Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Wiped from the mortal coil

From Wikipedia:
According to Charmin makers Procter & Gamble, a 1978 survey found that "Mr. Whipple" was the third best-known American, behind only recently-ousted President Richard Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham.

And now they're all gone.*

From TV Acres:
Prior to his Charmin involvement, [Dick] Wilson had been a stand up comic, stuntman, acrobat, and a movie actor. Dick's Mr. Whipple character gave him such a high profile that his career in movies was basically over. After all who wants to see Mr. Whipple kissing or killing somebody. Wilson's TV credits included the role of a local drunk on BEWITCHED for nine years; a cop on THE MUNSTERS; Colonel Gruber on HOGAN'S HEROES; and Dino Baroni on MCHALE'S NAVY.

*I know. Just kidding.

7 comments:

Dr. Zaius said...

"...After all who wants to see Mr. Whipple kissing or killing somebody."

I don't know, he murdered the freakin' Charmin.

Jess Wundrun said...

Dr. Z- My question was who says they'd give him a kissing role regardless?

Distributorcap said...

can you imagine the try outs for the Charmin commercial

a bunch of old men in moustaches squeezing told paper

the casting director must have drank a lot of Jack Daniels that day

Jess Wundrun said...

Thanks, Dcap. That image will haunt me to the end of my days!

Anonymous said...

poor guy. went from 'squeezably soft' to 'dead stiff' just like that!

Anonymous said...

In hindsight, Mr. Whipple's "squeezing fetish" strikes me as bizarre.

I wonder if he was into piquerism as well.

Anonymous said...

I really liked him as the drunk on Bewitched, and he made the most outta the Charmin gig. He was OK - he left a mark on pop culture which is more than I will be able to do.

Regards,

Tengrain