Al Lewis younger than he claimed
"From What's New Wal-Mart" on wmconnect:
Grandpa Munster's Deathbed Secret
When Al Lewis, who will forever be known as Grandpa for his role on the '60s sitcom "The Munsters," died last week, one of the many tall tales he told on himself was finally set straight.
In a business that idolizes youth, Lewis did something very unusual. He lied about his age--but he told people he was far older than the date on his birth certificate. Virtually all of Lewis's obituaries reported that he was born in 1910 and died at the age of 95. Not true! Lewis, who also starred in "Car 54, Where Are You?" in the early 1960s was actually 82 years old when he died on Feb. 3. He was born April 30, 1923 in Brooklyn, N.Y. The man was brilliant. He earned a Ph.D. in child psychology from Columbia University when he was 31 and once said he read almost one book a day since he was 11.
Of course, he always looked old--even though he was only in his early 40s when he played the irascible Grandpa Munster. His son, Ted Lewis, told The Post that the inaccuracies of his father's birth date were like the game of telephone. "I'm not sure where the actual germination came from," the younger Lewis told Post reporter Michael Starr. "Rest assured that with respect to sage of his years, there was no exaggeration. He was what he said he was in respect to his background. Sometimes in Hollywood it made sense, to get a role, to make yourself a different age." He then added, "I don't know. I think grandfathers and old people in general are great storytellers--as they should be."