‘Don’t squeeze Charmin’ actor dies at 91

‘Don’t squeeze Charmin’
actor dies at 91

LOS ANGELES — Dick Wilson, the character actor and pitchman who for 21 years played an uptight grocer begging customers “Please, don’t squeeze the Charmin,” died Monday. He was 91. The man famous as TV’s “Mr. Whipple” died of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills, said his daughter Melanie Wilson, who is known for her role as a flight attendant on the ABC sitcom “Perfect Strangers.” Wilson made more than 500 commercials as Mr. George Whipple, a man consumed with keeping bubbly housewives from fondling toilet paper. The punch line of most spots was that Whipple himself was a closeted Charmin-squeezer. The first commercial aired in 1964 and by the time the campaign ended in 1985 the tag line and Wilson, a former Canadian airman and vaudeville veteran, were pop culture touchstones. He also played a drunk on several episodes of “Bewitched,” as appeared as various characters on “Hogan’s Heroes,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” and Walt Disney productions.

Broadway talks fail

NEW YORK — Broadway faces a gloomy Thanksgiving after the collapse of talks between stagehands and theater producers with more than two dozen shows now canceled through the end of the lucrative holiday week. Negotiations broke down Sunday after a weekend of marathon meetings between Local 1 and the League of American Theatres and Producers. No further negotiations are scheduled. Performances were canceled through Sunday. The canceled performances of 27 plays and musicals during what is traditionally one of Broadway’s best weeks represent millions of dollars of lost income. Some of the biggest hits, such as “Wicked” and “Jersey Boys,” regularly gross over $1 million each week.

Irish actor faces charges

DUBLIN, Ireland — Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, star of the Henry VIII soap opera “The Tudors,” has been charged with public drunkenness and breach of the peace at Dublin Airport, police said Monday. Rhys Meyers, 30, was arrested Sunday after police twice confronted him over his erratic, abusive behavior at an airport gate and at a desk of the British airline BMI, on which he was planning to fly to London. Dublin Airport Police said they called Ireland’s national police force, the Garda Siochana, after Rhys Meyers refused repeated requests to calm down. Police charged him with two counts of violating the Public Order Act, then permitted him to pay an undisclosed cash bail on condition he return to Dublin District Court on Dec. 5 for his arraignment. Rhys Meyers — who was admitted to a California alcoholism-treatment clinic in April and checked out the following month — was in Dublin to appear on “Tubridy Tonight,” a Saturday night national talk show to promote his new film, “August Rush,” costarring Robin Williams. Rhys Meyers starred opposite Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allen’s “Match Point” and Reese Witherspoon in “Vanity Fair,” among other films. He also portrayed Elvis Presley in a 2005 U.S. television miniseries, and is now filming the second season of “The Tudors” for the U.S. cable network Showtime.

Today’s birthdays

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., is 90. Actress-comedian Kaye Ballard is 82. Actress Estelle Parsons is 80. TV personality Richard Dawson is 75. Comedian Dick Smothers is 69. Singer Norman Greenbaum is 65. Senator Joseph Biden, D-Del., is 65. Singer Joe Walsh is 60. Actor Richard Masur is 59. Actress Bo Derek is 51. Reggae musician Jim Brown (UB40) is 50. Pianist Jim Brickman is 46. Actress Ming-Na is 44. Rapper Mike D (The Beastie Boys) is 42. Rapper Sen Dog (Cypress Hill) is 42. Country singer Dierks Bentley is 32. Country singer Josh Turner is 30.