Jonathan Winters

Jonathan Winters (born November 11, 1925, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.—died April 11, 2013, Montecito, California) was an American comedian who used sound effects, facial contortions, a gift for mimicry, and breakneck improvisational skills to entertain nightclub, radio, television, and film audiences. He was once described by talk-show host Jack Paar as “pound for pound, the funniest man alive.”

The son and grandson of Midwestern bankers, Winters spent most of his childhood with his divorced mother, a Springfield, Ohio, radio personality. At an early age he developed a facility for imitating movie sound effects, which matured into a talent for mimicry and improvisation. After serving with the U.S. Marines during World War II, he attended the Dayton (Ohio) Art Institute for two years. Although he hoped to pursue a career as a cartoonist, he held down a variety of unusual jobs (including a stint in an incubator factory) before trying his luck in show business.

After winning a talent contest, Winters landed a disc-jockey position at Dayton radio station WING, and from 1950 to 1953 he hosted several local programs for Columbus, Ohio’s WBNS-TV. 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. His appearance on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts led to guest-star appearances on network TV—notably on The Steve Allen Show and The Tonight Show (spanning the hosting duties of Paar and Johnny Carson)—and a featured spot in the Broadway revue Almanac (1954). In 1955 he became the first comedian to appear on the prestigious CBS cultural series Omnibus. His unique brand of humor was then showcased on The Jonathan Winters Show (1956–57 and 1967–69), a weekly TV variety series. He recorded several Grammy Award-nominated comedy albums, and he won a Grammy for his album Crank Calls (1995).

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Winters’s psychological problems and his growing dependency on alcohol resulted in a well-publicized stay at a sanatorium in the early 1960s. He emerged clean and sober and continued to build a successful film, television, and nightclub career throughout the decade.

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. He was perhaps most famous for his gallery of richly comic characters, including feisty old lady Maudie Frickert, childlike Chester Honeyhugger, and bucolic Elwood P. Suggins. At his best when improvising, he was one of the few entertainers to star in a totally ad-libbed weekly television series, The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters (syndicated 1972–74).

In addition to his own television programs and specials, Winters played dramatic roles in such anthology series as The Shirley Temple Storybook Theater and The Twilight Zone. 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. Ten years later he won an Emmy Award for his supporting role in another sitcom, Davis Rules. Winters’s motion picture credits include It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), The Loved One (1965), The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966), Viva Max! (1969), Moon Over Parador (1988), The Flintstones (1994), and The Smurfs (2011). A collection of his short stories, Winters’ Tales, made the best-seller list in 1987. The following year he published a book of his paintings, Hang-Ups. For many years Winters served as honorary chairman of the National Congress of American Indians, and in 1999 he was presented with the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for his contributions to American humor.