One of the most hilarious character actors ever has left us. Kenneth Mars is one of those performers that appeared in many projects and was always excellent, but had he done nothing else but his two most famous roles, his place in comedy history would be ensured.
Those roles? Misguided playwright Franz Liebkind from one of the funniest (if not the funniest) films of all time, Mel Brooks' "The Producers." Brooks also provided Mars with his other most famous role, that of Inspector Kemp in the 1970s horror-comedy homage to Universal monster movies, "Young Frankenstein."
Mars did a myriad of other work (many fans cite "What's Up Doc" as another Mars highlight), including several genre and fantasy shows like "Get Smart" and "The Ghost of Mrs. Muir" but his only other forays into horror comedy were doing voices for Scooby Doo and Teen Wolf cartoons. His performances were always top-notch and professional even when the scripts and productions he appeared in weren't.
Here then is a clip from "Young Frankenstein" with Mars spoofing the clueless inspector roles that often populated the Universal monster films. Rest in peace, funny man!
No comments:
Post a Comment