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Jonathan Winters 1925 - 2013

Jonathan Winters was born on November 11, 1925 in Dayton, Ohio United States of America, and died at age 87 years old on April 11, 2013 in Montecito, CA. Jonathan Winters was buried at cremated - family has ashes.

Jonathan Winters

Jonathan Winters, Jonathan Harshman Winters III

November 11, 1925

Dayton, Ohio, United States of America

April 11, 2013

Montecito, California, United States of America

Male

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Jonathan Winters Jonathan Winters (1925 - 2013)

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Jonathan Winters' History: 1925 - 2013

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Introduction

Jonathan's father was Jonathan Harshman Winters II, who was at first an insurance agent and then became an investment banker. Of Scottish-English ancestry, bankers were in the family blood (although his grandfather was described as a "frustrated comedian). His parents separated when he was just 7 years old and Jonathan moved with his mother to Springfield Ohio to live with her mother. Feeling alone and isolated, this is when he began to make up characters to entertain himself. The deep loneliness and sadness of this time followed him into adulthood. After serving in WW2 (Marine Corps), Jonathan picked up his education and met his wife, Eileen Schauder. They married on Sept 11, 1948 and remained married until 2009 when she died. They had 2 children. After winning a talent contest early in their marriage (he had lost his watch and the prize was a new watch - he won), his comedy career began. From disc jockey to standup comedian to television to movies, his 6 decade career brought a lot of joy to many people and inspired generations of new comedians. And yet he, himself, said that he suffered from "nervous breakdowns" and bipolar disorder. "These voices are always screaming to get out," Winters told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "They follow me around pretty much all day and night."
11/11

1925

Birthday

November 11, 1925

Birthdate

Dayton, Ohio United States of America

Birthplace

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Ethnicity & Family History

Scottish and English
Nationality & Locations

US citizen
Early Life & Education

Springfield High School (quit at 17 to enter WW2) Kenyon College Dayton Art Institute (cartooning)
Military Service

U.S Marine Corps - Pacific Theater, WW2 A poor student, Mr. Winters enlisted in the Marines before finishing high school and during World War II served as a gunner on the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard in the Pacific.
Professional Career

Television and film 1956–1957: The Jonathan Winters Show Winters also credited as writer for episodes 1.2 & 1.3[50] 1960: Alakazam the Great (voice) as Sir Quigley Broken Bottom (English version) 1961: "A Game of Pool" (episode of The Twilight Zone) as James Howard "Fats" Brown 1963: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as Lennie Pike 1965: The Loved One as Henry Glenworthy / Rev. Wilbur Glenworthy 1964: The Jonathan Winters Special (TV special)[51] 1965: The Jonathan Winters Show (2 specials) 1966: The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming as Norman Jonas 1966: Penelope as Professor Klobb 1967: Guys 'n' Geishas (Danny Thomas special)[52] 1967: Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad as Dad (Narrator) 1967: Eight on the Lam as Police Sgt. Jasper Lynch / Mother Lynch 1967–1969: The Jonathan Winters Show (TV series)[1] 1968: Now You See It, Now You Don't (TV film) as Jerry Klay[53] 1969: Viva Max! as General Billy Joe Hallson 1970: The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters (TV special) as Himself 1970–1971: Hot Dog as Himself 1972: The New Scooby-Doo Movies as Himself and Maude Frickert 1972–1974: The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters (syndicated TV show)[37][54][55] 1976: Jonathan Winters Presents 200 Years of American Humor (TV special)[46][56][57][58] 1977: The Wonderful World of Disney: Halloween Hall o' Fame (TV special); host 1977: Yabba Dabba Doo! The Happy World of Hanna-Barbera (TV special) as himself 1979: The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh as H.S. / Harvey Tilson 1980: The Muppet Show (season 4, episode 16) 1980: Pogo for President: I Go Pogo as Porky Pine / Molester Mole / Wiley Catt (voice) 1980: More Wild, Wild West (TV film)[59][60] as Albert Paradine II 1981: Mork & Mindy (recurring role) as Mearth 1984: E. Nick: A Legend in His Own Mind as Emerson Foosnagel III[61] 1985: Alice in Wonderland (in two-part TV film) as Humpty Dumpty (voice) 1985: Yogi's Treasure Hunt (additional voices) 1986: The Longshot as Tyler 1986: Say Yes as W. D. Westmoreland 1986: The Smurfs as Grandpa Smurf 1986: King Kong: The Living Legend (TV special); host[62][63] 1987: The Little Troll Prince: A Christmas Parable as King Ulvik a.k.a. Left Head (voice) 1988: Moon over Parador as Ralph 1988: The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley as Roger Gustav and Mr. Freebus (voice) 1990: Tiny Toon Adventures as Sappy Stanley (voice, in episode "Who Bopped Bugs Bunny") 1991: Rick Moranis in Gravedale High as Coach Cadaver 1991: Little Dracula as Igor, Granny 1991: The Wish that Changed Christmas (voice on TV special) 1991: Davis Rules as Gunny Davis 1992: Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation as Wade Pig / Superman (voice) 1992: Frosty Returns (narrator) 1992: Spaced Out!; host (also executive producer) (features comics such as Bonnie Hunt, Carrot Top and others)[64][65] 1993: The Thief and the Cobbler under the theatrical name Arabian Knight as The Thief (Miramax version) (voice) 1993: Precious Moments: Timmy's Special Delivery (voice; Christmas movie) 1994: Christopher and Holly a.k.a. The Bears Who Saved Christmas as Charlie the Compass (voice) 1994: Yogi the Easter Bear as Ranger Mortimer (voice) 1994: The Flintstones as Grizzled Man 1994: The Shadow as Wainwright Cranston 2000: The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle as Whoppa Chopper Pilot / Ohio Cop with Bullhorn / Jeb[66] 2003: Swing as Uncle Bill 2004: Comic Book: The Movie as Wally (Army Buddy #2) 2004: Tell Them Who You Are (documentary film) as Himself[67] 2006: National Lampoon's Cattle Call as Thomas the Studio Tour Guide 2007: Certifiably Jonathan[68] (honored celebrity at FGFF)[69] 2011: The Smurfs as Papa Smurf (voice) 2013: The Smurfs 2 as Papa Smurf (voice, released posthumously) Short films 1968: The Early Birds (writer and voices)[61] 1974: Sonic Boom (performer) 2000: Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big (voice actor) 2002: Santa vs. the Snowman 3D (voice of Santa Claus)comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist
04/11

