Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American actor and improvisational comedian from Ohio.
A staple of variety shows, he had three comedy-variety TV shows (including The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters) and several comedy specials and albums. He was also known for his appearances in films like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming. Not to mention he was a recurring figure in animation, including giving improvisation lessons to Nancy Cartwright. He also did all the voices in the anime adaptation of Thornton W. Burgess's Fables of the Green Forest.
Robin Williams cited Winters as a major influence upon him and Winters got to return the favor in becoming his co-star in the last season of Mork & Mindy.
Notable Roles
- The Twilight Zone ("A Game Of Pool"; 1961) as James "Fats" Brown
- It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) as Lennie Pike
- The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1965) as Norman Jonas
- Viva Max! (1969) as General Hallson
- The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972) as Himself
- Moon over Parador (1988) as Ralph
- Frosty Returns (1992) as the Narrator
- The Thief and the Cobbler as the Thief (in the Arabian Knight version) (1993)
- The Shadow (1994) as Wainwright Cranston
- The Smurfs (2011) and The Smurfs 2 (2013) as Papa Smurf (the latter being his final film role)
