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Bill Dana: Difference between revisions
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William Szathmary (October 5, 1924 – June 15, 2017), known professionally by his stage name [[Bill Dana]], was an American comedian, actor, and screenwriter. He often appeared on television shows such as ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'', frequently in the guise of a heavily accented Bolivian character named [[José Jiménez]]. Dana often portrayed the Jiménez character as an astronaut.
He started his show business career as a page at [[NBC]] while performing [[Stand-Up Comedy]] in nightclubs in New York City. In the 1950s he made appearances on a number of [[Variety Show]]s while acting as a writer and producer for ''[[The Spike Jones Show]]''. He began writing jokes and routines for [[Don Adams]], most notably the "Would you believe...?" bits which became one of Adams' trademarks and featured in ''[[Get Smart]]''. This led to a gig writing for ''[[The Steve Allen Show]]'' during which he created the [[José Jiménez]] character for that program's "Man in the Street" feature.
The José Jiménez sketches were his gateway to larger fame. He recorded a Top 40 comedy album around the character, and then made several appearances on ''[[The Danny Thomas Show]]'' as José. This led to a [[Spin-Off]], ''[[The Bill Dana Show]]'', in which he played Jiménez as a bellhop in an expensive New York Hotel. The show's cast included ''[[Lost in Space]]'''s Jonathan Harris as Jiménez's boss, and Don Adams as the inept house detective Byron Glick. In 1967 he hosted his own late-night [[Talk Show]], ''The Las Vegas Show'' on the new United Network, but it was cancelled in less than a month when the nascent network collapsed. He continued to perform in both film and TV, although his film roles were few and far between. On TV, he had a recurring role on ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' as Sophia Petrillo's brother Angelo. He also played her father in a flashback. In addition, he played Wendell Balaban on ''[[Too Close for Comfort]]'', as well as [[Howie Mandel]]'s father on the series ''[[St. Elsewhere]]''.
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* [[Obvious Second Choice]]/[[Temporary Substitute]]: Don Adams was unavailable for an episode of ''[[Get Smart]]'', "Ice Station Sigfried", so Maxwell Smart's place was taken by a CIA agent named Quigly, played by Dana, a friend of Adams'.
* [[Shout-Out]]: ''[[The Right Stuff]]'' had several scenes featuring or referencing [[José Jiménez]].
* [[Stand-Up Comedy]]: Began his career both performing and writing comedy material -- the latter for both himself and other performers.
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[[Category:Screenwriters]]
[[Category:Recorded and Stand
[[Category:Actors]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
[[Category:Voice Actors]]
[[Category:Comedian]]
[[Category:Names to Know in Comedy]]
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