Jonathan Winters: Five Gloriously Insane Roles For the Legendary Comedian

Jonathan Winters, widely regarded as one of the greatest comedians in modern history, passed away yesterday, aged 87. In addition to his legendary prowess as an improv comic, Winters was prolific as a voice actor in animated series and films, as well as some memorable live-action roles in films like It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (repetition was big in cinema around that time). Children of the '80s such as this writer may best remember him as playing himself in Scooby-Doo reruns (as one is wont to do when one has already been famous for twenty years). Still others will remember him primarily from his stand-up comedy and late night TV appearances. Here, though, is a list of the ten roles Winters played that we thought would resonate the most with our audience. Papa Smurf In the live-action film adaptations of The Smurfs, Winters was tapped to play Papa Smurf (ironic, since he was significantly older by then, than he was when he played Grandpa Smurf in the '80s). With the second film in the series still in post-production according to IMDb, we'll have at least one more substantial role for Winters post-mortem, and it will likely drive a lot of the press conversation around the movie, which comes out on July 31.

Roger Gustav and Mr. Freebus Starring in The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley is one of those things that could put you in the bizarro, cult-comedy hall of fame (if there was such a thing) all on its own. Doing so as an aging comedy legend? Brownie points. Mearth Who could forget that in the final season of Mork and Mindy, the pair gave birth to a preposterously old child who came out of an egg? What, everyone forgot that? Well, it happened, people, and again, the involvement with such a bizarre camp classic--even if the show was in its latter days by that point--is worth mentioning on this list. Humpty Dumpty Winters starred in an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland...no, not that one. And probably not the other one you're thinking of either. The one Winters was in was made in 1985, and starred huge TV names like Scott Baio, Red Buttons and Telly Savalas. It's one of those movies that's worth tracking down, for the frequency of the "Oh, I've seen him in _______" factor alone, notwithstanding the fact that it's the kind of insane fun that you get from old, low-budget TV movies with high aspirations. Jonathan Winters As we mentioned above, he was prolific at playing himself. From Scooby-Doo, The Muppets and bunches of other one-offs to The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters and Hollywood Squares, he was one of the first major celebrities on TV to play himself--or at least the dialed-to-eleven version of himself he wanted the world to see--so often and so consistently over a sustained period of time.