Sandy Baron was born Sanford Beresofsky in Brooklyn, New York on May 5,
1936. Raised in Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood, the young Sandy
attended public schools and participated in accelerated classes. A
graduate of Brooklyn College, he spent his early years working summers
in the Catskill Mountain resorts that were the breeding grounds of many
Jewish comedians. Baron made his Broadway debut in "Tchin-Tchin" on Oct
25, 1962. His next play, Bertolt Brecht's "Arturo Ui" with
Christopher Plummer in the
title role, was a flop, lasting but eight performances in November
1963. His next appearance on the Great White Way, in the comedy
"Generation," was more successful, playing for over half a year in the
1965-1966 season.
In 1964, Sandy -- already a seasoned Catskill comic and nightclub
performer -- released a 13-track album on Roulette Records, "The Race!
Race!" The album jacket pronounced it a "rollicking comedy album about
hate, prejudice, bigotry and other such nonsense." He established a
national reputation that year on the television comedy series
That Was the Week That Was (1963),
the American version of the hit British TV show, both of which starred
David Frost. He followed it up with
a lead role in the TV series
Hey, Landlord (1966), playing a
stand-up comedian.
In the 1970s, he made regular appearances on the
The Mike Douglas Show (1961)
and the The Merv Griffin Show (1962). Baron played
Lenny Bruce in the show "Lenny" at
Hollywood's Aquarius Theater in 1972, and eventually replaced
Cliff Gorman in New York in what
would prove to be his last Broadway appearance.
Baron appeared as himself in Woody Allen's
Broadway Danny Rose (1984),
the director's homage to borscht-belt comedy. In the 1990s, he appeared
as Jack Klompus, the nemesis of
Jerry Seinfeld's father on the hit TV
series Seinfeld (1989). He replaced
Al Lewis as Grandpa Munster in the TV
movie
Munsters fröhliche Weihnachten (1996).
His last movie appearance was in Stephen Frears'
The Hi-Lo Country (1998).
Sandy Baron died of emphysema on January 21, 2001 in a nursing home in
Van Nuys, California. A memorial celebration was held on July 22, 2001
at Hollywood's Ivar Theater.
