SQUIGGY is Dead To Me!

Goodbye!

Has Carmine commented?

I just googled his name and there doesn't appear to be anything on the Internet about it.

[bold]'LAVERNE & SHIRLEY' STAR DAVID LANDER, 'SQUIGGY' STAR, DEAD AT 73[/bold]

David Lander, the actor who played Squiggy on "Laverne & Shirley" has died, TMZ has learned.

David's wife, Kathy, tells us he died Friday at around 6:30 PM at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. as a result of complications from multiple sclerosis, which he battled for 37 years. Kathy, their daughter Natalie and her husband were at David's bedside when he passed.

David had his sights set on acting at age 10. He studied at the High School for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Tech and NYU.

He had a great career, but the pinnacle was absolutely "Squiggy," which he played during the show's run from 1976 to 1983. The yang to his ying was Lenny, played by Michael McKean.

The 2 guys actually met at Carnegie University in Pittsburgh that's where they developed the 2 characters.

They both appeared in Steven Spielberg's "1941," and in Kurt Russell's, "Used Cars."

They also voiced an animated TV series, "Oswald," which ran for 2 years beginning in 2001. Their voices brought the penguin cousins Henry and Louie to life.

Sorry to hear this. He and McKean made a great team. RIP.

Oh, sad.

Michael McKean's post from an hour ago:

That’s sad. Her was a strange little man

The Big Ragu sends his condolences.

The maudlin cartoon with Laverne reaching out her hand for Squiggy in 3....2....

Great link, OP

Right now in heaven, the late Penny Marshall is saying to St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, "Didja hear about that horrible COVID disease down on Earth? Boy, things just couldn't be any worse..."

And Squiggy at that exact moment bursts through the Gates: "HELLO!"

I could have sworn he died years ago.

least favorite character on least favoritiue show. I just didnt get it

R13 He's been sick for forever....but yeah I kinda thought the same.

Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated! We're gonna miss him.

Dear Squiggy,

If in heaven we don't meet, hand in hand we'll bear the heat.

And if it ever gets too hot, Pepsi Cola hits the spot.

Good one, R12. And nicely done, R17.

[Quote] the yang to his Ying

Oh, dear!

He had a small role in season 2 of Twin Peaks, 30 years ago.

Who'd he play, R20?

MS sucks- a terrible way to go.

When I was a kid I thought he had down syndrome and it made me sad how Laverne and Shirley were so mean to him

Another piece of my childhood gone. Makes me sad.

Squiggy, lol. I guess it was a gig.

Ah, he played Tim Pinkle on Twin Peaks

It's actually enlightening to read all of his credits post-L&S. I thought he had basically vanished after the show was over (primarily due to his battle with MS). Nice to know he still continued to work for many years.

Oh god I fucking hated Squiggy and Lenny, especially the asshole Lander played.

He is the booth announcer in League of Their Own.

Lander was a guest artist at my university for one of their plays one semester. I think the show was The House of Blue Leaves. I can’t remember what my theater friends said about him but I remember Michael McKean attended opening night to see the show. This was a small college in a small town in Texas so it was nice of him to come all that way in support of his friend.

Has Susan Dey sent her condolences?

David Lander, 73

David Lander (June 22, 1947 – December 4, 2020) was an American actor, voice actor, comedian, composer, musician, activist, and baseball scout who was best known for his portrayal of Squiggy on the sitcom Laverne & Shirley. He also worked as the Goodwill Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

He could barely sit up 5 years ago. What a dreadful disease.

Hello!

r29 McKean's wife, Annette O'Toole, is from Houston so he was probably already in Texas visiting her relatives.

He'd been sick for a long time. I hope he's resting in peace now. He was a funny, talented guy.

Did he and Cindy Williams date in real life? She was cute then I would think she could do better.

Lenny was just dumb but Squiggy was real just full on repulsive. In the very early seasons their entrances could be very funny. Then their parts got too big.

What a horrible disease though. I wonder how dear Teri Garr is doing.

He went into a voiceover career due to his MS.

Now they call them “voice artists.” Bitch, they work on cartoons.

I think Cindy Williams did date David Landers. She also was involved with Richard Dreyfuss and Henry Winkler. She ended up marrying the dreadful Bill Hudson. There's a YouTube video where Penny Marshall discusses why Cindy Williams left L&S and it seems Bill Hudson was the driving force behind her departure. He apparently was "a pest" who made outrageous demands and it all cumulated in Cindy Williams quitting the show. It really was awful how Shirley was removed from the show; she just takes off with her new husband and leaves Laverne without even so much as a final goodbye. It was so out of character for Shirley to do that, to leave her lifelong best friend Laverne so abruptly and callously.

I know this is a very minute detail to focus on but I just find it interesting how, for most of his career (including in his billing on L&S), he went by David L. Lander; however, since his death, every obit I've seen has referred to him only as David Lander. For whatever reason everyone has decided to drop his middle initial.

R38 well she certainly had her share of short, Jewish guys!

The saddest opening credits sequence ever, when an aged and lonely Laverne can no longer do 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8...etc and she has to have solo hijinx because pretty much everyone else has left the show.

Lander is the only other actor billed besides Marshall.

R41 the Burbank years in general you really noticed just HOW much older they all were, especially Penny, who must have been 40 by then (and looked at least that). But agreed that intro is just so sad.

Penny got both salaries that season though, so I guess it was worth it for her!

Actually I need to add one more thing to that because I just watched the intro. The most terrible part is that they did a Suzanne Somers to Shirley — she’s not in any of those clips and it’s like her character never existed. Michael McKean wasn’t on the show that season either but they still showed plenty of clips with him. God, that’s just so terrible. I could never forgive a show that did that to me.

McKean was off making Spinal Tap that final season but did appear in a few episodes. But yes with half the cast gone (Betty Garrett had also left) they really should have just let it die.

As I recall, they tried substituting different female guest stars each week to replace Shirley -- one week it was Carrie Fisher, the next it was Vicki Lawrence, and so on. Of course, no one could ever take the place of Cindy, which was why it just didn't work anymore.

Did L&S ever get a proper finale episode? I don't think it did. I always thought L&S should have ended with Laverne and Shirley getting married, having a double wedding. And I thought their husbands should have been blue collar guys, not the moneyed types they were always going after.

[quote] Did L&S ever get a proper finale episode?

No the final episode was a backdoor pilot for a potential Carmine spinoff. He went to New York to audition for Hair on Broadway. Not surprisingly no one was interested in watching a 30-something aspiring chorus boy. A sad ending to a sad final season.

My mother died of MS. It was a horror having a family member both physically and mentally ill. Anything she said or did we had to forgive because she was sick. My father no idea at all what to do. We had no help from her family. She would have been very mentally ill even without the MS. I just remembered that last night I dreamed that she was still alive and I had to find a way to take care of her.