Research Guru / Moderator
Posted:
Nov 3, 2009, 5:01 PM
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Magician, comic actor Carl Ballantine dies at 92
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Comic magician and actor Carl Ballantine, best known for his role as PT boat sailor Lester Gruber on the 1962-66 TV series McHale's Navy, died in his sleep Tuesday morning, cartoon and comic strip historian Mark Evanier wrote on his "News From Me" site.
"Sources on the Internet will tell you he was born in 1922, but that's a lie. He was 92 years old," Evanier remarked.
Ballantine had a recurring role in the cartoon series Garfield and Friends as a con artist named Al J. Swindler.
"I wanted to have a Bilko-type villain who'd pop up from time to time, and I cast another veteran comic actor to do the voice in what would have been the first episode to feature the guy," recalled Evanier, a writer on the cartoon series. "As it turned out, the actor was -- to put it as nicely as I can -- too old.
"Right after he left the studio, I decided to create another con-man character and find the right performer to supply his voice. I was wondering who to get when I walked out into the waiting room at the recording studio... and there, waiting to record a McDonald's radio spot for someone else, was Carl 'The Amazing' Ballantine."
Evanier hired him immediately, then ran home and wrote the episode introducing his character: "It was a joy because I knew Carl could and would make any silly thing I wrote sound good. Even better, I got to hang out with him, have lunch, join his table up at the Magic Castle and just enjoy the ongoing show that was Carl."
In Spider-Man, he guested as Lenny Lankowski in the 1996 episode "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 13: Goblin Wars." He was also Huska in the 1995 Freakazoid! episode "Lawn Gnomes, Chapter IV: Fun in the Sun."
Among his hundreds of commercials was a California Raisins spot in which he voiced a Claymation character resembling himself, Evanier said.
Ballantine's surviving daughter, Sara, is an actress who voiced Mary Jane Watson in the 1995-98 Spider-Man series and provided additional voices in the 2001 show Totally Spies!.
Billing himself as "Ballantine the Great" or "The Amazing Ballantine," he had a magic act similar to that of the late British prestidigator Tommy Cooper -- in which something always went wrong. He appeared in character as the wisecracking "The Great Ballantine" on such 1950s and 1960s series as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show.
Born Meyer Kessler in Chicago, Kessler started his career by doing straight magic. Realizing that other performers could do better, he decided to put comedy in his act.
Spotting a bottle of Ballantine whisky in an advertisement, he changed his last name accordingly. He became the first magician to headline in Las Vegas.
He also portrayed Max Kellerman in the short-lived 1980 ABC sitcom One in a Million.
Beyond his TV work, he portrayed Gruber in the 1964 movie spin-off McHale's Navy.
Ballantine played slave merchant/procurer Marcus Lycus opposite the star, Phil Silvers, in the 1972 Los Angeles, Chicago and Broadway revival of the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
His last film appearance was in 2006's Aimee Semple McPherson, a biography about the controversial 1920s female evangelist.
Carl Ballantine was predeceased in 2000 by his wife, comedic actress Ceil Cabot.
 
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Nov 3, 2009, 5:46 PM)
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Directing Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Nov 4, 2009, 12:42 PM
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Re: Magician, comic actor Carl Ballantine dies at 92
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"One In A Million" was a short-lived sitcom on ABC in the 1970s.
Shirley Hemphill (Shirley the waitress on "What's Happening") played a taxi cab driver who was left a fortune when a millionaire business executive who was a regular passenger in her cab had died. The plain-talking cabbie finds herself the executive vice president of the millionaire's company often clashing with the stuffy chairman of the board Mr. Cushing (Keene Curtis). Carl Ballantine played the proprietor of the greasy spoon diner where the cabbie often visited even after her sudden wealth. The cabbie still remained her same old self, offering straight talking advice and impressing her friends in high and low places while sparring with Cushing on ways in running the mega-corporation.
Ballantine had a unique voice delivery that was memorable.
(This post was edited by artytoons on Nov 4, 2009, 12:43 PM)
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Research Guru / Moderator
Posted:
Nov 5, 2009, 1:46 AM
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Re: Magician, comic actor Carl Ballantine dies at 92
[In reply to]
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Ballantine's Claymation character for the California Raisins was the Raisins' talent agent.
The actor's date of birth was September 27, 1917. He was also a regular cast member on the 1969 sitcom The Queen and I.
His daughter Sara's name is short for Saratoga. She was named after the racetrack in New York. His other daughter Molly's middle name is Caliente, after the track in Tijuana.
"He wanted to have his ashes scattered over Santa Anita racetrack," said Saratoga. "He loved the ponies."
He is also survived by sister Esther Robinson.
Instead of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Used Pets, 517 West Buckthorn, Inglewood, CA 90301. No funeral will be held.
Surviving McHale's Navy regulars:
Ernest Borgnine (Lt. Cmdr. Quinton McHale), 92
Bob Hastings (Lt. Elroy Carpenter), 84
Gavin MacLeod (Joseph Haines), 79
Edson Stroll (Virgil Edwards), 78
Tim Conway (Ens. Charles Parker), 75
John Wright (Willy Moss), 67
Yoshio Yoda (Fuji Kobiaji, P.O.W.), age unavailable
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Nov 5, 2009, 1:47 AM)
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Re: Magician, comic actor Carl Ballantine dies at 92
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