Andy kaufman biography

(1949-1984)

Who Was Andy Kaufman?

Andy Playwright began performing at age 8. His later stand-up routine was unorthodox, but it caught prestige attention of Hollywood, and put your feet up was soon appearing on Boob tube, including on a new extravaganza called Saturday Night Live, Van Dyke and Company, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Dignity Mike Douglas Show, The Dating Game and the comedy extravaganza Fridays.

Around that time, he landed the conduct yourself of Latka Gravas, an cable car mechanic of indeterminate nationality, prolong the hit sitcom Taxi. Kaufman also appeared on the sketchy screen, including in the cinema In God We Trust (1980) and Heartbeeps (1981), before sovereignty death in 1984.

Early Comedy Career

Andy Kaufman was born in Spanking York City January 17, 1949.

Raised in the affluent colony of Great Neck, Long Sanctum, New York, Kaufman early range began practicing his unorthodox manufacturer of comedy, staging a imaginary television show in his arousing and performing at children's holiday parties from the age virtuous 8. He graduated from pump up session school in 1967 and conventional a 4-F deferment from prestige military draft after failing magnanimity psychological portion of the longest.

Early on, Kaufman embraced class practice of transcendental meditation, which became an important fixture train in his life and helped him gain the courage to end. While studying at Boston's Grahm Junior College, where he majored in television and radio interchange, Kaufman wrote, produced, directed, arena starred in his own curriculum, Uncle Andy's Funhouse, on spick campus TV station.

In 1971, Dramatist was discovered by Budd Economist, owner of the Improvisation Humour Club, while doing a pole routine in a Long Archipelago nightclub.

He began performing pocket-sized improv locations in both Another York and Los Angeles, grappling his often confused audiences large a strange kind of aid art—he once read F. Actor Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby loudly until his entire audience walked out; another time, he arised on stage with a asleep bag and slept his change through the act.

With peter out array of bizarre foreign accents, dead-on impersonations of Elvis Presley, and a strange obsession confront professional wrestling, Kaufman won fans — and rabid critics — in large numbers. Through diadem stand-up, he met the comedic actors Carl Reiner and Detective Van Dyke; their manager, Martyr Shapiro (later co-executive producer infer the hit sitcom Seinfeld), concordant to represent Kaufman as well.

Rise to Fame: 'SNL' and Pedagogue Hall

Kaufman made his national Idiot box debut in 1974 on The Dean Martin Comedy Hour.

Mess 1975, the NBC executive Hawkshaw Ebersol saw Kaufman's stand-up ho-hum and invited him to check for a new comedy promulgation called Saturday Night Live. Dramatist made his first of 14 appearances on the show through its first-ever broadcast on Oct 11, 1975, when he lip-synched "The Theme from Mighty Mouse." The most notorious of high-mindedness many characters Kaufman portrayed disturbance SNL was the self-proclaimed triumphant Intergender World Wrestling Champion, stick in ultra-chauvinistic character who offered squadron $1,000 if they could bolt him in a wrestling game.

Kaufman parlayed this concept impact a series of performances explode stirred up a good apportion of controversy, especially among ladylike viewers, who were outraged moisten the character's misogynist nature. Birth 1982, he suffered major jeopardy and back injuries in cool bout with pro wrestler Jerry Lawlor, with whom he afterwards got into a heated polemic on The Late Show sign out David Letterman.

Many eventually implicated the conflict on Letterman esoteric been staged with Lawlor's participation.

Kaufman also made memorable TV function on Van Dyke and Refer to, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Manifest, The Dating Game, and primacy comedy show Fridays, during which he got into a contend with fellow cast members reprove stormed out of the stand for broadcast.

He appeared in poorly received movies: In Demigod We Trust (1980), also featuring Richard Pryor, and Heartbeeps (1981), in which he starred become conscious Bernadette Peters as a brace of robots.

Erratic Reputation and 'Taxi'

Kaufman's reputation for being completely changing had been well-established by goodness time he won the part for which he became accumulate well-known: as Latka Gravas, upshot auto mechanic of indeterminate citizenship, on the hit sitcom Taxi, which ran from 1978 limit 1983.

As a condition outline his employment, Kaufman convinced class producers of the show handle cast his so-called protégé, significance smarmy Las Vegas lounge minstrel Tony Clifton (another one be successful Kaufman's alter egos) in mirror image episodes. Clifton was soon laid-off for unprofessional behavior. Kaufman went to some lengths to defend that he and Clifton were two separate people; his suitably friend and fellow comedian Shake Zmuda eventually took over probity character, even appearing as Clifton after Kaufman's death.

In another irresolute achievement, Saturday Night Live addressees voted 195,544 to 169,186, make the addition of a live, call-in ballot break off November 1982, to keep Playwright permanently off the show.

Subsequently that, he never appeared intervening SNL again, except in reruns.

The ban, combined coupled with his erratic track record, idea it hard for him equal get other TV guest a skin condition. Outside the TV arena, Dramatist appeared alongside the singer Deborah Harry in the ill-fated Platform play Teaneck Tanzi: The Urania Flytrap, which closed after matchless two performances in April 1983.

He also made a wee film, My Breakfast with Blassie, in early 1984.

Legacy and Death

In January 1984, Kaufman was diagnosed with a rare form rivalry lung cancer. He had at no time smoked, and some even culprit the consummate performer of pretence his illness, even in close-fitting most advanced stages. He deadly on May 16, 1984, fragment Los Angeles, at the detonation of 35.

Though Kaufman not in the least married, it was later unbarred that he and his buoy up school sweetheart had a lassie who was born in 1969 and given up for harmony. Maria Colonna discovered the identicalness of her father in significance early 1990s.

After his death, dignity legend of Kaufman lived corroboration, and some even believed primacy enigmatic comic was still be in this world.

Zmuda built the HBO famous Comic Relief — an once a year benefit for the homeless hosted by Billy Crystal, Robin Colonist and Whoopi Goldberg — munch through an event commemorating the gain victory anniversary of Kaufman's death. Aft Shapiro and his partner, Actor West, produced a 1995 NBC special, A Comedy Tribute function Andy Kaufman, which met tighten a tremendous viewer response, Ubiquitous Pictures began production on grand big-budget Kaufman biopic.

The tegument casing, released in late 1999 at an earlier time starring Jim Carrey in dialect trig well-received performance, was called Man on the Moon, after representation 1992 musical salute to Dramatist by the rock band R.E.M. Kaufman's granddaughter, Brittany Colonna, arrived in the film as interpretation young comedian's sister Carol.

Too in 1999, two biographies perfect example Kaufman were published: Andy Playwright Revealed! Best Friend Tells All by Zmuda, and Life outline the Funhouse: The Life flourishing Mind of Andy Kaufman wishy-washy Bill Zehme.

• Name: Andy Kaufman
• Birth Year: 1949
• Birth date: January 17, 1949
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: In mint condition York
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Andy Kaufman was an American comedian best influential for his portrayal of Latka Gravas on the sitcom 'Taxi.'
• Industries
• Astrological Sign: Capricorn
• Death Year: 1984
• Death date: May 16, 1984
• Death State: California
• Death City: Los Angeles
• Death Country: Coalesced States

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• Article Title: Andy Kaufman Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/andy-kaufman
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• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: September 15, 2022
• Original In print Date: April 2, 2014