2013

Death

April 11, 2013

Death date

natural causes

Cause of death

Montecito, California United States of America
Death location

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Gravesite & Burial

mm/dd/yyyy
Funeral date
cremated - family has ashes
Burial location
Obituary

Jonathan Winters, Unpredictable Comic and Master of Improvisation, Dies at 87 By William Grimes April 12, 2013 Jonathan Winters, the rubber-faced comedian whose unscripted flights of fancy inspired a generation of improvisational comics, and who kept television audiences in stitches with Main Street characters like Maude Frickert, a sweet-seeming grandmother with a barbed tongue and a roving eye, died on Thursday at his home in Montecito, Calif. He was 87. His death was announced on his Web site, JonathanWinters.com. Mr. Winters, a rotund man whose face had a melancholy basset-hound expression in repose, burst onto the comedy scene in the late 1950s and instantly made his mark as one of the funniest, least definable comics in a rising generation that included Mort Sahl, Shelley Berman and Bob Newhart. Mr. Winters was at his best when winging it, confounding television hosts and luckless straight men with his rapid-fire delivery of bizarre observations uttered by characters like Elwood P. Suggins, a Midwestern Everyman, or one-off creations like the woodland sprite who bounded onto Jack Paar’s late-night show and simperingly proclaimed: “I’m the voice of spring. I bring you little goodies from the forest.” A one-man sketch factory, Mr. Winters could re-enact Hollywood movies, complete with sound effects, or create sublime comic nonsense with simple props like a pen-and-pencil set. The unpredictable, often surreal quality of his humor had a powerful influence on later comedians like Robin Williams but made him hard to package as an entertainer. His brilliant turns as a guest on programs like “The Steve Allen Show” and “The Tonight Show” — in both the Jack Paar and Johnny Carson eras — kept him in constant demand. But a successful television series eluded him, as did a Hollywood career, despite memorable performances in films like “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” “The Loved One” and “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.” Jonathan Harshman Winters was born on Nov. 11, 1925, in Dayton, Ohio, where his alcoholic father (“a hip Willy Loman,” according to Mr. Winters) worked as an investment broker and his grandfather, a frustrated comedian, owned the Winters National Bank. “Mother and Dad didn’t understand me; I didn’t understand them,” he told Jim Lehrer on “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” in 1999. “So consequently it was a strange kind of arrangement.” Alone in his room, he would create characters and interview himself. The family’s fortunes collapsed with the Depression. The Winters National Bank failed, and Jonathan’s parents divorced. His mother took him to Springfield, where she did factory work but eventually became the host of a women’s program on a local radio station. Her son continued talking to himself and developed a repertory of sound effects. He often entertained his high school friends by imitating a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A poor student, Mr. Winters enlisted in the Marines before finishing high school and during World War II served as a gunner on the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard in the Pacific. After the war he completed high school and, hoping to become a political cartoonist, studied art at Kenyon College and the Dayton Art Institute. In 1948 he married Eileen Schauder, a Dayton native who was studying art at Ohio State. She died in 2009. His survivors include their two children, Jonathan Winters IV, of Camarillo, Calif., known as Jay, and Lucinda, of Santa Barbara, Calif.; and several grandchildren. At the urging of his wife, Mr. Winters, whose art career seemed to be going nowhere, entered a talent contest in Dayton with his eye on the grand prize, a wristwatch, which he needed. He won, and he was hired as a morning disc jockey at WING, where he made up for his inability to attract guests by inventing them. “I’d make up people like Dr. Hardbody of the Atomic Energy Commission, or an Englishman whose blimp had crash-landed in Dayton,” he told U.S. News and World Report in 1988. After two years at a Columbus television station, he left for New York in 1953 to break into network radio. Instead he landed bit parts on television and, with surprising ease, found work as a nightclub comic. