Obituaries : Lou Krugman; Acted in Radio, TV and Shakespearean Roles

Lou Krugman, whose dramatic career began in the 1930s with Maude Adams’ legendary Shakespearean company and advanced through the glory years of radio and the halcyon days of television, has died of cancer.

He was 78 when he died Saturday at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank, said Peggy Webber, a longtime friend and fellow actor.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park in Burbank.

Until illness curtailed his work two months ago, Krugman had continued to broadcast for the California Artists Radio Theatre group, most recently as a co-star of “Macbeth,” which won two gold medals from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

His links with radio dated to the 1940s and epic adventure shows such as “The Adventures of Phillip Marlowe” and “Gunsmoke,” melodramas and comedies such as “The Buster Brown Gang” and “Dear Mom” and a long-running favorite, “The Romance of Helen Trent,” in which he he played Tony Griffin.

In television he was a regular on both “I Love Lucy” and the subsequent “The Lucy Show,” “Robert Montgomery Presents,” “The Colgate Comedy Hour,” “The Untouchables” and other top-rated shows of the 1950s and ‘60s.

His film credits include “To the Ends of the Earth,” “I Want to Live,” “The Perils of Pauline” and “Our Man Flint.”

Krugman once estimated that he had appeared in more than 10,000 radio programs and done voice-overs for 700 commercials.

Last year he was honored by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters for lifetime achievement.

Survivors include his wife, Grace; two daughters, Melissa and Patricia, and a grandson. The family asks that any contributions be made in Krugman’s name to the Actors’ Fund.