David Lander

David Lander
David Lander
	Cast photo of Laverne and Shirley (1976). Standing, L–R: Carole Ita White, Phil Foster, Eddie Mekka, Betty Garrett. Middle row, standing: Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams. Seated: Michael McKean, David Lander
Born	David Leonard Landau; June 22, 1947; Brooklyn, New York, United States
Occupation	Actor, voice actor, comedian, composer, musician, baseball scout, activist
Years active	1967–present
Home town	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Spouse(s)	Kathy Fields (m. 1979)
Children	Natalie (b. 1983)

David Lander (born June 22, 1947) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, composer, musician, activist, and baseball scout. He has also worked as the Goodwill Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He is best known for his portrayal of Squiggy on the sitcom Laverne & Shirley. He is the father of Natalie Lander.

Biography

Lander was born David Leonard Landau in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest son of two Jewish schoolteacher parents.[1]

Lander decided to become an actor when he was 10. He studied to become an actor at the High School for the Performing Arts and continued at Carnegie Tech and New York University.[2]

He is best known for his role of Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman on the situation comedy Laverne & Shirley from 1976 to 1982 along with sitcom sidekick Lenny, played by Michael McKean.

Lander's partnership with McKean began during their acting classes at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where they developed the characters of Lenny and Squiggy. After Pittsburgh they teamed up in the Los Angeles-based comedy ensemble The Credibility Gap. The duo released an album as Lenny and the Squigtones in 1979 featuring Christopher Guest on guitar, credited as Nigel Tufnel, a name Guest would later reuse in the spoof rock band Spinal Tap. Lander and McKean also appeared together in the 1979 Steven Spielberg comedy 1941, and the 1980 Kurt Russell film Used Cars. Lander and McKean lent their vocal talents to the animated TV series Oswald, which ran from 2001 to 2003. Lander and McKean voiced the characters of the penguin cousins Henry and Louie, respectively.

Lander has also appeared in numerous other TV shows and movies including The Bob Newhart Show, Barney Miller, Happy Days, Viva Valdez, Married... with Children, Twin Peaks, On the Air, The Weird Al Show, Mad About You, Pacific Blue, and The Drew Carey Show. His film roles were more sparse but still memorable; these included the part of a minor league baseball radio announcer in the film, A League of Their Own and a bit part of the minister officiating the marriage ceremony in Say It Isn't So. He also played "Tanning Intruder" in Christmas with the Kranks. Lander created the starring role of the demented fast food franchise clown Bruce Burger in the cult film Funland directed by Michael A. Simpson.

Lander also has experience as a voice actor, with a resume dating back to 1969 where he "dramatically reproduced" Elvis Presley quotations for the Pop Chronicles music documentary[3] and 1970 when he was the voice of Jerry Lewis in the Filmation series Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down. Later voice roles included The Big Bang, A Bug's Life, The Garfield Show, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, Oswald, Titan A.E., Tom and Jerry: The Movie and the animated TV series Galaxy High as the six-armed Milo de Venus. He also reprised his role as Squiggy in the animated sitcom, The Simpsons. Lander also provided the voice of Smart Ass, the chief weasel of Judge Doom's Toon Patrol in the 1988 Disney film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Lander reprised his role for Smart Ass on the related ride, but his character was renamed Wiseguy. He was credited as Stephen Lander in Boo, Zino and the Snurks. His latest voice role is that of Ch'p in the DC Comics animated movie, Green Lantern: First Flight.

Lander has multiple sclerosis. Officially diagnosed on May 15, 1984, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, he went public in 1999 and regularly speaks at related conventions. In 2002, his autobiography was published, Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn't Tell Nobody (ISBN 1-58542-052-2), written with Lee Montgomery.

