Lionel Stander; Stage, Film and Television Character Actor

Lionel Stander, 86, gravel-voiced character actor for more than half a century. Stander began his career on stage and as a youth appeared in several Broadway plays. In the 1930s, he moved into screwball comedy films. He appeared opposite Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur in “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” in 1936, and a year later portrayed press agent Casey Burke in the original “A Star Is Born.” His other films included “We’re in the Money,” “Soak the Rich” and “No Time to Marry.” Blacklisted during the 1950s because of his uncooperative testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, he waited out the McCarthy era by working in small theaters and as a broker on Wall Street. Modern audiences will remember him as Max the chauffeur in the television series “Hart to Hart” with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers. The series ran from 1979 to 1984 and has recently been reprised in the form of television movies. On Wednesday in Brentwood of lung cancer.