His scheduled role was to appear alongside Jerry Lewis and Bob Newhart. He later participated on ABC's The American Sportsman, hosted by Grits Gresham, who took celebrities on hunting, fishing, and shooting trips to exotic places around the world. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Jonathan Harshman Winters III was born on November 11, 1925 in Dayton, Ohio. He also had records released every decade for over 50 years, receiving 11 Grammy nominations for Best Comedy Album during his career and winning a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children for his contribution to an adaptation of The Little Prince in 1975 and the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album for Crank(y) Calls in 1996. [1], Winters was an inspiration for performers such as Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Tracey Ullman, Lily Tomlin, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, and Jimmy Kimmel. I was lucky enough to have gone to school, Dayton Art Institute, with Jonathan. "Johnny Winters" promoting Gambrinus Beer in the early 1950s for August Wagner Breweries, Inc. on WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio, Winters' career started as a result of a lost wristwatch, about six or seven months after his marriage to Eileen in 1948. [3][9][10] Upon his return, he attended Kenyon College. Omissions? Winters was coaxed out of retirement to voice Papa Smurf in The Smurfs (2011), the first ever animated/live-action Smurfs film, and later in The Smurfs 2 (2013), his final film project. Robin Williams posted, "First he was my idol, then he was my mentor and amazing friend. Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, and artist. "They follow me around pretty much all day and night." "[5], His big break occurred (with the revised name of Jonathan) when he worked for Alistair Cooke on the CBS Television Sunday morning show Omnibus. After he was refused a salary increase, he moved to New York City with slightly less than $57 in his pocket and began performing stand-up comedy in nightclubs. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica.
"[37][38][39] In September 2013, at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, Williams would again honor the career and life of Winters. He played Gunny Davis, an eccentric grandfather who was helping raise his grandchildren after his son lost his wife. A collection of his short stories, Winters’ Tales, made the best-seller list in 1987. In 2002, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as Q.T. 1999 saw Winters became the 2nd recipient of the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
The comic suffered from nervous breakdowns and bipolar disorder.
Jonathan and his mother … After being discharged he transferred to Dayton art institute where he met his wife. He was perhaps most famous for his gallery of richly comic characters, including feisty old lady Maudie Frickert.
Winters also spent time painting and presenting his artwork, including silkscreens and sketches, in many gallery shows. When he was seven, his parents separated. [40], A pioneer of improvisational stand-up comedy with a gift for mimicry, impersonations, various personalities, and a seemingly bottomless reservoir of creative energy, Winters was one of the first celebrities to go public with a personal mental illness issue and felt stigmatized as a result. Mom always told my brother and I how he cloned around. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. The newlyweds couldn't afford to buy another one. "[1], Winters performed a wide range of characters: hillbillies, arrogant city slickers, nerve-shattered airline pilots trying to hide their fear, disgruntled westerners, judgmental Martians, little old ladies, nosy gas station attendants, a hungry cat eyeing a mouse, the oldest living airline stewardess, and more. That same year he published Winters' Tales: Stories and Observations for the Unusual. In his interview with the Archive of American Television, Winters reported that he spent eight months in a private psychiatric hospital in 1959 and again in 1961. [1], Two of his most memorable characters, cranky granny "Maude Frickert" and bumpkin farmer "Elwood P. Suggins" ("I think eggs 24 hours a day"), were born from his early television routines. He was my Comedy Buddha. "It was like seeing a guy behind a mask, and you could see that his characters were a great way for him to talk about painful stuff," he said. My mom went to Springfield High School with Jonathan. [15], Winters performing a routine on The NBC Comedy Hour (1956), From 1959 to 1964, Winters' voice could be heard in a series of popular television commercials for Utica Club beer. He also said of Winters, "Pound for pound, the funniest man alive. Of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry,Winters had described his father as an alcoholic who had trouble h… Winters died last night of natural causes in Montecito, California, around 6:30 p.m., surrounded by friends and family. In 2008, Winters was presented with a Pioneer TV Land Award by Robin Williams. In 1981 he costarred with Robin Williams (a lifelong fan) in the TV situation comedy Mork and Mindy, portraying the baby son of Williams’s extraterrestrial character. [19], In 1996, Winters played himself in Bloopy's Buddies, a children's TV series on PBS designed to teach children about health and nutrition and to encourage them to exercise.[20]. Jonathan Winters was a guest star on The Muppet Show in 1980. He often entertained the tellers and other employees whenever he visited his local bank to make a deposit or withdrawal. In an interesting role reversal, he was the serious-minded secular police chief and uncle of the character Lamont Cranston (played by Alec Baldwin) in The Shadow. He also recorded Ogden Nash's The Carnival of the Animals poems to Camille Saint-Saëns's classical opus. Winters had various roles and appeared in numerous television features throughout the early to mid-2000s. Jonathan was……….he would hang upside down from a tree limb and have the girls feed him peanuts. She was born Lucinda Kelley winters and she became a talent scout for movies. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
He emerged clean and sober and continued to build a successful film, television, and nightclub career throughout the decade. That same year he voiced Stinkbomb D. Basset in the episode "Smell Ya Later" on Animaniacs.
