David Lander: 5 Things To Know About The Laverne & Shirley Actor Dead At 73

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5 years ago

David Lander: The ‘Laverne & Shirley’ actor David Lander who played the role of Squiggy on the classic Garry Marshall sitcom passed away at the age of 73 after suffering from multiple complications. He lost his decades-long battle with the illness on December 4.

Let’s know a bit more about the great funnyman David Lander.

The thought of Squiggy came to his mind when he was in college. Lander knew from the age of 10 that he wanted to pursue acting. He followed his passion throughout high school and college at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he met fellow actor Michael McKean and together they created their two iconic characters Lenny and Squiggy, which were portrayed by them respectively in the show from 1976 to 1983.

The very famous producer and director Gary Marshall, added these characters to the universe of his 1950s Milwaukee-set show Happy Days, giving the pair a by-product because the upstairs neighbors of the title characters played by Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams.

David’s relationship with Michael endured, and that they both appeared in Steven Spielberg‘s 1941 and in Kurt Russell‘s Used Cars. Image Source: Hollywood Reporter

David had as many as 120 films and television credits. Even though he was best known for his work on Laverne & Shirley, he had a lot of TV and film credits in movies like ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ and ‘101 Dalmatians: The Series’.

He also had a really successful career as an animation voice actor, appearing in movies and films like ‘A Bug’s Life’, ‘Tom and Jerry: The Movie’, and even ‘The Simpsons’. Although he was battling multiple sclerosis, he continued working up until 2017.

He kept his MS diagnosis a secret for quite a decade. David was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis one year after the sitcom led to 1983, however, he kept it a secret in fear he would lose work.

He bravely spoke out about his diagnosis in 1999, and bared beat his memoir, subside Laughing: How Squiggy Caught MS and Didn’t Tell Nobody. David was beloved for his role as Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman on the classic Garry Marshall sitcom, Laverne & Shirley.

Image: Everett Collection. David loved playing sports. Besides acting, David also had some stake within the Portland Beavers and worked as a baseball scout from 1997 for teams like the ‘Anaheim Angels’ and therefore ‘the Seattle Mariners’.

He was surrounded by loved ones in his last moments. His wife Kathy Fields and their daughter Natalie Lander were by his side when he died.