That Derek
2016-04-10 05:58:55 UTC
This is probably the most difficult obit I have ever posted or re-posted on this forum.
ARTHUR ANDERSON, 93, died peacefully on Saturday, April 9th, 2016 at his West 13th Street apartment in New York City of long-term age-related illnesses.
Arthur found his greatest acting success at a young age as a child actor on stage with Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre and a long-term cast member on the network radio programme "Let's Pretend," a show featuring child actors performing dramatized versions of fairy tales.
In the mid-1930s, Arthur got the job, largely based on his ukulele acumen. to portray Brutus's herald in the Mercury stage version of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" set in contemporaneous fascist Italy. His ukulele was "masked" to make it resemble a lute. Zac Efron's character in the film "Me and Orson Welles" depicted a composite of several young actors, Arthur included. Though Efron was pegged to be about 17-18, Arthur was about 13 at the time and, thus, did not have a secret affair with the character played by Claire Danes. However, Arthur was the one who accidentally set off the theatre's sprinkler system, a scenario re-worked for Efron in the movie.
For over 29 years up until the early 1990s, Arthur provided the voice of "Lucky," the Lucky Charms cereal mascot (he had told me the ad agency wanted to go with someone younger -- read cheaper -- to essay the role and that they desired someone who sounded "less Irish"). He was also the voice of "Ducky Drake," the cartoon duck mascot for the northeast-U.S. snack cake brand Drake's Cakes (makers of Ring Dings, Devil Dogs, Yodels, Yankee Doodle Cupcakes, and several others).
Though Mr. Anderson did not make many films being that he chose to base himself in New York City so that he an his wife Alice could minister to their only child, an autistic girl named Amy, viewers can catch glimpses of him some NYC-based projects such as the film "Midnight Cowboy," in which he played the hotel manager who locks Jon Voight out for non-payment of rent, and a hilarious episode of "Car 54, Where Are You?" where he plays the emcee who introduces the auditioning barber shop quartets in the episode "Boom Boom Boom" (with special guest star Jan Murray). Later in life, Arthur voiced an elderly character in the cartoon series "Courage, the Cowardly Dog."
On stage, he appeared in various roles on Broadway and in several road companies of the musical "1776."
For over 25 years, Arthur Anderson was a fixture and elder statesman of the "Friends of Old Time Radio" convention held, up until 2011, near Newark Liberty International Airport. A master dialectician, Arthur acted in and directed re-creations, oversaw a script-writing contest designed to encourage young writers to write new radio scripts, and played his ukulele.
It seems that Arthur, a personification of class and gentility, was loved by everybody in the old time radio hobby. Although the FOTR venue preferred to promote pre-television radio, in my humble opinion, each convention never became "official" until a certain ritual was performed -- and that was Arthur rendering for everyone some shtick as "Lucky, the Leprechaun." He'd perform it for anyone; all one needed to do was ask him.
When the Enron scandal was raging, he introduced himself as "the GOOD Arthur Anderson [spelled with an 'O']," not wanting to be associated with the Arthur Andersen [spelled with an 'E'] accounting firm.
Arthur's life and career can be fully appreciated by accessing his two published books: "Let's Pretend" and "An Actor's Odyssey," both available through BearManor Media publishers. (For the sake of "full disclosure" so that nobody can call me on self-promotion, I played a behind-the-scenes part in the production of both of these titles.)
Predecaesd by his wife Alice (died April 2015), Arthur Anderson is urvived by his daughter Amy, and an actual obituary and the exact details about services, memorials, and donations will follow.
ARTHUR ANDERSON, 93, died peacefully on Saturday, April 9th, 2016 at his West 13th Street apartment in New York City of long-term age-related illnesses.
Arthur found his greatest acting success at a young age as a child actor on stage with Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre and a long-term cast member on the network radio programme "Let's Pretend," a show featuring child actors performing dramatized versions of fairy tales.
In the mid-1930s, Arthur got the job, largely based on his ukulele acumen. to portray Brutus's herald in the Mercury stage version of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" set in contemporaneous fascist Italy. His ukulele was "masked" to make it resemble a lute. Zac Efron's character in the film "Me and Orson Welles" depicted a composite of several young actors, Arthur included. Though Efron was pegged to be about 17-18, Arthur was about 13 at the time and, thus, did not have a secret affair with the character played by Claire Danes. However, Arthur was the one who accidentally set off the theatre's sprinkler system, a scenario re-worked for Efron in the movie.
For over 29 years up until the early 1990s, Arthur provided the voice of "Lucky," the Lucky Charms cereal mascot (he had told me the ad agency wanted to go with someone younger -- read cheaper -- to essay the role and that they desired someone who sounded "less Irish"). He was also the voice of "Ducky Drake," the cartoon duck mascot for the northeast-U.S. snack cake brand Drake's Cakes (makers of Ring Dings, Devil Dogs, Yodels, Yankee Doodle Cupcakes, and several others).
Though Mr. Anderson did not make many films being that he chose to base himself in New York City so that he an his wife Alice could minister to their only child, an autistic girl named Amy, viewers can catch glimpses of him some NYC-based projects such as the film "Midnight Cowboy," in which he played the hotel manager who locks Jon Voight out for non-payment of rent, and a hilarious episode of "Car 54, Where Are You?" where he plays the emcee who introduces the auditioning barber shop quartets in the episode "Boom Boom Boom" (with special guest star Jan Murray). Later in life, Arthur voiced an elderly character in the cartoon series "Courage, the Cowardly Dog."
On stage, he appeared in various roles on Broadway and in several road companies of the musical "1776."
For over 25 years, Arthur Anderson was a fixture and elder statesman of the "Friends of Old Time Radio" convention held, up until 2011, near Newark Liberty International Airport. A master dialectician, Arthur acted in and directed re-creations, oversaw a script-writing contest designed to encourage young writers to write new radio scripts, and played his ukulele.
It seems that Arthur, a personification of class and gentility, was loved by everybody in the old time radio hobby. Although the FOTR venue preferred to promote pre-television radio, in my humble opinion, each convention never became "official" until a certain ritual was performed -- and that was Arthur rendering for everyone some shtick as "Lucky, the Leprechaun." He'd perform it for anyone; all one needed to do was ask him.
When the Enron scandal was raging, he introduced himself as "the GOOD Arthur Anderson [spelled with an 'O']," not wanting to be associated with the Arthur Andersen [spelled with an 'E'] accounting firm.
Arthur's life and career can be fully appreciated by accessing his two published books: "Let's Pretend" and "An Actor's Odyssey," both available through BearManor Media publishers. (For the sake of "full disclosure" so that nobody can call me on self-promotion, I played a behind-the-scenes part in the production of both of these titles.)
Predecaesd by his wife Alice (died April 2015), Arthur Anderson is urvived by his daughter Amy, and an actual obituary and the exact details about services, memorials, and donations will follow.