Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Back to the Rock Season 2
Sesame Street Season 54
The Muppets Mayhem premieres
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Book
Steve Arino
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2019
- Messages
- 66
- Reaction score
- 10
Hello Everyone,
As many of you know, early last year, April 16, 2018, Harry Anderson, age 68, died of a Massive Stroke in Asheville, North Carolina, survived by his wife since the year 2000, Elizabeth Morgan, as well as 2 young-adult children (Eva and Dashiell) from his first marriage to Leslie Pollack, which ended in divorce in 1999.
Harry Laverne Anderson, Jr. was born on October 14, 1949 in Newport, Rhode Island and raised in Chicago after his parents' divorce when he was very young.
Upon his parents' divorce, Harry's mother, Suzanne Johnson, worked as a Prostitute to support herself and her only child; at age 17, in 1967, Harry moved in with his father, Harry Anderson, Sr., to Los Angeles and subsequently enrolled at North Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, where he graduated from at age 20, in 1970, during which Harry served as Class Valedictorian; after graduation, Harry remained in Los Angeles and began a career as a Stand-up Comedian, basing his Stand-up Material on his real-life love of Magic.
In 1983, at age 33, Harry auditioned for the role of Judge Harold T. Stone on a sitcom pilot titled "Night Court," a loose TV series version of the Ronny Howard-directed 1982 film "Night Shift" starring Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton.
Harry beat out, among several hundred other actors, fellow comic Robert Klein for the role of Harold Stone--a role he would portray for 8 seasons from January 4, 1984 - May 31, 1992 on NBC, with the series initially airing Wednesday nights at 9 after "The Facts of Life" before moving to Thursday nights at 9 after "Cheers" (which coincidentally Harry appeared on a few Season 1 episodes).
In 1988, "Night Court" moved permanently out of Thursday nights to Wednesday nights at 9 for Seasons 5 and 6 before moving temporarily to Friday nights at 9 leading in to the "Cheers" spin-off "Wings" before moving permanently back to Wednesday nights at 9 in January 1991, originally as lead-in to the then-struggling "Seinfeld" before switching timeslots with "Seinfeld" in December 1991 until March 1992, when NBC canceled "Night Court."
After "Night Court" aired its series finale, Harry began playnig a fictional version of Miami humorist Dave Barry for 4 years in the '90s on "Dave's World," airing on CBS from 1993-1997, after which he left Los Angeles and relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana until Hurricane Katrina, after which he and his wife Elizabeth in 2006 relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, where Harry spent his last 12 years until his fatal Massive Stroke. Although born in 1949, Harry's IMDB and Wikipedia entry (as well as his Obituary) incorrectly listed his DOB as October 14, 1952, which I believe his Mother stated when he started going to School in Chicago at age 7 in 1957 in an era where the cutoff date into the next School grade was January 1 as opposed to September 1 since April 11, 1965, when President LBJ changed the cutoff date, with the usual graduation ages between ages 16-20 for those born up to the Fall 1965 Public School curriculum.
I believe Harry started school a few years later than other kids his age; otherwise he'd have graduated high school in 1967-1968 at ages 17-18.
In any case, Harry Anderson was 68 years old when he died last year; on a personal anecdote, I remember this one time, when Harry was living in New Orleans pre-Katrina, I tried to call him at his then-current business Oswald's Speakeasy during the Summer of 2005; unfortunately for me, Harry wasn't there that day, but I suggested that the guy I talked to, one of his employers, give him a message basically telling him "Great job on Night Court," and that's as a far as I got in actually meeting Harry Anderson by the lost art of Telephone.
Had Harry been on the phone with me that day, I would have had a great conversation with him, telling him more than just "Great job on Night Court," I would have mentioned to Harry all about myself up to that point in time. I think Harry and I would have been close acquaintances if not friends, keeping in touch via email and other Modern-Day Technology stuff e.g. Social Media accounts.
The above info is something I've never told anyone--even my own parents (whom I live with)--until now.
A personal favorite "Night Court" episode of mine is one from later in the series' run where Harry's character of Harold Stone ran into an old classmate of his--a Bully named Terry Benoon (Don Gibb, known for his role as Ogre in the hit 1984 R-rated Disney movie "Revenge of the Nerds," one of MANY former Murdoch/20th Century Fox properties now owned by Disney for all Eternity).
Towards the end of the episode, in the Court's bathroom, Terry attempted to assault Harry--only to be FINALLY beaten after 25 years by Harry, with a little tiny bit of help from his Clerk Mac (Charlie Robinson), a character introduced midway through Season 1 in September 1984, replacing original Clerk Lana Wagner (Karen Austin).
Nickelodeon briefly aired reruns of "Night Court" from June 21, 2005 - June 23, 2005 as part of Nick at Nite's week-long "N@nniversary" celebration, celebrating 20 years of Nick at Nite; reruns then moved permanently to sister network TV Land later that Summer, continuing through 2006, and can now be seen on Digital OTA channel Laff. Before Nick at Nite, "Night Court" aired in reruns, respectively, on both Lifetime in the mid' 90s and on A&E in 2000.
