S. John Launer: character actor appeared in 1950s horror/sci-fi films
att...@aol.com
brother of Phillip (Fran) Launer and Rose Bezozo. Dad was an actor in
stage, TV and film, appearing often as the Judge in "Perry Mason", and
also in "Jailhouse Rock," "Marnie", "I Was a Teenage Werewolf",
"Creature with the Atom Brain" and numerous TV shows in the 50's, 60's,
70's and 80's. Services Wednesday, 1:00 p.m., at Mount Sinai Memorial
Parks & Mortuaries - Hollywood Hills (800) 600-0076.
Jed
wrote:
Much to my amazement, here is a photo from Perry Mason days:
tr...@iwvisp.com
Jed wrote:
>
> Much to my amazement, here is a photo from Perry Mason days:
>
> http://www.vividinfinity.com/perry_mason/102.html
I just saw him in an episode a few days ago. They used dozens of
recognizable character actors as judges, but there were three or four
actors that were most frequently used, including Mr. Launer. My
favorite was Kenneth MacDonald because I enjoyed him in so many Three
Stooges shorts.
I've been catching up on the Perry Mason episodes on L A Channel 56 at
7 PM each weeknight, hadn't seen them since I was a kid so they're all
new to me!. They had a wonderful stable of character actors.
Unfortunately starting tomorrow CH 56 is changing their programming and
P M only airs at noon. On the upside, The Untouchables starts
tomorrow.
BTW, Launer's son Dale is a noted film writer/director/producer.
Ray Arthur.
deb...@comcast.net
>
> BTW, Launer's son Dale is a noted film writer/director/producer.
>
Brigid Nelson
brigid
David Carson
>LAUNER, S. John Beloved father of Lori Launer and Dale Launer. Dear
What is the source of this obit? On what date was it published?
David Carson
--
Why do you seek the living among the dead? -- Luke 24:5
Who's Alive and Who's Dead
http://www.whosaliveandwhosdead.com
Hyfler/Rosner
"David Carson" <da...@neosoft.com> wrote in message
>
>>LAUNER, S. John Beloved father of Lori Launer and Dale
>>Launer. Dear
>>brother of Phillip (Fran) Launer and Rose Bezozo. Dad was
>>an actor in
>>stage, TV and film, appearing often as the Judge in "Perry
>>Mason", and
>>also in "Jailhouse Rock," "Marnie", "I Was a Teenage
>>Werewolf",
>>"Creature with the Atom Brain" and numerous TV shows in
>>the 50's, 60's,
>>70's and 80's. Services Wednesday, 1:00 p.m., at Mount
>>Sinai Memorial
>>Parks & Mortuaries - Hollywood Hills (800) 600-0076.
>
> What is the source of this obit? On what date was it
> published?
>
> David Carson
It's in the LA Times paid obits, 9/10/2006.
Stephen Bowie
usually played older than he was, so I guess people assumed he'd died
long ago. It doesn't sound like Tom Weaver or any of the "Perry Mason"
fans recorded an interview with him.
I spoke to Launer in the late nineties by phone, and he seemed pretty
stunned that anyone knew who he was. He was quite proud of his son and
seemed to have gotten used to the idea that Dale was the "famous one"
in the family. I didn't get much out of him (and don't even remember
what I was asking about now), but he was a nice man. Same thing with
Norman Leavitt, Tyler McVey, David Fresco. I've never really figured
out how to interview bit players productively.
wazzzy
David Carson wrote:
What is the source of this obit? On what date was it published?
Variety Obit:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117949959?categoryId=25&cs=1
Hyfler/Rosner
"Stephen Bowie" <stephe...@hotmail.com> wrote in
>
> I spoke to Launer in the late nineties by phone, and he
> seemed pretty
> stunned that anyone knew who he was. He was quite proud
> of his son and
> seemed to have gotten used to the idea that Dale was the
> "famous one"
> in the family.
Turns out that he was the uncle of a friend of mine. She
said I could share this stuff:
"My sister in LA did a eulogy for his memorial service last
week. She said there were zero contemporaries there, just
his kids' friends. The only relatives [besides the kids]
were her and one nephew who lives in LA. Live long
enough and nobody's left. Sad.
The story I heard about how my uncle got started was that he
was friends with Michael Landon before Michael Landon was
Michael Landon and asked Landon to accompany him to an
audtion and read with him...and of course Michael Landon got
hired instead of my uncle. I'm sure this is far from the
truth, but it's the story I grew up hearing. At any rate, I
know he was friends with Landon.
The really interesting thing is that he supported his acting
career with an invention called the Kelly Klozer -- a device
that automatically closes a sliding screen door. He invented
it when he got tired of letting the family dog, Kelly, in
and out all the time. It still exists, still is sold, and I
think it made him a lot of money. My mother used to talk
about how much money he had and how he owned shopping malls
in California, but Dale told my sister that he made most of
his money with the Kelly Klozer, not in real estate."
Brad Ferguson
<rel...@rcn.com> wrote:
> The really interesting thing is that he supported his acting
> career with an invention called the Kelly Klozer -- a device
> that automatically closes a sliding screen door. He invented
> it when he got tired of letting the family dog, Kelly, in
> and out all the time. It still exists, still is sold, and I
> think it made him a lot of money. My mother used to talk
> about how much money he had and how he owned shopping malls
> in California, but Dale told my sister that he made most of
> his money with the Kelly Klozer, not in real estate."
I'll bet he did, because they're still selling it:
http://www.technologylk.com/product_view.aspx?&source_ID=shopping&produc
t_ID=4865
I'm not sure exactly how this device kept S. John from having to cater
to Kelly. It looks to be something that will close the door for you
when you're not holding it open anymore, which is fine, but I think you
still have to be there to open the door in the first place.
Cool that he named it after the dog. Made me like him.