/ Stars that died in 2023: Kenneth Mars American actor (Young Frankenstein, Malcolm in the Middle, The Producers, The Little Mermaid), died from pancreatic cancer he was , 75, .

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Kenneth Mars American actor (Young Frankenstein, Malcolm in the Middle, The Producers, The Little Mermaid), died from pancreatic cancer he was , 75, .

Kenneth Mars was an American television, movie, and voice actor died from pancreatic cancer he was , 75, .. He may be best-remembered for his roles in several Mel Brooks films: the insane Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in 1968's The Producers, and the relentless Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Fredrich Kemp in 1974's Young Frankenstein.
 

(April 4, 1935 – February 12, 2011)

Career

Television

Mars made his acting debut in 1962 as a book publisher on the comedy series Car 54, Where Are You?. Afterwards, he appeared on such television series as Gunsmoke, Get Smart, McMillan & Wife, and The Bob Crane Show. Mars played Harry Zarakartos on the sitcom He & She. Mars was featured in a number of small roles in programs such as the Misfits of Science pilot episode and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Shadowplay".

He was cast opposite Bette Davis in Hello Mother, Goodbye!, a 1973 television pilot that was aired by NBC but never added to its schedule. From 1970 until 1974 he guest starred in five episodes of Love, American Style, playing random characters. In 1977, he became a series regular on both the Sha Na Na variety series and on Fernwood 2-Night, where he played "Bud Prize" on the fictional comedy talk show, later appearing on America 2-Night in the same role. His last television gigs were that of Otto, the German dude ranch owner on Fox's Malcolm in the Middle, an appearance on Disney Channel's Hanna Montana, and a reprisal of his role as Grandpa Longneck in The Land Before Time television series.

Stage and film roles

Mars often played characters with exaggerated accents. He was German in The Producers and Young Frankenstein, and was the Croatian musicologist Hugh Simon in What's Up, Doc?. His first broadly accented character was that of Sir Evelyn Oakleigh in the 1962 Off-Broadway revival of the Cole Porter musical, Anything Goes.

Comedy albums

In 1975, ABC/Dunhill released a comedy LP produced by Earl Doud titled Henry the First featuring Mars in a number of comedy bits as Henry Kissinger, including a cover version of the Bachman–Turner Overdrive song, "Takin' Care of Business".

Voice acting roles

Mars cultivated a lengthy voice acting career, launching it by voicing several characters on Uncle Croc's Block. He voiced the roles of Ariel's father King Triton in The Little Mermaid, as well as voicing Triton in Kingdom Hearts & Kingdom Hearts 2. He also voiced Littlefoot's Grandpa Longneck in The Land Before Time movie series and the spin-off television series. He played some minor roles on the popular radio show, Adventures in Odyssey. He played Sweet Williams in Fievel's American Tails, which took place after An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. He voiced characters on many animated television series, such as The Smurfs, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Tale Spin, and Animaniacs, as well as video games, such as Fallout and Kingdom Hearts.

Death

Mars died aged 75 from pancreatic cancer in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California on February 12, 2011.[1]

Filmography


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