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The following biography
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Al Lewis (30 April 1910 or 1923 [yet to be
established] – 3 February 2006) was an American restaurant owner,
political candidate, and radio broadcaster, but was best known as the
actor who played the role of "Grandpa" on the television series The
Munsters.
****
Parents
In a 1998 interview with Walt Shepperd, Al
Lewis said:
My mother was a worker, worked in the
garment trades. My mother was an indomitable spirit. My grandfather had
no sons. He had six daughters. They lived in Poland or Russia, every
five years it would change. My mother being the oldest daughter, they
saved their money, and when she was about 16 they sent her to the United
States, not knowing a word of English. She went to work in the garment
center, worked her back and rear-end off and brought over to the United
States her five sisters and two parents. I remember going on picket
lines with my mother. My mother wouldn't back down to anyone.
He stated the same information in an 10
April 1997 interview with correspondents Amy Goodman and Bernard White.
Birth
Few facts about Lewis are known with any
certainty; most of the information comes from interviews he gave, and
there are inconsistencies in his testimonies. At various times he gave
his birth year as 1910 and other times 1923. Ted Lewis, his son, said
his father was born in 1923. Dan Barry of the New York Times writes:
"Actors who lie about their age usually subtract, not add, years, and
few would have the nerve to fudge those years by more than a decade." Al
may have been born under the name Albert Meister or Alexander Meister to
a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. Other sources place his birth in
Wolcott, New York, but no official record of his birth has been
published to date, and officials in Wolcott say they have no record of
any Meister. The Times wrote: "Lewis was born Albert Meister, probably
in 1923, although he insisted that he was born in 1910. This, and
Lewis’s many other questionable stories, means that much of the actor’s
life is a broth of conjecture that his fans will no doubt squabble over
for years to come."
As to why Lewis might have lied about his
age, the most common theory is that in 1963 (at age 40, if he was born
in 1923), when he trying to get the role as Grandpa, he might have been
concerned that he was actually younger than Yvonne De Carlo, who would
be playing his daughter.
Education
He said he moved to Brooklyn, New York with
his family as a child and attended Thomas Jefferson High School, then
attended Oswego State Teachers College (now SUNY Oswego). He also
claimed he earned a Ph.D. in child psychology from Columbia University
in 1941. The university, though, has no record of this. In other
interviews he also claimed he joined the Merchant Marines prior to World
War II and spent time in Italy.
Career
In interviews he said he worked as a circus
performer and as a hot dog vendor at Ebbets Field, the former ballpark
for the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1987 he opened an Italian restaurant called
"Grampa's Bella Gente" at 252 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New
York City.
He was also a recurring guest on The Howard
Stern Show. In 1987 during a rally against the FCC, Howard Stern held a
live rally on the air, and when Al took the stage, he repeatedly yelled
obscenities about the FCC until Howard was able to take the microphone
away from him.
Acting
His acting career begins the well
documented portion of his life. He worked in burlesque and vaudeville
theaters, then on Broadway in the dramas The Night Circus (1958) and One
More River (1960). He then played the character of Moe Shtarker in the
musical comedy Do Re Mi (1962). His earliest television work includes
two episodes of The Phil Silvers Show in 1959, and four episodes of
Naked City from 1959 to 1963. His first well-known television role was
as Officer Leo Schnauser on Car 54, Where Are You? from 1961 to 1963,
although he is best remembered as Grandpa on The Munsters, which ran on
American television from 1964 to 1966 and for years later in re-runs.
His first role in a movie was playing Machine Gun Manny in Pretty Boy
Floyd (1960) and the character Turkey in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
(1969). His last role in a movie was Night Terror (2002) playing the
role of Father Hanlon.
Political life
Lewis has claimed that he was member of the
Sacco and Vanzetti Defense Committee in 1927, and that he worked in the
1930s to free the Scottsboro Boys. However, both of these would be
impossible if he had been born in 1923.
In a 1997 interview, Lewis also claimed
that he was an organizer in the Food, Agricultural and Tobacco Workers
Union in North Carolina in the 1930s. Once on his WBAI-FM radio program
Lewis said "If anything I consider myself an anarchist."
As an activist, he hosted a politically
oriented radio program on WBAI, and ran as Green Party candidate for
Governor of New York in 1998. In that race he sought to be listed on the
ballot as "Grandpa Al Lewis," arguing that he was most widely known by
that name. His request was rejected by the Board of Elections, a
decision upheld in court against his challenge. Despite this setback, he
achieved one of his campaign objectives. His total of 52,533 votes
exceeded the threshold of votes set by New York law (50,000), and hence
guaranteed the Green Party an automatic ballot line for the next four
years. (See Election results, New York governor) He said that with "no
[political] machine and no money" backing him, the likelihood of winning
the governorship would be "like climbing Mount Everest barefooted".
Marriages
Al Lewis was married twice. He married
Marge Domowitz in 1956. They had three sons, and divorced in 1977. In
1984, he married Karen Ingenthron and they were still married at the
time of his death.
Death
He lived on Roosevelt Island, an island
that lies between Manhattan and Queens in the East River of New York
City. In 2003, he was hospitalized for an angioplasty, and complications
from the surgery led to an emergency bypass and the amputation of his
right leg below the knee and all the toes on his left foot. He died on 3
February 2006, of natural causes in a hospital. His age at the time of
his death was 82.
****
Timeline
1923 (most likely) Birth most likely in
Brooklyn, New York
1956 Marriage to Marge Domowitz on November
1
1958 The Night Circus on Broadway
1959 The Phil Silvers Show first appearance
on this TV show
1959 Naked City first appearance on this TV
show
1960 One More River on Broadway
1960 Pretty Boy Floyd as 'Machine Gun Manny
in movies
1961 Car 54, Where Are You? starts on TV
1962 Do Re Mi as Moe Shtarker on Broadway
1963 Car 54, Where Are You? ends on TV
1964 The Munsters starts on TV
1966 The Munsters ends on TV
1969 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? as
Turkey in movie
1977 Divorce from Marge Domowitz on October
11
1984 Marriage to Karen Ingenthron
1988 (circa) Opens "Grampa's Bella Gente"
restaurant
1998 Green Party candidate for Governor of
New York
2002 Night Terror as Father Hanlon in movie
2003 Angioplasty and leg amputation
2003 A&E Biography released
2004 Release of Ramones Raw containing
interview with Lewis
2005 Release of the video Porn King: The
Trials of Al Goldstein containing interview with Lewis
2006 Death of Al Lewis on February 3
****
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Date Article Copied:
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