In addition to acting, Lander, a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, had a small stake in the Portland Beavers. He has worked as a baseball talent scout since 1997, first for the Anaheim Angels, and later for the Seattle Mariners.[4]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Cracking Up	Various Characters	Credited as The Credibility Gap
1979	1941	Joe
1980	Wholly Moses!	The Beggar
1980	Used Cars	Freddie Paris
1982	Pandemonium	Pepe
1985	The Man with One Red Shoe	Stemple
1987	The Big Bang	Fred	Voice, English version
	Steele Justice	Army Guard
	Funland	Bruce Burger
1988	Who Framed Roger Rabbit	Smart Ass	Voice
1990	Masters of Menace	Squirt
1991	Steel and Lace	Schumann
1992	A League of Their Own	Radio Sportscaster	Uncredited
1992	Tom and Jerry: The Movie	Frankie da Flea	Voice
1993	Betrayal of the Dove	Norman
1998	A Bug's Life	Thumper	Voice, Outtakes
	Ava's Magical Adventure	The Mayor
	The Modern Adventures of Tom Sawyer	Mayor Burgabom
1999	Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure	Bernie	Direct-to-video
2000	Titan A.E.	The Mayor	Voice
	Scary Movie	Principal "Squiggy" Squiggman
	The Tangerine Bear	Theodore, Store Clerk	Voice, Direct-to-video
2001	Say It Isn't So	Reverend Stillwater
	Dr. Dolittle 2	Bird	Voice
	Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius	Yokian Guard, Gus	Voice
2002	Jane White Is Sick & Twisted	Gerry King
2004	Christmas with the Kranks	Tanning Intruder
2006	Zoom	Wendy's Employee
2006	Tomoko's Kitchen	Gene	Short film
2009	Green Lantern: First Flight	Ch'p	Voice, Direct-to-video

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Department S	Lorio	Episode: "Who Plays the Dummy?"
1970–72	Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down	Jerry Lewis (voice)	18 episodes
1972	Love, American Style	Additional voices	Episode: "Love and the Old-Fashioned Father"
1972	The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie	Jud	Episode: "Gidget Makes the Wrong Connection"
1973	Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter	Magnus (voice)	40 episodes, English version
1974	The Bob Newhart Show	Milt the Delivery Boy	Episode: "Ship of Shrinks"
1975	Rhoda	Mel Towers	Episode: "Call Me Grandma"
1975	Barney Miller	David Gordon	Episode: "Hot Dogs"
1976	Viva Valdez	Harry	Episode: "Weekend"
1976–83	Laverne & Shirley	Andrew 'Squiggy' Squiggman	156 episodes
1979	Happy Days	Andrew 'Squiggy' Squiggman	Episode: "Fonzie's Funeral: Part 2"
1984	The Love Boat	Arnold Herlick	2 episodes
1985	Highway to Heaven	Ed	Episode: "The Smile in the Third Row"
1985	George Burns Comedy Week		Episode: "The Honeybunnies"
1986	Tall Tales & Legends	Mr. Sylvester	Episode: "My Darlin' Clementine"
1986	Galaxy High	Milo de Venus (voice)	13 episodes
1987	Matlock	Eli Walsh	Episode: "The Convict"
1988	Simon & Simon	Alvie 'The Weasel' Hortsnagel	Episode: "Bad Betty"
1989	Father Dowling Mysteries	Eric Becker	Episode: "What Do You Call a Call Girl Mystery"
	Monsters	James Self	Episode: "Their Divided Self"
	Married... with Children	Eli	Episode: "Married... with Prom Queen: The Sequel"
	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Tactician	Episode: "Peak Performance"
	Knight & Daye		Episode: "Stalk Radio"
	Freddy's Nightmares	Lenny Nordhoff	Episode: "Lucky Stiff"
1990	Head of the Class	Mr. Freelik	Episode: "Alan Goes Crimson"
	TaleSpin	Weazel (voice)	Episode: "Vowel Play"
	A Pup Named Scooby-Doo	Additional voices	3 episodes
	Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone	Additional voices	13 episodes
1990–91	Twin Peaks	Tim Pinkle	3 episodes
1991	ProStars	Additional voices
1991	"A Garfield Christmas"	Doc Boy	Voice
1991–93	Tom & Jerry Kids	Bernie the Swallow (voice)	3 episodes
1992	On the Air	Valdja Gochktch	7 episodes
	Camp Candy	Additional voices	Episode: "When It Rains... It Snows"
	Batman: The Animated Series	Nitro (voice)	Episode: "Appointment in Crime Alley"
	The Little Mermaid	Da Shrimp (voice)	3 episodes
1993	Matrix	Freddy Flanagan	Episode: "False Witness"
1993	Family Album	Mr. DeVito	Episode: "Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall All You Gotta Do Is Call..."
1994	Getting By	Sid Smollen	Episode: "Sell It Like It Is"
1994–95	Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills	Lechner (voice)	26 episodes
1994–96	Saturday Night Live	Squiggy	2 episodes
1995	Family Matters	Oliver	2 episodes
	Dream On	The Other Norman Mailer	Episode: "Significant Author"
	The Nanny	The Landlord	Episode: "Val's Apartment"
1996	Homeboys in Outer Space	Inspector 17	Episode: "House Party or, Play That Funky White Music Droid"
	The Tick	Filth #4 (voice)	Episode: "The Tick vs. Filth"
	Superman: The Animated Series	Sqweek (voice)	2 episodes
	Hey Arnold!	Sewer King (voice)	Episode: "The Sewer King"
1996–97	Pacific Blue	Elvis Kryzcewski	14 episodes
1996–98	Jungle Cubs	Arthur (voice)	20 episodes
1997	L.A. Heat	Cecil Rusk	Episode: "In Transit"
	Nash Bridges	Norman Guilfoyle	Episode: "Gun Play"
	Johnny Bravo	Christopher, Beaver (voice)	2 episodes
	Space Ghost Coast to Coast	Himself	Episode: "Boobookitty"
	The Weird Al Show	Miner	Episode: "Mining Accident"
1997–98	The Bold and the Beautiful	Dr. Martin 'Marty' Guthrie	12 episodes
1997–98	101 Dalmatians: The Series	Horace Badun (voice)	28 episodes
1998	Diagnosis: Murder	Willie Andrews	Episode: "Food Fight"
1999	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch	Postmaster	Episode: "Sabrina, the Teenage Writer"
	Mad About You	Announcer #1	Episode: "Separate Beds"
	Arliss	Wrestling Promoter	Episode: "To Thine Own Self Be True"
	Recess	Leonard Weems (voice)	2 episodes
2000	100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd	Caesar (voice)	2 episodes
2001	Black Scorpion	Eugene Gardner/Greenthumb	Episode: "Roses Are Red, You're Dead"
2001–03	Oswald	Henry (voice)	22 episodes
2002	The Simpsons	Squiggy (voice)	Episode: "Helter Shelter"
2004	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy	Brain (voice)	Episode: "The Nerve"
2005	Hopeless Pictures	Les (voice)
2007	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy	Curtis (voice)	Episode: "Wrath of the Spider Queen"
2009	Raising the Bar	Jury Foreman	Episode: "I'll Be Down to Get You in a Taxi, Honey"
2009–11	The Garfield Show	Doc Boy (voice)	4 episodes
2015	Break a Hip	Charlie	6 episodes
2016	SpongeBob SquarePants	Donnie the Shark	Episode: "Sharks vs. Pods"
2017	Goldie and Bear	Rumpelstiltskin	Episode: "Gnome Family Reunion/Adorable Norm"

