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David Lander, Squiggy on TV’s ‘Laverne & Shirley,’ dies at 73


Mr. Lander’s character, Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman, was a thug wannabe minus the muscle. With a voice simultaneously nasal and squeaky, he entered every room with his signature “Helloooo.”

Mr. Lander’s character and his counterpart on the show, Michael McKean’s Lenny, lived upstairs from Laverne DeFazio, played by Penny Marshall, and Shirley Feeney, played by Cindy Williams. Squiggy had a thing for Shirley.

He and McKean developed their characters in 1965 when they were freshmen at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, then called Carnegie Tech, where they studied theater.

The two hatched Lenny and Squiggy over late-night improvisation sessions in Mr. Lander’s dorm. They remained close friends their entire lives.

“He was as funny as he always was till the end,” McKean said. “He was the funniest man I ever knew.”

David Leonard Landau — he later changed his name — was born in Brooklyn on June 22, 1947, and was raised in the Bronx. His parents were high school teachers.

After one year at Carnegie Tech and another year at New York University, Mr. Lander moved to Los Angeles in 1967 to launch his acting career. McKean joined him in 1970.

Both joined the comedy group the Credibility Gap — Harry Shearer and Richard Beebe were also members — at a Pasadena radio station. The Credibility Gap produced comic takes on the news five days a week.

“You would play in the course of a week as many as 15 different characters,” Mr. Lander told LA Weekly in 1999. “Actors were trained with the idea that in a perfect world they’d do repertory theater, so I felt, ‘Wow, this is my repertory.’ ”

The group also played clubs, opened for bands and put out albums. Marshall and Rob Reiner were fans of the characters. After Marshall landed the role of Laverne on “Laverne & Shirley,” she and Reiner invited them to a party celebrating the start of the series and introduced them to the show’s producers.

“At the party, Rob said, ‘Do those guys!’ ” McKean recalled, “and we launched into a routine about going to butler school.”

Show creator Garry Marshall, Penny Marshall’s brother, hired the duo as apprentice writers, and they wrote themselves into the first episode.

Mr. Lander and McKean stayed on the show for all eight seasons, from 1976 through 1983. They made several movies together, including Steven Spielberg’s 1979 comedy, “1941,” and appeared in Robert Zemeckis’s 1980 film, “Used Cars,” starring Kurt Russell. They also voiced penguins in the animated TV series “Oswald.”

In 1984, Mr. Lander was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. For 15 years, he hid the disease from the public, fearful it would prevent him from getting film and TV work. Then one day, Penny Marshall called, his wife recalled, relaying the message that entertainment executive Tom Sherak wanted to honor Mr. Lander at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society fundraiser Dinner of Champions.

“It changed our lives,” Fields Lander said. “He went on to do speaking engagements around the country, talking about his life and how he copes.”

In 2000, Mr. Lander published the book “Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn’t Tell Nobody.” He also served as a goodwill ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

“I guess my biggest use now is in helping anyone with this disease by putting a face on it,” he told the Times in 2000. “And it’s a face that is still walking.”

His marriage to Thea Pool ended in divorce. He and Fields Lander married in 1979. In addition to his wife, survivors include their daughter, Natalie Lander.

Mr. Lander appeared in dozens of TV shows, including “Happy Days,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Barney Miller,” “Rhoda,” “The Love Boat” and “Twin Peaks.”

He was also prolific as a voice actor, giving life to the character of Smart Ass in the 1988 movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” as well as Ch’p in 2009’s “Green Lantern: First Flight,” among others.



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