Bill Dana (entertainer)

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Bill Dana (center) at San Diego Comic-Con 1982. Photo by Alan Light.

Bill Dana , actually William Szathmary, (born October 5, 1924 in Quincy , Massachusetts , † June 15, 2017 in Nashville , Tennessee ) was an American entertainer , musician , actor , screenwriter and television producer .

Life

Bill Dana was active as a nightclub and television performer in the early 1950s. He invented the character Jose Jimenez for his appearances , whom he played in 42 episodes The Bill Dana Show from 1963 to 1965. Under this name he recorded a long-playing record in 1961, which reached number 19 in the US charts. In 1962, Dana - as Jose Jimenez - was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album .

Filmography (selection)

actor

  • 1960–1961: The Spike Jones Show (TV series, ten episodes)
  • 1963–1965: The Bill Dana Show (TV series, 42 episodes)
  • 1967: Un italiano in America
  • 1967, 1969: Mini-Max ( Get Smart , TV series, two episodes)
  • 1974: Harrad Summer
  • 1975: I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now?
  • 1980: The Nude Bomb (The Nude Bomb)
  • 1981: Fantasy Island (TV series, episode)
  • 1986–1988: Chief Physician Dr. Westphall ( St. Elsewhere , TV series, three episodes)
  • 1987: Sledge Hammer (TV series, episode)
  • 1988–1992: Golden Girls (TV series, six episodes)
  • 1991: Lena's Holiday
  • 1994: Harry's Nest (TV series, episode)

Hit singles

  • The Astronaut (Parts 1 & 2) 1961 ( US place 19)

Publications (selection)

Bill Dana (Artist), Mel Simons (Author): Old-Time Television Memories . Bearmanor Media 2008, ISBN 1-593-93319-3 Bill Dana (Author), Rick Penn-Kraus (Illustrator): Bill Dana's Clean Air Clean Water and Other Memories . Price Stern Sloan 1991, ISBN 0-843-12886-0

literature

  • Julia Edenhofer: The Great Oldie Lexicon . Bastei-Lübbe 1991, ISBN 3-404-60288-9 .
  • David C. Tucker: Lost Laughs of '50s and' 60s Television: Thirty Sitcoms That Faded Off Screen. Mcfarland & Co Inc 2010, ISBN 0-786-44466-5

Web links

Commons : Bill Dana  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. David C. Tucker, Lost Laughs of '50s and' 60s Television: Thirty Sitcoms That Faded Off Screen. P. 14.
  2. ^ Comic Bill Dana, Who Won Fame as 'Jose Jimenez', Dies at 92. In: The New York Times . The New York Times Company, June 16, 2017, accessed June 20, 2017 .
  3. ^ Julia Edenhofer: The Great Oldie Lexicon . Bastei-Lübbe 1991, p. 324 (Edenhofer uses the name Jiminez ).