Vale: Steve Lawrence

US singer and actor Steve Lawrence, best known for The Carol Burnett Show and The Blues Brothers has died, aged 88.

He died at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday, his family confirmed in a press release. His cause of death was a result of “complications due to Alzheimer’s disease.”

Born in 1935 in New York City, Lawrence’s career started as a teenager when he was hired by Steve Allen to be one of the singers on his late-night show. It was on this show that Lawrence met his future wife, Eydie Gormé. The show later transitioned to becoming The Tonight Show, where Lawrence remained until 1957.

Lawrence was a frequent guest on The Carol Burnett Show between 1967 and 1978. He also briefly hosted his own variety program, The Steve Lawrence Show, which ran for 13 weeks in 1965.

As an actor, he appeared in the likes of The Judy Garland Show, Night Gallery, Police Story, Murder She Wrote, Hot in Cleveland, Two and a Half Men, Hardcastle and McCormick and CSI.

Lawrence featured on The Nanny several times — first as himself, and then as the much-talked about, but never really seen, Morty Fine, father of Fran Fine in a few of the final episodes of the show.

Most notably, he portrayed Maury Sline in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, a role he reprised in the 1998 sequel, Blues Brothers 2000. His other film credits include the Steve Martin comedy The Lonely Guy and the crime thriller The Yards.

Carol Burnett said, “Steve was one of my favorite guests on my variety show, appearing 39 times. He was also my very close friend … so close that I considered him ‘family.’ He will always be in my heart.”

Source: TV Insider