Squiggy actor David Lander dies at 73

LOS ANGELES — Actor David L. Lander — the unforgettable Squiggy on ABC’s “Laverne & Shirley” — died Friday evening at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after battling multiple sclerosis for 37 years. His family was by his side. He was 73.

Lander’s Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman, opposite Michael McKean’s Lenny, was a staple of 1970s and ’80s television. The distinctive character — whose voice was simultaneously nasal and squeaky — was a thug wannabe minus the muscle who had a thing for neighbor Shirley and who entered every room with his signature “Helloooo.”

He and McKean developed the characters in 1965 when they were freshmen at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, then called Carnegie Tech, where they studied theater. They hatched Lenny and Squiggy over late-night improvisation sessions in Lander’s dorm and remained close friends their entire lives.

“He was my oldest friend,” McKean said.

“We knew this was coming for a while … but nothing upstairs deteriorated. He was as funny as he always was ‘til the end. He was the funniest man I ever knew.”

Lander also appeared in dozens of other TV shows, including “Happy Days,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Barney Miller,” “Rhoda,” “The Love Boat,” and “Twin Peaks.”

He was also prolific as a voice actor, giving life to the character of Smart Ass in the 1988 movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” as well as Ch’p in 2009’s “Green Lantern: Fist Flight,” among others.

Lander’s wife, Kathy Fields Lander, described him as “a dichotomy” who was “unlike any actor I’ve ever met before. He had this sharp wit that kept everyone laughing, but he was very gentle and kind and very private in his personal life.”

He was born as David Leonard Landau in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 22, 1947, and raised in the Bronx. While a student at New York’s High School for the Performing Arts, he unofficially changed his name when another student “stole his and registered it with the Screen Actors Guild,” Fields Lander said. “They were already going on auditions. He liked David’s name.” (Lander legally changed his name in 1978.)

After a year at Carnegie Tech, Lander spent a year at New York University and then, eager to launch his acting career, moved to LA in 1967. McKean joined him in 1970. “He said come on out, the weather’s nice and I got a job on the radio for you,” McKean said.

The job was with the comedy group The Credibility Gap — Harry Shearer and Richard Beebe were also members, performing comedic takes on the news. The group also played clubs, opening for bands, and put out albums. Penny Marshall and Rob Reiner were fans, and after Marshall landed a role on “Laverne & Shirley” in 1975, she and Reiner invited them to a party and introduced them to the show’s producers.

“At the party, Rob said, ‘ Do those guys!’” McKean recalled, “and we launched into a routine about going to butler school.” Immediately, show creator Garry Marshall hired the duo as apprentice writers — they wrote themselves into the first episode.

Lander and McKean stayed on the show for all eight seasons. They also made movies together, including Steven Spielberg’s 1979 comedy “1941,” and appeared in Robert Zemeckis’ 1980 film “Used Cars,” starring Kurt Russell. They also voiced penguins in the animated TV series “Oswald.”

In 1984, Lander was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. For 15 years he hid the disease from the public, fearful it would prevent him from getting work. Then one day Marshall called, his wife recalled, relaying the message that an entertainment executive wanted to honor Lander at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society fundraiser Dinner of Champions.

“It changed our lives,” Fields Lander said. “He went on to do speaking engagements around the country, talking about his life and how he copes. He worked with (the MS Society) for about a decade. He had a chance, for the first time in his life, to help people rather than his disease being hidden. It was very rewarding for him.”

Lander went even more broadly public in the 2000 book “Falling Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn’t Tell Nobody.”

He also served as a goodwill ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

“I guess my biggest use now is in helping anyone with this disease by putting a face on it,” he said in 2000. “And it’s a face that is still walking.”

Lander