Jonathan Winters 

11 November 1925 - 11 April 2013

It isn't often that someone comes along and manages to bring people together with the style of laughter we all enjoyed with Winters, and rightly so.
We may see others that follow in such footsteps, but there is nothing like "the original"...and so it is with Jonathan.
His brand of improvisational comedy took the form of ordinary items and then led us on journeys of the mind to which we could see more than our eyes ever could hope.

And while we laughed long and hard at his comedic style, there wa also a very good dramatic side to him.

Watch the old Twilight Zone episode: A Game of Pool (1961), seen here with co-star Jack Klugman. A tour de force for the both of them (imho).

-- Here is a rather lengthy WIKI on a brilliant life and legacy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Winters
Not too bad for a former MARINE from Dayton, Ohio, right?
His break came when he worked with Alistair Cooke on the old Omnibus series, and performed on the FIRST color television broadcast back in 1957.
Winters was niot only an improvisationaist, but a great story teller, and had a knack for mimicry, as demonstrated as he pranked Jack Paar as the then President JFK over the telephone.

Many will remember him from hsi work on Mork and Mindy, but his characters that appeared on late night show like The Tonight Show (Johnny Carson), as well as numerous stints on shows with Dean Martin, the celebrity roasts, and the Hollywood Squares, where his ad lib style of delivery became the standard.

I was always amazed at how MUCH could be going on in only ONE mind...!

He was also an artist, and could be found doing one-man showing of his paintings at local galleries in CA.
And he would often entertain the tellers at the bank he frequented...now THAT I would pay to see.

Winters was once diagnosed as a manic-depressive personality, and confessed to spending eight months in a private psychiatric hospital in 1959 and again in 1961. It obscurely mention in his album "The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters" (1960).
Yet, he gave us marvelous characters like Maude Frickett, Chester Hunnyhugger, and Elwood P. Suggins.
Only Winters could be given a foot long stick and be able to become a fisherman, bullfighter, lion tamer, flutist, violinist, British headmaster and canoeist...AND make us laugh at every moment.
Others have followed, but HE was the one they all hearken back to when they needed inspiration.
His particular gift to us all, was that through his life and comedy, we were able to forget OUR woes for a time, and be able to laugh with ONE voice...and THAT is something no one can either take away from Jonathan...or could ever hope to replace.

And, having spent the better part of 60 years enjoying his brand of comedy, it's going to be hard to view this world without him.

But at least there are a LOT of angels getting to know him...and laughing their wings off.