David Leonard Landau aka David Lander was born in Brooklyn on June 22, 1947, the son of high school teachers Saul and Stella Goldman Landau. He then enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he met McKean.
David Lander, best known for his role as Squiggy in the American sitcom Laverne & Shirley, died at the age of 73. His death was confirmed by his family, they said that he died at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
David Lander – personal life and Career
David Leonard Landau was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1990, the youngest son of two Jewish teachers parents Stella Goldman and Saul Landau. David Lander graduated from Performing Arts High School to become an actor and continued his career at Carnegie Tech and New York University.
David L. Lander played Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman on the popular ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley for eight seasons and acted on the 1970s Saturday Morning Animation Series and played taxidermist Tim Pinkle in ABC’s Twin Peaks, where he was played as his neighbor David Lynch in Hollywood Hills, played by the show’s tech freak and longtime comedy partner, the actors Michael McKean and Robert Zemeckis, and in the 1980s had a car. He also was the voice of “Henry” from the popular cartoon show ‘Oswald’.
His memorable television roles include The Bob Newhart Show, Happy Days, Twin Peaks and The Drew Carey Show. The two met at Carnegie Mellon University and eventually moved to Los Angeles to join a comedy group called The Credibility Gap. David Lander and McKean, known as Lenny Anthony before meeting at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh as freshmen, were hired as writers for Laverne & Shirley before the series was sold to ABC in 1976.
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David’s long battle with Multiple Sclerosis
Even twenty-three years after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), David Lander had an intact sense of humor. MS is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. An autoimmune disease of the central nervous system means that the body uses its immune system to launch a defensive attack on its own tissues. In multiple sclerosis (MS) attacks the body myelin, the fatty tissue that surrounds and protects nerve fibers.
The destruction of myelin by a process called demyelination causes inflammatory scars and lesions on the nerves. David Lander revealed in 1999 that he had been battling multiple sclerosis for more than a decade. He tried various treatments, including intravenous steroids and oral prednisone, before starting the drug interferon beta-1 (Avonex) more than 12 years ago. He takes the drug twice a week and says it has been helpful in slowing the progression of MS.
David’s costar’s and friends’ after knowing about his death
The eponymous character of Laverne DeFazio, played by Penny Marshall (the later successful director Shirley Feeney) and Cindy Williams, was a good friend and former factory worker. Actor Michael McKean, who played Lenny in “Laverne and Shirley,” shared flashback photos on Twitter of himself and Lander after news of his death began circulating on social media. On Saturday, McKean’s Better Call Saul and Batman posted an old photo of DeFiazio standing at the back.
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the series, tweeted: ‘This is terrible news. I will never forget how I hurt myself so badly while laughing that I could see the credibility gap.
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