Arnold Stang

Recognized by his small stature and squawky, Brooklyn-accented speaking voice, he steadily worked in radio, television, the stage, and animation voice-over for 70 years.

[9] Comedian Henry Morgan made him a sidekick on his program in fall of 1946 and Stang appeared in similar roles the following year on radio shows with Eddie Cantor[10] and Milton Berle.

[citation needed] By this time Stang had appeared in a number of movies, including My Sister Eileen, So This Is New York, and They Got Me Covered.

Stang's major contribution to television was voicing the title role in Hanna-Barbera's animated sitcom Top Cat (1961-62).

[citation needed] Stang starred in movie short subjects for producer Edward Montagne in the early 1950s.

In 1964, when Montagne was producing his McHale's Navy spinoff Broadside, Stang was co-starring with the national touring company of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,[14] Montagne recruited Stang midway through the Broadside run, offering him co-star billing.

While in New York in the early 1940s, he worked for the Famous Studios cartoon shop,[16] where he supplied the voice for Popeye's pal Shorty (a caricature of Stang), Herman the Brooklynese mouse, and Tubby Tompkins in a few Little Lulu shorts.

As a pitchman for Alcoa aluminum window screens in the late 1960s, he was known for the tag line "Arnold Stang says don't get stung".

[citation needed] Stang remained in demand for movies, television shows, TV commercials, and the stage.

Stang appeared in "The Grave Robber," an episode of the popular horror anthology series Tales from the Darkside, playing Tapok, an ancient Egyptian mummy who encounters some unscrupulous archaeologists who lure him into a game of strip poker.

In one TV ad he played Luther Burbank, proudly showing off his newly invented "square tomato" to fit neatly in typical square slices of commercial bread, then being informed that the advertising bakery had beat him to it by producing round loaves of bread.

In 2004, Stang made his last appearance in an interview with animator Earl Kress about the making of Top Cat.

In 1949 Stang married JoAnne Taggart, an author[18][19] and journalist who wrote regularly for The New York Times in the 1950s[20] and 1960s,[21] profiling prominent individuals in the entertainment industry.

[1] Arnold Stang died from complications of pneumonia at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, on December 20, 2009, at the age of 91.