Video games

Year	Title	Role
1997	Lego Island	The Brickster, Shark, Gideon Worse
1997	Zork: Grand Inquisitor	Voice of the Inquisition, Bickering Torch

gollark: Also also, poor performance.

gollark: Also forced updates, giant EULA, broken search, and general lack of configurability.

gollark: <@!111608748027445248> Don't forget the telemetry!

gollark: Well, it's *quite* bad.

gollark: When he says "YOU WILL REGRET THIS", does that mean he's going to try and sabotage roads to get more money or something?

References

"David L. Lander Biography (1947-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
"David "Squiggy" Lander". National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
"Show 7 - The All American Boy: Enter Elvis and the rock-a-billies. [Part 1] : UNT Digital Library". Digital.library.unt.edu. 1969-03-23. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
Carpenter, Les (May 16, 2004). "Squiggy is in the house: 'Laverne and Shirley' star now M's scout". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 9, 2018.

External links

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[1] "David L. Lander Biography (1947-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 2010-08-30.

[NMSS-2] "David "Squiggy" Lander". National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Retrieved 4 March 2019.

[3] "Show 7 - The All American Boy: Enter Elvis and the rock-a-billies. [Part 1] : UNT Digital Library". Digital.library.unt.edu. 1969-03-23. Retrieved 2010-08-30.

[4] Carpenter, Les (May 16, 2004). "Squiggy is in the house: 'Laverne and Shirley' star now M's scout". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 9, 2018.