Lee Delano obit

Actor Lee Delano obit 

He was not on the list.

 

Born and raised in New York, Lee graduated from the famed Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York, where he pursued a course of intensive study with some of the most renowned teachers in the business including Sandy Meisner for acting and Martha Graham for dance. Fellow classmates, included Joanne Woodward, Steve McQueen and Susan Oliver.

After graduation from the Neighborhood Playhouse, and during the height of the burgeoning Off-Broadway movement, he appeared in seven Off- Broadway plays over the next three years. From there it was a antural transition to character roles on many television programs.

Fellow actor Steve McQueen convinced Delano that Hollywood was the place to be so Lee made the move west. Delano's tough guy looks and legitimate stage training made him a natural for the Cops and Crooks roles available.

It was in 1968 that a meeting with Sid Caesar was to add the dimension of comedy to Delano's career. Caesar, looking for a successor to his longtime co-star Carl Reiner, began improvising with Delano using different foreign accents. Delano played along, managing to keep up with Caesar's manic style, and was hired on the spot.

Since that fateful day, Delano has co-starred with Caesar on stage and television around the world, including appearances at the Hollywood Palace, Kraft Music Hall from London, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and theaters and concert halls all over the United States. And in New York On and Off Broadway, as well as a four month stint with Sid and Imogene at Michael's Pub Cabaret in New York. One highlight of the act is one of Caesar's best known and well liked sketches, The Professor, which features Sid and Lee in a show-stopping comedic tour de force.

Delano's versatility became more evident as he moved into film roles. His talent for comedy was further revealed when his association with zany comic Mel Brooks led to roles in the film High Anxiety(as a killer with one half a mustache) and Silent Movie, yet at the same time he was demonstrating his dramatic abilitieswith roles in such serious pieces as Report to the Commissioner and Executive Action,in which he played on of three suspected assasins of President John F. Kennedy.

Today, Delano's Versatility still serves him well, whether it involves guest starring as a Russian KGB agent on The Dukes of Hazzard or a criminal matermind on Scarecrow and Mrs. King. And in over 200 television shows

When the busy Delano is not on the road, he makes his home in Los Angeles. His production company, Creative Characters. Inc. is presently developing several projects for television and motion pictures.

 

Filmography

Me and the Gods (1997) - King Minos

Birdcage, The (1996) - Bakery Man

Splash (1984) - Sergeant Leleandowski

History of the World: Part I (1981) - Wagon Driver

High Anxiety (1977) - Norton

In the Glitter Palace (1977) (TV) - The Producer

Silent Movie (1976) - Executive

Report to the Commissioner (1975) - Detective

The Don is Dead (1973)

Executive Action (1973)

Project X (1968) - Dr. Tony Verity

 

Notable TV guest appearances

Dukes of Hazzard, The (1979) playing Androvich in ...episode:

Comrade Duke 1983

Charlie's Angels (1976) playing Al Norman in ...episode:

Dancin' Angels (episode # 4.19) 2/6/1980

Taxi (1978) playing Maitre d' in episode:

Shut It ...Down: Part 2 1980

Charlie's Angels (1976) playing Dressler in episode:

Angels on Vacation (episode # 3.14) 1/10/1979

Rockford Files, The (1974) in episode:

Empty Frame, ...The (episode # 5.8) 1978

Charlie's Angels (1976) in episode:

Angels on Ice ...(episode # 2.3) 9/21/1977

Mission: Impossible (1966) playing Milt Anderson in ...episode:

Miracle, The (episode # 6.6) 10/23/1971

Star Trek (1966) playing Kalo in episode:

Piece of the ...Action, A (episode # 2.20) 1/12/1968

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) playing ...Space Center Technician in episode:

Monster From Outer Space, The (episode # ...2.13) 12/19/1965

 

Other Appearances In

Rhoda

Mary Tyler Moore Show

Lucille Ball Special

Debbie Reynolds Special

One Day at a Time

Three's Company

Scarecrow & Mrs. King

Baretta

Police Story

Jigsaw John

Lou Grant

Sword of Justice

Small Wonder

Power M.O.W

Batman

Felony Squad

Stowey Burke

The Lieutenant

Branded

Jericho

Camera Three

True Story

Kraft Theater

Flash Gordon

Hellow Larry

Carol Burnett Show

The Big Show

The Hollywood Palace

The Third Man

 

Delano co-founded the Oxford Theater with Jack Donner in Los Angeles. Their students included Barry Levinson, Craig T. Nelson, Barbara Parkins, and Don Johnson.