Al Lewis biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Entertainer and entrepreneur Al Lewis was born Albert Meister on April 30, 1923, in Brooklyn, New York, although he insisted he was born in Wolcott, New York, in 1910. Meister, a consummate entertainer, frequently wove conflicting stories about his childhood and adolescence; many details concerning his early life are suspect or unverifiable.

According to Lewis, his parents were Polish-German immigrants, and his mother worked in a sweatshop. Growing up in New York, Lewis insisted that he worked on the defense committee for Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian anarchists who were convicted on disputed murder charges and executed in Massachusetts in 1927. In later years, however, Lewis' son challenged the statement, saying his father would have actually been only 4 years old at the time of the trial.

Conflicting Stories

Lewis also asserted that he held a variety of jobs in his teens, which he said occurred during the 1920s. His stories range from the mundane to the outrageous: he insisted he worked as a salesman, waiter, teacher, store detective, radio actor, circus clown, trapeze artist, children's book writer, a union organizer in the South and the manager of a poolroom.

By the 1930s, Lewis allegedly worked on ships as a Merchant Marine, and on Russian convoys during World War II. He would later tell media outlets that he had to abandon torpedoed ships twice during this time. "You don't know what it's like to be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean," he told an independent newspaper in 1997. "There is no more lonely feeling. You see nothing, nothing, nothing." By the 1940s, Lewis said he had left the open seas to earn a Ph.D. from Columbia University in child psychology. The university has no official record of this claim, however.

Acting Debut

What is verifiable is the start of Lewis' film and television career. His first television roles came in the mid 1950s, with appearances on Decoy (1954) and The Phil Silvers Show (1955). His made his film debut in 1960 in the gangster film Pretty Boy Floyd, playing Machine Gun Manny. Other performances followed, including a co-starring role on the cop comedy Car 54, Where Are You?, and appearances on shows such as Naked City and Route 66.

'The Munsters'

Lewis is probably best known for his role in the 1964 sitcom The Munsters. Lewis played Grandpa, the elderly vampire in a family of monsters, for the show's two-year duration. While The Munsters was short-lived, the series had a long life in syndication and became a cult hit with fans. Lewis made a living out of playing Grandpa for decades afterward, making appearances as his character at various fan conventions.