The actor who legally changed his name to avoid a prank
In short: David Lander is a household name, but his stage name was born from a high school prank. When a classmate stole his real name to register for an actors' union, Lander had to legally adopt a new identity to keep his career on track.
Born David Leonard Landau in Brooklyn in 1947, Lander decided to pursue acting at the age of 10. While attending the High School for the Performing Arts, he discovered a classmate had 'borrowed' his legal name to register with an actors' union. To reclaim his professional identity, he adopted the name David Lander, eventually making it his legal name. Lander is most widely recognized for his role as Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman on the ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley, which ran from 1976 to 1982. He was the youngest child of two Jewish schoolteachers. His career began with a role as a radio announcer in A League of Their Own.
His comedic partnership with Michael McKean began during their studies at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Lenny and Squiggy were created by the pair, who subsequently acted within The Credibility Gap, a comedy group situated in Los Angeles. The duo released a 1979 album featuring Christopher Guest. They also appeared in the 1941 comedy and Used Cars.
Beyond sitcoms, Lander was a prolific voice actor and film performer. He provided the voice for "Smart Ass" in the 1988 Disney film Who Framed Roger Rabbit and voiced Doc Boy Arbuckle in various Garfield adaptations. He also worked as a baseball talent scout for the Anaheim Angels and Seattle Mariners, and was a long-time member of the Society for American Baseball Research. In 1999, he went public with his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, later publishing his autobiography in 2002. He voiced the main character in Oswald from 2001 to 2003. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society employed him as a goodwill ambassador.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: David Lander
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