In 1981 he was a guest on the short-lived comedy series Aloha Paradise. [13], After promising his wife that he would return to Dayton if he did not make it in a year, and with $56.46 in his pocket, he moved to New York City, staying with friends in Greenwich Village. In the fourth and final season of the sci-fi-styled TV comedy Mork & Mindy, Jonathan Winters (one of Robin Williams's idols) was brought in as Mork & Mindy's child, Mearth. She attended The San Diego Sate University-California State University from 1975 till her graduation in 1980.
Blessed with what actor Rod Steiger characterized as “one of the most gifted improvisatory minds in existence,” Winters did not rely upon conventional jokes but instead commented on the foibles of everyday life in a skewed, exaggerated manner. His earliest network television appearance was in 1954 on Chance of a Lifetime hosted by Dennis James on the DuMont Television Network, where Winters again appeared as "Johnny Winters. Jonathan got his start in show business by winning a talent contest. His father, Jonathan Harshman Winters II, was a banker who became an alcoholic after being crushed in the Great Depression. In addition to his live-action roles, he was a guest star on The New Scooby-Doo Movies (in an episode where he also voiced an animated version of his "Maude Frickert" character) and as the narrator in Frosty Returns which airs annually aired during the Christmas season. [3] Fellow comedians who starred with him in Mad World, such as Arnold Stang, said that in the long periods while they waited between scenes, Winters would entertain them for hours in their trailer by becoming any character that they would suggest to him. [21] In 2000, Winters appeared in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Just when he thinks he’s lost his touch, a series of famous comedians drop by to help him rekindle his artistic and comedic spark. He decided to move to New York City with his family and because of his natural talent within two months he was getting night blub bookings! Winters claimed, "I think my place is inside the box, underneath the guy receiving the gold medal. I'll miss him huge. He paints these people that he sees. (1969), Moon Over Parador (1988), The Flintstones (1994), and The Smurfs (2011). At an early age he developed a facility for imitating movie sound effects, which matured into a talent for mimicry and improvisation. Winters was nominated eleven times for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album during his career; he won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album for Crank(y) Calls in 1996. On The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–92), Winters would usually perform in the guise of some character. It is a comedy set in a retirement home. Alone in his room, he would create characters and interview himself. "[41], With his round, rubber-faced mastery of impressions (including ones of John Wayne, Cary Grant, Groucho Marx, James Cagney, and others) and improvisational comedy, Winters became a staple of late-night television with a career spanning more than six decades. His grandfather, a frustrated comedian, owned the Winters National Bank, which failed as the family's fortunes collapsed during the Great Depression. at Littleton and Rue Funeral home which used to be Jonathan’s grandparents house. In 1991, Winters won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Gunny Davis in the short-lived sitcom Davis Rules. He later studied cartooning at Dayton Art Institute, where he met Eileen Schauder, whom he married on September 11, 1948. [3] Additionally, he was a regular (along with Woody Allen and Jo Anne Worley) on the Saturday morning children's television program, Hot Dog in the early 1970s. In 1999, he was awarded the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, becoming the second recipient. [28], Winters was originally cast in Big Finish (2014), during pre-production.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Winters acted in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), had a nightly CBS show called The Jonathan Winters Show from 1967 to 1969, and appeared in Viva Max! [7] "So consequently it was a strange kind of arrangement." Carson invented a character called "Aunt Blabby," which was similar to and possibly inspired by "Maude Frickert."[17]. During his classic "flying saucer" routine, Winters casually mentions that if he wasn't careful, the authorities might put him back in the "zoo", referring to the institution. [29][30], On February 8, 1960, Winters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[31].