Celebrity Deathwatch - CONFIRMED!!: Lorenzo Music, Voice Actor, 64

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

Not to make light of the late, but we finally got confirmation...

http://www.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/TV/08/08/obit.music.ap/index.html

Lorenzo Music, voice of Garfield, dies
August 8, 2001 Posted: 2:18 AM EDT (0618 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (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 at his home Saturday of lung cancer that had spread throughout
his body. 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, every
day 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, Minnesota. 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.

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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