Билл Дана: Американдық комедияшы, актер және сценарист өмірі мен шығармашылығы

American comedian, actor, and screenwriter

William Szathmary (October 5, 1924 June 15, 2017), known as Bill Dana, was an American comedian, actor, and screenwriter. He took his stage name "Dana" after his mother's first name "Dena" as he felt "Szathmary" was unpronounceable. Dana benefited from the expertise of an older brother, Arthur, who was fluent in several languages and gave his sibling his second entry into foreign languages. The first was growing up in a polyglot neighborhood where Spanish and Italian were among the languages spoken and having a Hungarian immigrant for a father. Another older brother was Irving Szathmary, composer of the Get Smart theme. During World War II, he served in the United States Army with the 263rd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division as a 60mm mortarman and machine gunner, as well as an unofficial interpreter.

Dana began his career as a page at NBC's famous Studio 6B while performing comedy in nightclubs around New York with partner Gene Wood. Starting in the 1950s, his appearances on television included The Imogene Coca Show and The Danny Thomas Show, as well as writing for and producing The Spike Jones Show. His brother, Irving Szathmary, wrote the theme song for the Get Smart television series. In 1966, Dana wrote the animated television movie Alice in Wonderland (or What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? ), in which he also supplied the voice of The White Knight (using his Jiménez voice). That same year, the Jiménez character was animated for the Paramount cartoon I Want My Mummy, written by Dana in collaboration with Howard Post. In 1966, Dana appeared uncredited in episode 48 of Batman playing José Jiménez, opening the window in the wall Batman was climbing and talking with him. In May 1967, Dana hosted his own late night talk show, The Las Vegas Show, on the new United Network. Originated live from the Hotel Hacienda in Las Vegas, Nevada, the program was cancelled by the end of May when the United Network folded. Joey Forman's 1968 parody album about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, called The Mashuganishi Yogi ("mashugana" meaning crazy or bizarre in Yiddish), was produced by Dana, and includes a cameo of Dana as Jiménez, as well as a cover appearance. The album is a mock news conference, an extended question and answer session. The ersatz Bolivian–accented Jiménez asks the ersatz Indian accented Yogi: "Why do you talk so funny?" In 1970, responding to changing times and sensitivities, Dana stopped portraying the José Jiménez character; however, he played the character again on the 1988 revival of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Dana wrote the script for possibly the best known episode of the situation comedy All in the Family, entitled "Sammy's Visit", which featured Sammy Davis Jr. In 1976, he appeared in the "A Doctor's Doctor" episode of the NBC situation comedy The Practice as the hospital roommate of Danny Thomas's character Dr. Jules Bedford. In early 1979, he appeared as Sampson in the episode "Dewey and Harold and Sarah and Maggie" of the NBC series $weepstake$. The José Jiménez character was part of several scenes in the 1983 film The Right Stuff. The government officials watch The Ed Sullivan Show before recruiting Navy pilots
for the early’60s Mercury Space Program. Sullivan is talking to Jiménez. ("Is that your crash helmet?" "Oh, I hope not!") Later during medical testing, a large, Hispanic worker (played by NFL offensive tackle Anthony Muñoz) takes offense to Alan Shepard (Scott Glenn) mimicking the Jiménez character. Although his film appearances were few, Dana had roles in a few movies including The Busy Body (1967), Harrad Summer (1974), I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now? (1975), and the aforementioned The Nude Bomb (1980). Dana would also have 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. Dana reprised the role of Bernardo the servant on the CBS TV series Zorro and Son, but his performance was different from Gene Sheldon's pantomime counterpart on the 1950s live action show. Both series were produced by Walt Disney Productions. Dana died on June 15, 2017, at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 92.

Bill Dana was integral in creating the American Comedy Archives, a series of audiovisual interviews with such comic luminaries as Phyllis Diller, Dick Gregory, Don Knotts, Norman Lear, Bob Newhart, Tom Poston, Paul Rodriguez, Dick Van Dyke, Betty White, and Jonathan Winters. The American Comedy Archives are housed at the Iwasaki Library at Emerson College, but transcripts of some interviews (Dana's included) have been made available on the library website.