On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:45:54 -0500, The Ghost of General Lee
<ghost@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>Well, it happened about 3 weeks ago (11/19), but I just stumbled
>across the obit.
>
>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aMGbx_fzoS3E&refer=canada
>
>Dick Wilson, the character actor known for playing ``Mr. Whipple'' in
>commercials for Procter & Gamble Co.'s Charmin bath tissue, died today
>in a California hospital at age 91, the company said.
>
>Wilson played Mr. Whipple, a grocer who told shoppers ``Please don't
>squeeze the Charmin,'' in more than 500 commercials from 1964 to 1985
>and reprised the role to introduce a new version of the product in
>1999, Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble said in a statement.
>
>The spot was ``one of the most enduring, rememberable'' commercials
>ever, and helped inspire modern television pitchmen such as the gecko
>that hawks insurance for Berk****re Hathaway Inc.'s GEICO unit and the
>Aflac Inc. duck, said Brad Adgate, director of research at New
>York-based advertising agency Horizon Media Inc.
>
>``You can recite these things a generation later and it speaks to how
>much money Procter & Gamble spent on Charmin and how memorable the
>commercials were,'' Adgate said in a telephone interview. ``It was
>always one theme about him scolding these housewives in the
>supermarket about squeezing the toilet tissue.''
>
>Wilson started his career as an announcer and disc jockey in Canada at
>15, the company said. He later went on to perform in movies including
>``Planet of the Apes,'' theater productions including ``Dial M for
>Murder'' and ``The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' and television shows such
>as ``Hogan's Heroes,'' ``McHale's Navy'' and ``Bewitched.''
>
>[more]
Wow he was 91! Thanks for the heads up, not many folks left from my
parents (WWII) generation.
I sure do remember his Charmin commercials especially "ALL" those he
did in the 70's, seemed like you couldn't turn the TV on without
seeing him asking someone not to squeeze!!
I was thinking he was the nosey neighbors husband on Bewitched but
don't remember what parts or what episodes he was in on Hogans Heroes
or Mchales Navy at all. Anyone know???
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