As many of you know, early last year, April 16, 2018, Harry Anderson, age 68, died of a Massive Stroke in Asheville, North Carolina, survived by his wife since the year 2000, Elizabeth Morgan, as well as 2 young-adult children (Eva and Dashiell) from his first marriage to Leslie Pollack, which ended in divorce in 1999.
Harry Laverne Anderson, Jr. was born on October 14, 1949 in Newport, Rhode Island and raised in Chicago after his parents' divorce when he was very young.
Upon his parents' divorce, Harry's mother, Suzanne Johnson, worked as a Prostitute to support herself and her only child; at age 17, in 1967, Harry moved in with his father, Harry Anderson, Sr., to Los Angeles and subsequently enrolled at North Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, where he graduated from at age 20, in 1970, during which Harry served as Class Valedictorian; after graduation, Harry remained in Los Angeles and began a career as a Stand-up Comedian, basing his Stand-up Material on his real-life love of Magic.
In 1983, at age 33, Harry auditioned for the role of Judge Harold T. Stone on a sitcom pilot titled "Night Court," a loose TV series version of the Ronny Howard-directed 1982 film "Night Shift" starring Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton.
Harry beat out, among several hundred other actors, fellow comic Robert Klein for the role of Harold Stone--a role he would portray for 8 seasons from January 4, 1984 - May 31, 1992 on NBC, with the series initially airing Wednesday nights at 9 after "The Facts of Life" before moving to Thursday nights at 9 after "Cheers" (which coincidentally Harry appeared on a few Season 1 episodes).
In 1988, "Night Court" moved permanently out of Thursday nights to Wednesday nights at 9 for Seasons 5 and 6 before moving temporarily to Friday nights at 9 leading in to the "Cheers" spin-off "Wings" before moving permanently back to Wednesday nights at 9 in January 1991, originally as lead-in to the then-struggling "Seinfeld" before switching timeslots with "Seinfeld" in December 1991 until March 1992, when NBC canceled "Night Court."
After "Night Court" aired its series finale, Harry began playnig a fictional version of Miami humorist Dave Barry for 4 years in the '90s on "Dave's World," airing on CBS from 1993-1997, after which he left Los Angeles and relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana until Hurricane Katrina, after which he and his wife Elizabeth in 2006 relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, where Harry spent his last 12 years until his fatal Massive Stroke. Although born in 1949, Harry's IMDB and Wikipedia entry (as well as his Obituary) incorrectly listed his DOB as October 14, 1952, which I believe his Mother stated when he started going to School in Chicago at age 7 in 1957 in an era where the cutoff date into the next School grade was January 1 as opposed to September 1 since April 11, 1965, when President LBJ changed the cutoff date, with the usual graduation ages between ages 16-20 for those born up to the Fall 1965 Public School curriculum.
I believe Harry started school a few years later than other kids his age; otherwise he'd have graduated high school in 1967-1968 at ages 17-18.
In any case, Harry Anderson was 68 years old when he died last year; on a personal anecdote, I remember this one time, when Harry was living in New Orleans pre-Katrina, I tried to call him at his then-current business Oswald's Speakeasy during the Summer of 2005; unfortunately for me, Harry wasn't there that day, but I suggested that the guy I talked to, one of his employers, give him a message basically telling him "Great job on Night Court," and that's as a far as I got in actually meeting Harry Anderson by the lost art of Telephone.
Had Harry been on the phone with me that day, I would have had a great conversation with him, telling him more than just "Great job on Night Court," I would have mentioned to Harry all about myself up to that point in time. I think Harry and I would have been close acquaintances if not friends, keeping in touch via email and other Modern-Day Technology stuff e.g. Social Media accounts.
The above info is something I've never told anyone--even my own parents (whom I live with)--until now.
A personal favorite "Night Court" episode of mine is one from later in the series' run where Harry's character of Harold Stone ran into an old classmate of his--a Bully named Terry Benoon (Don Gibb, known for his role as Ogre in the hit 1984 R-rated Disney movie "Revenge of the Nerds," one of MANY former Murdoch/20th Century Fox properties now owned by Disney for all Eternity).
Towards the end of the episode, in the Court's bathroom, Terry attempted to assault Harry--only to be FINALLY beaten after 25 years by Harry, with a little tiny bit of help from his Clerk Mac (Charlie Robinson), a character introduced midway through Season 1 in September 1984, replacing original Clerk Lana Wagner (Karen Austin).
Nickelodeon briefly aired reruns of "Night Court" from June 21, 2005 - June 23, 2005 as part of Nick at Nite's week-long "N@nniversary" celebration, celebrating 20 years of Nick at Nite; reruns then moved permanently to sister network TV Land later that Summer, continuing through 2006, and can now be seen on Digital OTA channel Laff. Before Nick at Nite, "Night Court" aired in reruns, respectively, on both Lifetime in the mid' 90s and on A&E in 2000.