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times A guest spot on Arthur Godfrey’s “Talent Scouts” led to frequent appearances with Jack Paar and Steve Allen, both of them staunch supporters willing to give Mr. Winters free rein. Alistair Cooke, after seeing Mr. Winters at the New York nightclub Le Ruban Bleu, booked him as the first comedian to appear on his arts program “Omnibus.” In his stand-up act, Mr. Winters initially relied heavily on sound effects — a cracking whip, a creaking door, a hovering U.F.O. — which he used to spice up his re-enactments of horror films, war films and westerns. Gradually he developed a gallery of characters, which expanded when he had his own television shows, beginning with the 15-minute “Jonathan Winters Show,” which ran from 1956 to 1957. He was later seen in a series of specials for NBC in the early 1960s; on an hour long CBS variety series, “The Jonathan Winters Show,” from 1967 to 1969; and on “The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters,” in syndication, from 1972 to 1974. Many of Mr. Winters’s characters — among them B. B. Bindlestiff, a small-town tycoon, and Piggy Bladder, football coach for the State Teachers’ Animal Husbandry Institute for the Blind — were based on people he grew up with. Maude Frickert, for example, whom he played wearing a white wig and a Victorian granny dress, was inspired by an elderly aunt who let him drink wine and taught him to play poker when he was 9 years old. Other characters, like the couturier Lance Loveguard and Princess Leilani-nani, the world’s oldest hula dancer, sprang from a secret compartment deep within Mr. Winters’s inventive brain. As channeled by Mr. Winters, Maude Frickert was a wild card. Reminiscing about her late husband, Pop Frickert, she told a stupefied interviewer: “He was a Spanish dancer in a massage parlor. If somebody came in with a crick in their neck he’d do an orthopedic flamenco all over them. He was tall, dark and out of it.” One of Mr. Winters’s most popular characters, she appeared in a series of commercials for Hefty garbage bags, which also featured Mr. Winters as a garbage man dressed in a spotless white uniform and referring, in an upper-class British accent, to gar-BAZH. Carson kidnapped Maude Frickert and simply changed the name to Aunt Blabby, one of his stock characters. Mr. Winters said that the blatant theft did not bother him. Mr. Winters often called himself a satirist, but the term does not really apply. In “Seriously Funny,” his history of 1950s and 1960s comedians, Gerald Nachman described him, a bit floridly, as “part circus clown and part social observer, Red Skelton possessed by the spirit of Daumier.” He was hard to define. “I don’t do jokes,” he once said. “The characters are my jokes.” At the same time, unlike many comedians reacting to the Eisenhower era, he found his source material in human behavior rather than politics or current events, but in him the spectacle of human folly provoked glee rather than righteous anger. In 1961 Variety wrote, “His humor is more universally acceptable than any of the current New Comics, with the possible exception of Bob Newhart, because he covers the mass experiences of the U.S. common man — the Army, the gas station, the airport.” Mr. Winters did much of his best work in nightclubs, but he hated life on the road. In 1959 he suffered a nervous breakdown onstage at the hungry i in San Francisco and briefly spent time in a mental hospital. Two years later he suffered another collapse, and soon after that he quit nightclubs for good. From 1960 to 1964 he recorded his most-requested monologues for Verve on a series of albums, notably “The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters,” “Here’s Jonathan” and “Jonathan Winters: Down to Earth.” The conventional television variety show did not suit Mr. Winters, but film did not seem the right medium for him either. Scripts stifled him. “Jonny works best out of instant panic,” one of his television writers in the 1960s said. He thrived when he could ad-lib, fielding unexpected questions or pursuing spontaneous flights of fancy. In other words, he made a brilliant guest, firing comedy in short bursts, but a problematic host or actor. In the 1970s and ’80s, Mr. Winters was a frequent guest on “The Andy Williams Show,” “The Tonight Show” and “Hollywood Squares.” He played Robin Williams’s extraterrestrial baby son, Mearth, on the final season of “Mork & Mindy,” and he kept busy with voice-over work in animated television series and films. He also published a book of his cartoons, “Mouse Breath, Conformity and Other Social Ills,” and a collection of whimsical stories, “Winters’ Tales.” More influential than successful, Mr. Winters circled the comic heavens tracing his own strange orbit, an object of wonder and admiration to his peers. “Jonathan taught me,” Mr. Williams told the correspondent Ed Bradley on “60 Minutes,” “that the world is open for play, that everything and everybody is mockable, in a wonderful way.” Mr. Winters received an Oscar for Peter Ustinov.Jonathan Winters died on April 11, 2013 in Montecito, California United States of America at 87 years of age. He was cremated - family has ashes.

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