Dick Shawn

Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn in 1964
Born	Richard Schulefand (1923-12-01)December 1, 1923 Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Died	April 17, 1987(1987-04-17) (aged 63) San Diego, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names	Richy Shawn
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Years active	1956–1987
Spouse(s)	Rita Bachner (m. 1946–87)
Children	Adam Schulefand Wendy Shawn Amy Schulefand Jennifer Schulefand

Dick Shawn (December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987), was an American actor and comedian. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. He was well known during the 1960s for small but iconic roles in madcap comedies, usually portraying caricatures of counter culture personalities, such as the deadbeat son in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and the hippie actor "L.S.D." in The Producers (1968).

Shawn was born Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York and raised in adjacent Lackawanna. The best remembered roles of his career are the hot-headed Sylvester Marcus, son of Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman), in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and easygoing Lorenzo St. DuBois/Adolf Hitler in the musical Springtime for Hitler, the play within Mel Brooks's movie The Producers (1968). He also 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 breath control because the slightest movement of the bricks could ruin the surprise appearance.