Tom Poston, a familiar comedian on television since the 1950s when he was an Emmy Award-winning regular on “The Steve Allen Show” but who might be best-remembered as the bumbling handyman on the popular comedy “Newhart,” has died. He was 85.
The husband of actress Suzanne Pleshette, star of “The Bob Newhart Show,” Mr. Poston died Monday at his home in Los Angeles after a brief illness, said family representative Tanner Gibson.
Mr. Poston launched his career in 1947 in Jose Ferrer’s Broadway production of “Cyrano de Bergerac.” He later appeared in live television dramatic anthologies such as “Studio One” and “Goodyear Television Playhouse.”
But he soon established himself as a comedic actor who gained national exposure on Allen’s comedy-variety show, which ran from 1956 to 1961, first on NBC and then ABC.
In the 1970s, Mr. Poston made occasional guest appearances on “The Bob Newhart Show” as Newhart’s college chum but earned lasting recognition playing handyman George Utley on “Newhart” throughout the CBS sitcom’s 1982-1990 run.
In a statement Tuesday, Newhart described Mr. Poston as a “versatile and veteran performer and a kind-hearted individual” who “was always the go-to guy on ‘Newhart.'”
Peter Scolari, a fellow “Newhart” cast member, said that “as a comedian, Tom was truly unique.”
“On ‘Newhart,’ he was by then about 70 and as fresh and feeling a comedic actor as you’d ever want to work with,” Scolari said. “There was an unbridled joy in Tom.”
Mr. Poston had appeared in Broadway comedies such as “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” in the ’50s. But it was his work as host of “Entertainment,” a local daily comedy-variety show in New York, that caught the attention of two writers for “The Steve Allen Show,” whose comedic stock company included Don Knotts and Louis Nye.
In Allen’s famous “man in the street” sketches, Mr. Poston was the man who could never remember his name.
When Allen was auditioning for the sketch, Mr. Poston recalled in a 1982 interview, “I was, naturally, scared to death.”
“He asked me my name, and darned if my mind didn’t go blank. I sat there like a big dope and held my head. Steve thought I was kidding. He said, ‘Hey, that’s great! We’ll use it.’ From then on, I was a regular.”
Tim Conway, a longtime friend who toured with Mr. Poston in “The Odd Couple,” said Mr. Poston, Knotts and Nye “all had a way of presenting comedy without ever saying anything. You could read it on their faces. They didn’t need words.”
Of his comedic characters such as George Utley on “Newhart,” Mr. Poston told United Press International in 1983: “These guys are about a half-step behind life’s parade. The ink on their instruction sheets is beginning to fade. But they function and cope and don’t realize they are driving people up the walls.”
“In ways I don’t like to admit, I’m a goof-up myself,” Mr. Poston continued. “It’s an essential part of my character. When these guys screw up it reminds me of my own incompetence with the small frustrations of life.”
Among his other TV credits are “Mork & Mindy,” on which he played Franklin Delano Bickley. He also was a regular panelist on the game show “To Tell the Truth.” His film credits include “Soldier in the Rain,” “Cold Turkey,” “Christmas with the Kranks” and “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.”
Mr. Poston and Pleshette, who had appeared together in the 1959 Broadway play “The Golden Fleecing,” had had a brief fling before marrying other people. They reunited in 2000 and married the following year.
