[Deathwatch] Tom Poston, comic actor, 85

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Tom Poston, TV's clueless everyman, dead at 85
POSTED: 6:40 p.m. EDT, May 1, 2007

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/01/tv.obit.poston.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Tom Poston, the tall, pasty-faced comic
who found fame and fortune playing a clueless everyman on such hit
television shows as "Newhart" and "Mork and Mindy," has died. He was
85.

Poston, who was married to Suzanne Pleshette of "The Bob Newhart Show,"
died Monday night at home after a brief illness, a family
representative, Tanner Gibson, said Tuesday. The nature of his illness
was not disclosed.

Bob Newhart remembered Poston as a "versatile and veteran performer and
a kind-hearted individual."

"Tom was always the `go-to guy' on `Newhart' in addition to being a
good and longtime friend," Newhart said in a statement released
Tuesday.

Poston's run as a comic bumbler began in the mid-1950s with "The Steve
Allen Show" after Allen plucked the character actor from the Broadway
stage to join an ensemble of eccentrics he would conduct "man in the
street" interviews with.

Don Knotts was the shaky Mr. Morrison, Louis Nye was the suave,
overconfident Gordon Hathaway and Poston's character was so unnerved by
the television cameras that he couldn't remember who he was. He won an
Emmy playing "The Man Who Can't Remember His Name."

But when Allen moved the show from New York to Los Angeles in 1959,
Poston stayed behind.

"Hollywood's not for me right now; I'm a Broadway cat," he told a
reporter at the time.

When he did finally move west, he quickly began appearing in variety
shows, sitcoms and films.

His movie credits included "Cold Turkey," "The Happy Hooker," "Rabbit
Test" and, more recently, "Christmas With the Kranks," "Beethoven's
5th" and "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement."

Besides Pleshette, 70, Poston is survived by his children, Francesca
Poston of Nashville, Tennessee, Jason Poston of Los Angeles and Hudson
Poston of Portland, Oregon.

A private service was planned for immediate family. Details of a public
memorial service were to be announced later.

Many thanks to TheLenGuy for posting this obituary