New York Icon: “Grampa” Al Lewis

One of New York City favorite unique characters Grampa Al Lewis was born Alexander Meister on April 30, 1923 in upstate New York. This Contrary to what is listed in some sources, that the actor was not born 1910. It is said that he changed his birth date to April 30, 1910 when he was cast in the role of Grandpa on The Munsters so that he would be older than co star Yvonne DeCarlo, who played his daughter Lily. Lewis was know as a notorious story teller and would often confuse fact with fiction ,but it was so much part of his persona no one was ever quite sure what was real from what was unreal.

His family moved to Brooklyn, where the 6″ 1′ teenager began a lifelong love affair with basketball. His show business career began with vaudeville and circus. He achieved success playing Officer Schnauzer opposite Fred Gwynne’s Officer Francis Muldoon in Car 54, Where Are You?

Lewis became a pop culture off beat icon playing the cigar-chomping vampire patriarch on The Munsters . That image Lewis never escaped association with and seemed to bask in the charmingly warped character. Decades later, strangers would greet him on the street with shouts of “Grandpa!” Unlike some television stars, never complaining about getting typecast he made appearances in character for decades. “Why would I mind?” he asked in a 1997 interview. “It pays my mortgage.”

Lewis appeared in a number of movies, including They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and Married to the Mob as well as the movie remake of Car 54 . He also appeared as a guest star on television shows including Taxi, Green Acres and Lost in Space. Lewis even offered his recollections of the punk band The Ramones on the DVD Ramones Raw, was featured in the Atari 7800 game Midnight Mutants and he was also a recurring guest on The Howard Stern Show.

Lewis also achieved some notoriety as a basketball talent scout. He operated a successful restaurant in New York City’s Greenwich Village, called none other than Grandpa’s, where he was a regular presence. Just two years short of his 90th birthday, a pony tailed Lewis ran as the Green Party candidate against incumbent Gov. George Pataki and managed to collect more than 52,000 votes.

Lewis died on Friday, February 3, 2006 in New York City.

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