Howard Mann

Howard Mann, born Howard Mendelsohn on June 20, 1923, in New York City, was an American actor and comedian whose career in the entertainment industry spanned four decades. He died on September 18, 2008, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 85, following a battle with cancer. He was survived by his longtime companion, Bea Mitz.

Mann was educated at the City College of New York and trained in acting and comedy under Zero Mostel, Herbert Berghof, and William Hickey. His path into entertainment was not a direct one; he had previously worked as an advertising copywriter before being laid off, after which he turned to performing as a comedian. He built early experience working the Borscht Belt resort circuit in New York's Catskill Mountains, a proving ground for many Jewish entertainers of his generation.

His stage work included a Broadway appearance in 1968 in Golden Rainbow. In 1976, Mann toured the United States in a one-man show in which he portrayed George Washington, timed to coincide with the nation's Bicentennial celebration. He later took on the role of Oscar Madison in an off-Broadway production of The Odd Couple.

Over the course of his career, Mann accumulated dozens of television credits, among them Laverne and Shirley, Alice, Moonlighting, Murder She Wrote, Pushing Daisies, and The Starter Wife. He also made appearances on the Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. His film work included History of the World: Part I in 1981 and Mr. Saturday Night in 1992. In a 2006 guest column for the Los Angeles Times, Mann reflected on the challenges of his profession, writing that he had "probably been turned down more times than a blanket." Beginning in the 1980s, he created and performed an original rap routine for senior citizens living in the San Fernando Valley.