George Gaynes

George Gaynes, born George Jongejans on May 16, 1917, in Helsinki, in what was then the Grand Duchy of Finland under the Russian Empire, was a Dutch-American singer, actor, and voice artist who died on February 15, 2016, at the age of 98. His father, Gerrit Jongejans, was a Dutch businessman, and his mother, Iya Grigorievna de Gay, later known as Lady Abdy, was a Russian artist. His uncle was the actor Gregory Gaye. Raised across France, England, and Switzerland, Gaynes completed his secondary education at the Collège Classique Cantonal near Lausanne in 1937 and subsequently studied at the Music School of Milan from 1938 to 1939. Years later, he trained at the Actors Studio in New York City from 1953 to 1958.

When Germany occupied France in 1940, Gaynes fled toward the Pyrenees but was arrested by Francoist Spanish police. Released in 1942, he made his way to the United Kingdom rather than returning to the Netherlands, and enlisted in the Royal Netherlands Navy. Commissioned as a seaman recruit on April 8, 1943, he was assigned to the auxiliary ship HNLMS Oranje Nassau at Holyhead, Wales. His fluency in Dutch, English, French, Italian, and Russian led to his detachment on May 1, 1943, to the Royal Navy as a translator serving aboard HMS Hilary, which took part in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, during July and August 1943. He was subsequently reassigned on September 1, 1943, to the destroyer HMS Wilton, which participated in the Battle of Anzio in January 1944. On January 1, 1944, he was promoted to sergeant, or petty officer first class. Following Anzio, HMS Wilton operated in the Adriatic Sea throughout the Adriatic Campaign. Gaynes received an honorable discharge from the Royal Netherlands Navy on July 14, 1946.

After returning briefly to France in 1946, Gaynes accepted an offer from an American theater director to appear in a Broadway musical and relocated to New York City that same year, becoming an American citizen in 1948. His Broadway career spanned from 1950 to 1973 and included productions such as Gigi, Of Love Remembered, Any Wednesday, The Lady of the Camellias, and Wonderful Town. He played Bob Baker in the original 1953 production of Wonderful Town, a musical adaptation of My Sister Eileen. Earlier, he had appeared as Jupiter in Cole Porter's Out of This World, credited under his birth name George Jongejans. His stage work encompassed both musical productions and dramatic plays, including Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and he toured the United States in 1964 as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.

Gaynes transitioned into film and television in the early 1960s. His screen credits include The Group (1966), Marooned (1969), Doctor's Wives (1971), The Way We Were (1973), Nickelodeon (1976), and Tootsie (1982), in which he played John Van Horn. From 1984 to 1994, he portrayed Commandant Eric Lassard in the Police Academy film series. In 1994, he appeared as Serybryalzov in Louis Malle's Vanya on 42nd Street. Later film appearances included The Crucible (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), and Just Married (2003). He also directed the final episode of the television series WKRP in Cincinnati in 1982.

On television, Gaynes originated the role of mobster Frank Smith on the soap opera General Hospital and also appeared on Search for Tomorrow, replacing Robert Mandan as Sam Reynolds. From 1984 to 1988, he played Henry Warnimont, the foster father of the title character, on the NBC series Punky Brewster, and additionally provided the voice for the same character in the animated version of the show. He portrayed high-powered theatrical producer Arthur Feldman on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, a role he joined in 1989, with his real-life wife, actress and dancer Allyn Ann McLerie, co-starring as his love interest. McLerie had previously guest-starred in a first-season episode of Punky Brewster. Gaynes also played Senator Strobe Smithers in Hearts Afire and appeared in one episode of Sliders as the elderly version of Quinn Mallory. He had married McLerie on December 20, 1953, and the marriage lasted until his death. They had two children, Matthew Gaynes and Iya Gaynes Falcone Brown. Matthew, who had been shortlisted for the U.S. Olympic kayak team in the year President Jimmy Carter boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics, died in a car crash in India in 1989 while traveling to Nepal to film a kayaking special for ESPN.

Gaynes died on February 15, 2016, at his daughter's home in North Bend, Washington.