Dick Shawn (December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor and comedian.
Shawn was born Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York. Shawn is best remembered for his roles as Sylvester Marcus, the bohemian beach-bum son of Ethel Merman's Mrs. Marcus in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and as Lorenzo St. DuBois/Adolf Hitler in the musical Springtime for Hitler, the play within the movie The Producers. He provided the Snow Mis...
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Dick Shawn (December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor and comedian.
Shawn was born Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York. Shawn is best remembered for his roles as Sylvester Marcus, the bohemian beach-bum son of Ethel Merman's Mrs. Marcus in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and as Lorenzo St. DuBois/Adolf Hitler in the musical Springtime for Hitler, the play within the movie The Producers. He provided the Snow Miser's voice in The Year Without a Santa Claus.
He had continued success with his stand-up comedy act that he successfully performed for over 35 years in nightclubs around the world. His award-winning one-man stage show, The Second Greatest Entertainer in the Whole Wide World, was sometimes performed with a unique opening: When the audience entered the theater, they saw a bare stage with a pile of bricks in stage center. When the play began, Shawn emerged from the pile of bricks. The startling effect of this required complete concentration and...
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