Al Lewis (actor)

Lewis was born Abraham Meister on April 30, 1923 in Manhattan; the son of Alexander Meister (1893–1929), house painter and immigrant from Minsk, Russia, and Ida Neidel (1900–1950), garment worker and immigrant from the Russian Empire. Two brothers were Phillip (1926–1982) and Henry (1930–2017).[2][3][4][5] He had originally given his birth year as 1910. His reputed early radio work in the mid-1930s would indicate the earlier birth date, as did an off-the-cuff remark on the TVLegends interview, 2002, where he says "not a bad memory for 92". Ted Lewis, his son, firmly said his father was born in 1923[6][7] to a Jewish family in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York.[8][9] Other sources placed his birth in Wolcott, New York,[7] but no official record of his birth has been published to date (2006), and officials in Wolcott say they have no record of any Meister. The Times wrote: "Lewis was born Albert Meister, probably in 1923, although he insisted that he was born in 1910. This, and Lewis's many other questionable stories, means that much of the actor's life is a broth of conjecture that his fans will no doubt squabble over for years to come."[7] On his application for a Social Security number, completed sometime between 1936 and 1950, Lewis gave his date of birth as April 30, 1923.[3] The 1940 census lists an Albert Meister "age 16" living on Douglass Street in Brooklyn, New York.[10]

In a 1998 interview with Walt Shepperd, Lewis said:

My mother was a worker, worked in the garment trades. My mother was an indomitable spirit. My grandfather had no sons. He had six daughters. They lived in Poland or Russia, every five years it would change. My mother being the oldest daughter, they saved their money, and when she was about sixteen they sent her to the United States, not knowing a word of English. She went to work in the garment center, worked her back and rear-end off and brought over to the United States her five sisters and two parents. I remember going on picket lines with my mother. My mother wouldn't back down to anyone.[11][12]

As a left-wing activist, he hosted a politically oriented radio program on WBAI (whose theme song was King Curtis' "Foot Pattin'") and ran as Green Party candidate for Governor of New York in 1998. In that race he sought to be listed on the ballot as Grandpa Al Lewis, arguing that he was most widely known by that name. His request was rejected by the Board of Elections, a decision upheld in court against his challenge.[16]

Despite this setback, he achieved one of his campaign objectives. His total of 52,533 votes exceeded the threshold of votes set by New York law (50,000) and hence guaranteed the Green Party of New York an automatic ballot line for the next four years (see election results, New York governor). He said that, with no political machine and no money backing him, the likelihood of winning the governorship would be "like climbing Mount Everest barefooted".[17]

Lewis married Marge Domowitz in 1956, with whom he had three sons, Dave, Ted, and Paul. The marriage ended in divorce in 1977. In 1984 he married actress Karen Ingenthron, to whom he remained married for the rest of his life.[4]

In his final years, he resided on Roosevelt Island in New York City. In 2003, he was hospitalized for an angioplasty, and complications from the surgery led to an emergency bypass and the amputation of his right leg below the knee, as well as all of the toes on his left foot. He died on February 3, 2006, of natural causes in a hospital.[1] Following his body's cremation, his ashes were reportedly "placed in his favorite cigar box."[18]

• Al Lewis on IMDb
• "Television's Grandpa Munster dies", bbc.co.uk, February 5, 2006
• Shadow Interview, mediafilter.org, October 21, 1997
• Munster Mansion Memorial for Al Lewis, munstermansion.com; accessed September 13, 2015.
• Al Lewis at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television

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