Al Lewis died at the age of 95. Even though it is natural to mourn his loss, let us not forget that this man had a full life. He was a circus performer, college basketball scout, restaurateur (Grampa's, in Greenwich Village), political candidate, author of two children's books, received a Ph.D. in child psychology from Columbia University and of course an actor.
Mr. Lewis will always be best remembered as Herman Munsters’ (Fred Gwynne) broken down, freeloading, old, father in-law Sam Dracula more affectionately known as Grandpa. Over the summer I wrote an article (The Beauty of The Munsters & The Addams Family) where I did a comparison contrast of the two shows. Of Al Lewis I said, "Al Lewis' Grandpa was and will always the most unique interpretation of the Dracula character since Bram Stoker first created him. Again I don't know where Al Lewis begins and Grandpa AKA The Count AKA Sam Dracula (I guess the guys at Ellis Island could not spell Vladimir) ends. Like Dracula he has found immortality. On April 30th he turned 95 years old."
Good Night Grandpa, I thought you would be around forever, and thanks to reruns you will.
To quote Al Lewis in an interview for The Shadow titled The Many Faces of Grandpa Munster, "The stage is yours. But find something that you absolutely love doing. And then get to love the way you do it. That's the uniqueness of all of us. That's it. Albert Einstein, one of my favorites, said: "Imagination is more important than knowledge." And if that cat say it, it's good enough for me".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Mr. Lewis will always be best remembered as Herman Munsters’ (Fred Gwynne) broken down, freeloading, old, father in-law Sam Dracula more affectionately known as Grandpa. Over the summer I wrote an article (The Beauty of The Munsters & The Addams Family) where I did a comparison contrast of the two shows. Of Al Lewis I said, "Al Lewis' Grandpa was and will always the most unique interpretation of the Dracula character since Bram Stoker first created him. Again I don't know where Al Lewis begins and Grandpa AKA The Count AKA Sam Dracula (I guess the guys at Ellis Island could not spell Vladimir) ends. Like Dracula he has found immortality. On April 30th he turned 95 years old."
Good Night Grandpa, I thought you would be around forever, and thanks to reruns you will.
To quote Al Lewis in an interview for The Shadow titled The Many Faces of Grandpa Munster, "The stage is yours. But find something that you absolutely love doing. And then get to love the way you do it. That's the uniqueness of all of us. That's it. Albert Einstein, one of my favorites, said: "Imagination is more important than knowledge." And if that cat say it, it's good enough for me".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
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