George Gaynes, the popular TV actor known for
his role played as foster father to Soleil Moon Frye’s Punky Brewster has died
at the age 98. Born in 1917, Gaynes was the son of a Dutch businessman father
and Russian artist mother.
He had his upbringing in Switzerland, England
and France and before World War II he studied opera in Italy. During the entire
war period, he served in the Royal Dutch Navy.
After the war ended, he moved to America, and
started performing at the New City Opera. Gaynes also performed at Broadway
where he worked for 1950’s Out of This World.
The year of 1953 turned out to be a wonderful
one for him as he got the chance to work in Wonderful Town from Leonard
Bernstein. It is during this period that he took up his last name as Gaynes and
went on to marry Allyn Ann McLerie, who was an actress herself.
George Gaynes spent the rest of his life with
Allyn with whom he had a son, Mathew, and a daughter, lya. His son was a world
famous kayaker who was due to appear for Olympics, but the 1980 boycott ruined
his plans.
George lost his son in 1989 to a car accident
in India. The major portion of career of Gaynes was spent on small screen doing
guest roles and TV movies. He was a familiar face for TV viewers, but
unfortunately, most of them were not able to recall his name.
The uninterrupted character of television
became more popular with two movies, the Police Academy series and the Toostie.
At the age of 64, George Gaynes got the chance
to play a leading role when he was cast as foster dad Henry Warnimont.
Just Married of 2003 with Ashton Kutcher was
his last movie. For many years he lived in Santa Barbara, California as a
retired person.
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