Lorenzo Music, voice actor, 64

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Give it up - I scooped AP on this one!  - ed

Tuesday August 7 9:08 PM ET 

'Garfield' Voice Lorenzo Music Dies

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Lorenzo Music, who provided the distinctive voice of
``Garfield'' the cartoon cat and worked on television series including
``The Bob Newhart Show'' and ``Rhoda,'' has died. He was 64.

Music died of lung cancer Saturday at his home. He worked until about a
month ago, when he recorded Garfield's voice for an automobile
advertisement, said his wife, Henrietta.

``The most compelling thing about him was the sort of relentless, easy,
everyday humor,'' she said Tuesday. ``He had a dry, sharp wit and it was
quick. He was cracking jokes on Thursday; we were all sitting around in
his room.''

Music won an Emmy as a writer for the ``Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' in
1969 and went on to become a story editor for ``The Mary Tyler Moore
Show.'' He co-wrote with his wife the theme song for ``The Bob Newhart
Show,'' which he helped create.

Music and his partner David Davis created ``Rhoda,'' a spinoff to ``The
Mary Tyler Moore Show,'' and Music became the voice of Carlton the
doorman, who communicated through an intercom but was never seen.

``Valerie's heart is breaking, but Rhoda is certain that Carlton the
doorman is giving St. Peter at the gate a run for his money,'' said
Valerie Harper, the star of ``Rhoda.''

Music went on to work full time as a voice actor, portraying several
cartoon characters and eventually voicing ``Garfield'' in prime-time
animated specials and for a Saturday morning series that aired for seven
years.

Music born Gerald David Music on May 2, 1937, in New York City and grew up
in Duluth, Minn. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he met his
wife. The pair formed a comedy act that lasted eight years. Music later
took the first name Lorenzo for spiritual reasons, his wife said.

Music is survived by his wife and their four children. 


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