Stardust", directed by Tobe Hooper, about a bizarre intergalactic beauty pageant, and played the Emperor in The Emperor's New Clothes for Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre. He filled in for vacationing Johnny Carson as guest host on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on January 1, 1971, which saw the airing of the last cigarette commercial on American television (for Virginia Slims), one minute before the cigarette ads were banned.
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Shawn married Rita Bachner in 1946, and they had four children: Amy, Wendy, Adam, and Jennifer. His only grandchild, Rachel Travolta, is the daughter of Wendy and her husband, Joey Travolta. He was a longtime resident of Englewood, New Jersey.[7]
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On April 17, 1987, during a performance at University of California, San Diego's Mandeville Hall, Shawn suffered a heart attack and collapsed face-down on the stage. The audience initially assumed that it was part of his act. After he had remained motionless for several minutes, a stage hand examined him and asked if a physician was present.[8]
After CPR had been initiated, the audience was asked to leave the auditorium. Most in attendance remained, assuming that it was part of Shawn's act, and only began leaving after paramedics arrived.[8] A notice in the following day's San Diego Union newspaper announced that Shawn had died during the performance at the age of 63.[9] Shawn was interred at Hillside Memorial Park, a Jewish cemetery in Culver City, California.[10]
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Jim Knipfel claims that Andy Kaufman was inspired by Shawn.[11][12][13]
Actor Matthew Glave portrayed Shawn in Leave 'Em Laughing, a short film surrounding his final moments.[14]
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Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The Opposite Sex | Psychiatric Patient | |
| 1960 | Wake Me When It's Over | Gus Brukaber | |
| The Wizard of Baghdad | Genii-Ali Mahmud | ||
| 1963 | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World | Sylvester Marcus | |
| 1965 | A Very Special Favor | Arnold Plum | |
| 1966 | What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? | Captain Lionel Cash | |
| Way... Way Out | Igor Valkleinokov | ||
| Penelope | Dr. Gregory Mannix | ||
| 1967 | The Producers | L.S.D. — Lorenzo St. DuBois | |
| 1969 | The Happy Ending | Harry Bricker | |
| 1974 | The Year Without a Santa Claus | Snow Miser | Voice |
| 1977 | Looking Up | Manny Lander | |
| 1979 | Love At First Bite | Lieutenant Ferguson | |
| 1982 | Good-bye Cruel World | Rodney Poinsetter / Ainsley Poinsetter | |
| 1983 | Rock 'n' Roll Hotel | Weevil King of Evil | |
| Young Warriors | Professor Hoover | ||
| 1984 | Angel | Mae | |
| The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud | The Ultimate Patient | ||
| 1985 | Water | Deke Halliday | |
| Beer | Talk Show Host | ||
| 1986 | The Check Is in the Mail... | Donald | uncredited |
| The Perils of P.K. | The psychiatrist | ||
| Captain EO | Commander Bog | Short Film | |
| 1987 | Maid to Order | Stan Starkey | |
| 1988 | Rented Lips | Charlie Slater | Posthumous Release |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954–55 | Max Liebman Spectaculars | unknown role | 3 episodes |
| 1955 | Max Liebman Presents: Kaleidoscope | Guest | TV movie |
| 1955–58 | The Ed Sullivan Show | Himself | 8 episodes |
| 1958 | The Eddie Fisher Show | Himself | 3 episodes |
| 1959 | The Dinah Shore Chevy Show | Himself | "Eve Arden / Dick Shawn / Red Norvo" |
| 1961 | General Electric Theater | Felix Franklin | "Don't Let It Throw You" |
| Checkmate | Danny Whitman | "Laugh Till I Die" | |
| The DuPont Show with June Allyson | Charlie Wilson | "The Old-Fashioned Way" | |
| Michael Shayne | Ernie Trask | "The Trouble with Ernie" | |
