Pat Harrington, Jr., has passed away at the age of 86. According to a public post on daughter Tresa’s Facebook account, Harrington died Wednesday, January 6, 2016, at 11:09pm PT, with his loved ones at his side. Long-time co-star, the late Bonnie Franklin, was born on January 6, 1944.
Best known as One Day at a Time building super, Dwayne Schneider, Harrington made his last on-screen appearance on former co-star Valerie Bertinelli‘s Hot in Cleveland TV series, which recently ended after six seasons. His guest turn in Hot in Cleveland‘s fourth season’s episode four, “GILFs,” was a callback to their old series, with Harrington playing an apartment manager.
Per The Hollywood Reporter (THR) Harrington had Alzheimer’s and “…recently had been hospitalized after a fall.” Here are more details from that report:
Daniel Patrick Harrington Jr. was born in New York City on Aug. 13, 1929, and attended La Salle Military Academy. His Montreal-born father was an actor who appeared in several Broadway plays, including the 1940s Cole Porter production Panama Hattie. His parents insisted he not enter show business.
The younger Harrington graduated with a B.A. from Fordham University, where he majored in philosophy and government, then received a masters in political philosophy from the Bronx school in 1952.
After a stint in the Air Force during the Korean War, Harrington sold ads for NBC. While regaling network staffers at a nearby watering hole with his impersonation of an Italian golfer, Harrington was spotted by Jonathan Winters, who at the time was a frequent guest host on Jack Paar’s The Tonight Show.
At Winters’ invitation, Harrington appeared on the program as that comic character, Guido Panzini, telling outrageous stories in broken English about his service on an Italian submarine during World War II. He went on to appear dozens of times as Panzini on Paar’s program as well as on The Steve Allen Show during the comic’s funny “Man on the Street” segments (which also featured Bill Dana, Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Louis Nye and others).
Harrington first TV appearance was in 1949, on The Ford Theatre Hour. His first recurring television role was as “Pat Harrington,” on the Danny Thomas sitcom, Make Room for Daddy, in 1959 and 1960. During his long career, Harrington also worked frequently, as a voice actor.
The Steve Allen Show was Harrington’s big break. Son, Terry Harrington, has made an early reel publicly available.
In addition to daughter Tresa and son Terry, Harrington leaves behind sons Pat Harrington, Jr., Michael Harrington, four grandchildren, and his wife, Sally Cleaver.
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