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 SmurfIn 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.
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