| 1963 | The Jimmy Dean Show | Himself | "Dick Shawn / Whitey Ford" |
| The Judy Garland Show | Himself | #1.11" | |
| 1963–67 | The Jerry Lewis Show | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 1964 | The Price Is Right | Himself | "03.20.1964" |
| 1964–86 | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | Himself | 38 episodes |
| 1965 | For the People | Ernie Garatella | "Secure Any Special Privilege or Advantage" |
| 1966 | The Andy Williams Show | Himself | 2 episodes |
| The Bob Hope Show | Himself | "Murder at NBC" | |
| 1967 | ABC Stage 66 | Paul Benderhof | "I'm Getting Married" |
| Sheriff Who | Crawford Offwhite | TV movie | |
| Off to See the Wizard | Tom Thumb | "Who's Afraid of Mother Goose?" | |
| That Girl | Himself | "The Mailman Cometh" | |
| 1968 | The Lucy Show | Ace Winthrop | "Lucy and the Pool Hustler" |
| What's My Line? | Self – Mystery Guest | "Dick Shawn" | |
| 1969 | That's Life | unknown role | "Sex and the Married Man" |
| The Joan Rivers Show | Himself | "05.04.1969" | |
| The Liberace Show | Himself | "07.27.1969" | |
| 1971 | Dames at Sea | The Captain | TV movie |
| The Bold Ones: The New Doctors | Nick Sutton | "The Glass Cage" | |
| 1971–78 | The Hollywood Squares | Himself – Panelist | 3 episodes |
| 1972 | Evil Roy Slade | Marshal Bing Bell | TV movie |
| 1972–73 | Love, American Style | Henry Chadwick / Howard | 2 episodes |
| 1973–74 | The $10,000 Pyramid | Himself – Celebrity Contestant | 18 episodes |
| 1974 | CBS Daytime 90 | unknown role | "My Little Love" |
| The Year Without a Santa Claus | Snow Miser (Voice Role) | TV movie | |
| 1975 | Medical Center | Pete Rashid | "The Price of a Child" |
| 1975–77 | Captain Kangaroo | Doc Grannick the Mechanic / E.J. Fusay | 3 episodes |
| 1976 | You're Just Like Your Father | Harry Tofler, Sr. | TV movie |
| 1978 | Mary | Skit characters | unknown episode(s) |
| 1979 | Fast Friends | Deke Edwards | TV movie |
| Laverne & Shirley | Gatekeeper/Phone Representative | "Upstairs, Downstairs" | |
| 1980 | Fantasy Island | Vic Erskine | "Skater's Edge / Concerto of Death / The Last Great Race" |
| 1980–81 | Mr. & Mrs. Dracula | Dracula | 2 episodes |
| 1981 | Aloha Paradise | Cyrus | "Fiona / Engaged to Be Dumped / Fantasie Impromptu" |
| 1981–82 | The Love Boat | Harvey Blanchard / David Jackson | 3 episodes |
| 1982 | Private Benjamin | Drysdale | "You Oughta Be in Pictures" |
| Madame's Place | Himself | "Pinky's Shock" | |
| Slapstick Studios | Sheldon | unknown episode(s) | |
| 1983 | Magnum, P.I. | Buzz Benoit | "Squeeze Play" |
| Three's Company | Jack Tripper, Sr. | "Like Father, Like Son" | |
| 1984 | Legmen | Casanova | "Knight at Casanova's" |
| Steambath | Frankie Melnick | "Madison Avenue Madness" | |
| The Fall Guy | Edward Seraph | "Losers Weepers: Part 1" | |
| Body Language | Himself | 5 episodes | |
| 1985 | Tales from the Darkside | Bo Gumbs | "If the Shoes Fit..." |
| Hail to the Chief | Ivan Zolotov | series regular (6 episodes) | |
| Faerie Tale Theatre | Emperor / Guest Interviewee | 2 episodes | |
| 1986 | The Twilight Zone | Nelson Westbrook | "Gramma / Personal Demons / Cold Reading" |
| St. Elsewhere | Edgard Eisenberg | "The Equalizer" | |
| 1987 | Amazing Stories | Joe Willouhby | "Miss Stardust" |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | For Heaven's Sake, Mother! | Milton Rubin | |
| 1961–62 | Come Blow Your Horn | Alan Baker (replacement) | replaced Hal March |
| 1962 | The Egg | Emile Magis | |
| 1962–64 | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum | Prologus / Pseudolus (replacement) | replaced Zero Mostel |
| 1964–65 | Fade Out – Fade In | Byron Prong (replacement) | replaced Jack Cassidy |
| 1965 | Peterpat | Peter | |
| 1968 | I'm Solomon | Yoni, Solomon | |
| 1975–76 | A Musical Jubilee | Performer |
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