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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
December 1, 1923
Died
April 17, 1987
Place of Birth
Buffalo, New York, USA
Also Known As
- Richard Schulefand
Dick Shawn
0.7 Popularity
Biography
Dick Shawn (December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor. Way ahead of his time most say, it was extremely difficult indeed to know how to properly tap into this man's eclectic talents. Shawn began inching toward the forefront during the be-bop 50s and early 60s with his odd penchant for playing cool cats. During his mild bid for film stardom, he was top-billed as a hip, laid back genie in the thoroughly dismal satire The Wizard of Baghdad (1960), but seemed to have better luck when taken in smaller doses. He fared quite well opposite another "way-out-there" comedian, Ernie Kovacs, in Wake Me When It's Over (1960) as a hustling soldier out to make a buck in the Far East. Also on the plus side, he replaced Zero Mostel in the bawdy musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" on Broadway and stole a small scene in the all-star epic comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). By far, the one role that completely overshadows all of his other hard work is his mock portrayal of a singing Adolf Hitler in the show-within-a-movie The Producers (1968). In the film, which starred Mostel and Gene Wilder as two con artists deliberately producing a stage "bomb" called "Springtime for Hitler," Shawn sang the hammy, absurdly narcissistic song "Love Power." The movie finally captured Shawn in his element, but this stroke of genius of matching actor to role would never happen again for him. For the most part his roles came off slick and smarmy, and were stuck in mediocre material. Shawn won a huge fan base, however, touring in one-man stage shows which contained a weird mix of songs, sketches, satire, philosophy and even pantomime. A bright, innovative wit, one of his best touring shows was called "The Second Greatest Entertainer in the World." During the show's intermission, Shawn would lie visibly on the stage floor absolutely still during the entire time. By freakish coincidence, Shawn was performing at the University of California at San Diego in 1987 when he suddenly fell forward on the stage during one of his spiels about the Holocaust. The audience, of course, laughed, thinking it was just a part of his odd shtick. In actuality, the 63-year-old married actor with four children had suffered a fatal heart attack. A not-surprising end for this thoroughly offbeat and intriguing personality.
Known For
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Leave 'em Laughing
2020
6.4
Self (archive footage)
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
2018
4.4
Snow Miser (archive sound) (uncredited)
Batman & Robin
1997
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Something a Little Less Serious: A Tribute to 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'
1991
3.4
Charlie Slater
Rented Lips
1988
5.4
Stan Starkey
Maid to Order
1987
7.7
Commander Bog
Captain EO
1986
6.7
Self
The Making of Captain EO
1986
10.0
The Psychiatrist
The Perils of P.K
1986
6.0
Donald
The Check is in the Mail...
1986
Credits
Leave 'em Laughing
as Self (archive footage)
2020
0.0
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
as Self (archive footage)
2018
6.4
Batman & Robin
as Snow Miser (archive sound) (uncredited)
1997
4.4
Something a Little Less Serious: A Tribute to 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'
as Self (archive footage)
1991
0.0
Rented Lips
as Charlie Slater
1988
3.4
Maid to Order
as Stan Starkey
1987
5.4
Captain EO
as Commander Bog
1986
7.7
The Making of Captain EO
as Self
1986
6.7
The Perils of P.K
as The Psychiatrist
1986
10.0
The Check is in the Mail...
as Donald
1986
6.0
The Tommy Chong Roast
1986
5.5
The Emperor's New Clothes
as Emperor
1985
3.3
Amazing Stories
as Joe Willoughby
1985
7.4
The Twilight Zone
as (segment "Cold Reading")
1985
7.8
Hail to the Chief
as Ivan Zolotov
1985
5.0
Water
as Deke Halliday
1985
5.9
Tales from the Darkside
as Bo Gumbs
1984
7.2
Angel
as Mae
1984
6.0
Best Chest in the West
as Self - Host
1984
4.0
The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud
as The Ultimate Patient
1984
3.9
Young Warriors
as Professor Hoover
1983
3.5
St. Elsewhere
as Edgar Eisenberg
1982
5.6
Madame's Place
as Self
1982
7.3
Good-bye Cruel World
as Rodney Pointsetter / Ainsley Pointsetter
1982
2.4
Faerie Tale Theatre
as Guest Interviewee
1982
8.1
Faerie Tale Theatre
as Emperor
1982
8.1
Magnum, P.I.
as Buzz Benoit
1980
7.3
Playboy's 25th Anniversary Celebration
as Self
1979
1.0
Love at First Bite
as Lieutenant Ferguson NYPD
1979
6.0
Fast Friends
as Deke Edwards
1979
0.0
The Love Boat
as David Jackson
1977
6.3
The Love Boat
as Harvey Blanchard
1977
6.3
🎬
Looking Up
as Manny Lander
1977
0.0
Laverne & Shirley
1976
7.2
The Year Without a Santa Claus
as Snow Miser (voice)
1974
7.2
Evil Roy Slade
as Marshal Bing Bell
1972
6.2
Dames at Sea
as Lucky
1971
6.0
Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man
as Himself
1970
0.0
The Happy Ending
as Harry Bricker
1969
6.0
Medical Center
1969
6.1
The Dick Cavett Show
as Self - Guest
1968
6.8
The Producers
as Lorenzo St. DuBois (L.S.D.)
1968
7.1
Penelope
as Dr. Gregory Mannix
1966
5.4
Way... Way Out
as Igor Valkleinokov
1966
5.7
ABC Stage 67
as Paul Benderhof
1966
6.2
That Girl
1966
6.1
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?
as Captain Lionel Cash
1966
5.9
A Very Special Favor
as Arnold Plum
1965
5.7
The Judy Garland Show
as Self
1963
8.0
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
as Sylvester Marcus
1963
7.0
🎬
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
5.7
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
1962
7.5
The Merv Griffin Show
as Self
1962
6.2
The Lucy Show
as Ace Winthrop
1962
7.0
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self - Co-Host
1961
5.4
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self
1961
5.4
The Wizard of Baghdad
as Genii-Ali Mahmud
1961
6.0
Wake Me When It's Over
as Gus Brubaker
1960
6.0
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
as Charlie Wilson
1959
6.3
The All-Star Christmas Show
as Self
1958
6.0
The Opposite Sex
as Singer
1956
5.2
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
as Self
1956
6.0
General Electric Theater
as Felix Franklin
1953
6.4
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
1948
6.8