Al Lewis

I grew up with the Munsters as a kid back in Miami where I lived at the time. As I think that he stole the show and the scenes with all of the cast. Think that he was the breakout star and again, like one person on this board says. He will be missed. Indeed he will be missed but thank goodness to technology and also thanks that the shows were being saved. The Munsters will live on and Grandpa will indeed be part of that. Grandpa Lewis as we would love to rememember him and much, much, more! Gave us so many laughs and just really seemed to be a well-liked person in real life.

Forever Grandpa. Al (Grandpa) Lewis

1910-2006



Al Lewis died at the age of 95. Even though it is natural to mourn his loss, let us not forget that this man had a full life. He was a circus performer, college basketball scout, restaurateur (Grampa's, in Greenwich Village), political candidate, author of two children's books, received a Ph.D. in child psychology from Columbia University and of course an actor.



Mr. Lewis will always be best remembered as Herman Munsters’ (Fred Gwynne) broken down, freeloading, old, father in-law Sam Dracula more affectionately known as Grandpa. Over the summer I wrote an article (The Beauty of The Munsters & The Addams Family) where I did a comparison contrast of the two shows. Of Al Lewis I said, "Al Lewis' Grandpa was and will always the most unique interpretation of the Dracula character since Bram Stoker first created him. Again I don't know where Al Lewis begins and Grandpa AKA The Count AKA Sam Dracula (I guess the guys at Ellis Island could not spell Vladimir) ends. Like Dracula he has found immortality. On April 30th he turned 95 years old."



Good Night Grandpa, I thought you would be around forever, and thanks to reruns you will.



To quote Al Lewis in an interview for The Shadow titled The Many Faces of Grandpa Munster, "The stage is yours. But find something that you absolutely love doing. And then get to love the way you do it. That's the uniqueness of all of us. That's it. Albert Einstein, one of my favorites, said: "Imagination is more important than knowledge." And if that cat say it, it's good enough for me".



Stay Tuned



Tony Figueroa

One of my favorite classic shows was the Munsters. Fred Gwynne was the star but the show wouldn't have been the same without Lewis. I loved hearing his one liners and who could forget all the failed experiments. He played Grandpa exactly as it should have been. From the way he scolded Herman to his cracking laugh he made Grandpa a memorable character. Even though he became typecast in this role, he not only minded it but embraced it. Opening up a restaurant called "Grandpa's" and filing a request to have his name appear as Grandpa Al Lewis on a ballot was evidence he wanted to be remembered for his work on that show. He was a great actor and will surely be missed.