.png)
.webp)
"I'm not a comedian. I'm a clown. There's a difference."
—Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr brought his booming voice and elastic face from burlesque to Broadway.
He peaked as the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), and entertained Americans across stage, film, and TV for five decades.
Bert Lahr was born in Irving Lahrheim in Yorkville on August 13, 1895.
His parents, Augusta and Jacob Lahrheim, had emigrated from Germany, carrying their Jewish traditions across the Atlantic to New York City.
On stage, Lahr transformed his immigrant roots into art, crafting his famous "Dutch comedian" character from the precise rhythms and cadences of his family's German-accented English.
In 1910, fifteen-year-old Bert Lahr quit high school to work in vaudeville.
He joined his friend Phil Silvers in a burlesque show, where Lahr practiced slapstick routines and perfected his comic timing.
His physical comedy and distinct vocal style caught attention, and by 1915, Lahr headlined shows on the Columbia Burlesque Circuit, performing in theaters from New York to Chicago.
Bert Lahr served in the U.S. Navy in 1918, working on ships as a seaman second class during World War I.
He helped maintain vessels and performed deck duties while stationed at naval ports along the Atlantic coast.
Bert Lahr created his signature stage character—the Dutch comedian—by amplifying elements of his own German-Jewish background.
He transformed his face with specific prosthetics: foam padding beneath his eyes to create drooping bags, a thick false mustache, and a rounded rubber nose.
This character defined Lahr's comedy career and became instantly recognizable to pretty much everyone.
Bert Lahr acted on Broadway for 34 years, from 1930 to 1964.
He starred in musical comedies like "Flying High," where he played a bumbling aviator who crashed planes for laughs.
In "Life Begins at 8:40," he performed slapstick routines that made audiences roar.
His role as the cowardly lion in "The Wizard of Oz" prepared him well for playing King Louis XV's comic butler in "DuBarry Was a Lady."
Later, he took on serious drama, playing Vladimir in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot”.
In 1964, at age 69, he won a Tony Award for playing a prospector named Foxy in the Alaskan gold-rush musical "Foxy."
In 1939, he played the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz," delivering the role that would define his film career.
His performance—known for its precise physical comedy and memorable lines like "Put 'em up, put 'em up!"
And his distinctive Brooklyn-tinged roar, his exaggerated facial expressions, and his ability to shift from blustering bravado to trembling fear in an instant.
Bert Lahr growled and stretched his words, bending them into laughs.
His Brooklyn-tinged voice rose and fell dramatically, turning simple phrases into memorable punchlines.
When he spoke, he would drag out syllables, punctuate words with grunts, and build to explosive bursts of sound.
.webp)
In 1965, Bert Lahr appeared in TV commercials for Lay's Potato Chips, where he wore his signature bowler hat and delivered punchlines while crunching chips.
The ads showed him seated at a kitchen table or standing in a grocery store, speaking directly to viewers about the chips' crisp texture and salt-dusted ridges.
His facial expressions mirrored his earlier role as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.
The commercials ran during prime-time slots on CBS and NBC, reaching millions of evening viewers.
Sales of Lay's Potato Chips rose 23% during Lahr's two-year stint as spokesman.
Bert Lahr died in Manhattan on December 4, 1967, during the filming of "The Night They Raided Minsky's."
He had completed most of his scenes as Professor Spats, but the production team still needed his remaining shots.
The hospital listed pneumonia as the cause on his death certificate.
Lahr's son John later revealed that cancer had killed his father, who had kept his illness private from the public and press.
Lahr was 72 years old.
.png){kind=logo}
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)