Eddie Mayehoff; Entertainer

Eddie Mayehoff, who played scene-stealing supporting roles in comedy films with Bob Hope, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, died Thursday in Ventura, where he had lived for more than 20 years. He was 83.

Mayehoff’s long career in show business began in the early 1930s, when he formed a dance band and performed in hotels and clubs on the New York City circuit. Radio noticed Mayehoff’s comic skills and, by 1940, he had a weekly show on the Mutual Radio Network, “Eddie Mayehoff on the Town,” in which he caricatured New Yorkers.

That was followed by a television show, “The Adventures of Fenimore J. Mayehoff,” in 1946. Mayehoff also performed a number of roles on Broadway, including the part of Anderson, the bore, in “Season in the Sun.”

His success in that role brought offers from Hollywood, and Mayehoff began a series of plum supporting roles in comedy films. He appeared with Lewis and Martin in “That’s My Boy” in 1951; the following year, he joined the Martin-Lewis team in “The Stooge.”

Mayehoff also nabbed a leading role in the Bob Hope-Mickey Rooney comedy, “Military Policeman.” In 1965’s “How to Murder Your Wife,” Mayehoff was teamed with Jack Lemmon and Virna Lisi as Lemmon’s scene-stealing attorney. His final feature film was “Luv,” produced in 1967, with Lemmon, Elaine May and Peter Falk.

Following his retirement, Mayehoff moved to Ventura.

Mayehoff frequently volunteered his talents at the Ventura Townehouse retirement home, where he played piano and entertained elderly residents for about eight years, Assistant Administrator Michele Spellins said.

“He always brought us little candies or packets of coffee. . . . He was very much of a gentleman of the old school,” Spellins said.

Mayehoff was born in Baltimore and became an accomplished musician, graduating from Yale University School of Music in 1932.

He is survived by a niece in Sante Fe, N. M.

Private arrangements are being handled by the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura.

The Ventura Townehouse is planning a memorial service from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday in the Vista Room. Clips of Mayehoff’s films will be shown.