Shari Lewis

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Shari Lewis
Born January 17, 1933(1933-01-17)
New York City, New York
Died August 2, 1998 (aged 65)
Los Angeles, California

Shari Lewis (born Sonia Phyllis Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was an American ventriloquist, puppeteer, and children's television show host, most popular during the 1960s. She is best known as the original puppeteer of Lamb Chop, first appearing on Hi Mom, a local morning show that aired on WNBC in New York.

Lewis' father was a founding member of Yeshiva University in New York City. Her parents encouraged her to perform, and by age 13 her father taught her to perform specialized magic acts. She also received instruction in acrobatics, juggling, piano and violin. She was taught ventriloquism by John W. Cooper.

She also learned how to play the piano and violin at New York's High School of Music and Art, dance at the American School of Ballet, and acting with Sanford Meisner of the Neighborhood Playhouse. She attended Columbia University for one year, then left college to go into show business.

In 1952, Lewis and her puppetry won first prize on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts television show. In March 1956, she and Lamb Chop were on Captain Kangaroo and by 1960 she had her own television program. She graduated to network television in 1960 as host and puppeteer of The Shari Lewis Show. The programs featured such characters as Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse, Lamb Chop, and Wing Ding. Lamb Chop, who was little more than a sock with eyes, served as a sassy alter-ego for Shari. Subsequent television programs introduced these characters (minus the black crow, whose characterization became more problematic after the 1960s) to a new generation of children. In 1992, her new Emmy-winning show Lamb Chop's Play-Along began a five year run on PBS.

The video Lamb Chop's Special Chanukah was released in 1996 and received the Parent's Choice award of the year.

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[edit] Death

While undergoing her treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer in June 1998. Two months later, on August 2, 1998, Lewis died at the age of 65 after developing viral pneumonia. She was cremated. Her ashes were either given to a friend or family.

In 2000, her daughter, Mallory Lewis resumed her mother's work with the Lamb Chop character.

[edit] Awards/Honors

Lewis was the recipient of numerous awards during her lifetime, including:

  • 12 Emmy Awards
  • Peabody Award (1960)
  • John F. Kennedy Center Award for Excellence and Creativity (1983)
  • 7 Parent's Choice Awards
  • Action for Children's Television Award
  • 1995 American Academy of Children's Entertainment award for Entertainer of the Year
  • Dor L'Dor award of the B'nai B'rith (1996)
  • 3 Houston Film Festival awards
  • Silver Circle Award of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (1996)
  • Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence (1996)
  • 2 Charleston Film Festival Gold Awards (1995)
  • Houston World Festival silver and bronze awards (1995)
  • New York Film and Video Festival Silver Award (1995)
  • Monte Carlo Prize for the World's Best Television Variety Show (1963)

In addition to writing over 60 books for children, she and her second husband wrote an episode for the third and final season of the original Star Trek series entitled "The Lights of Zetar". This was produced in 1968. Lewis had hoped to play the part of "Lt. Mira Romaine," but the role was given to actress Jan Shutan.

[edit] Family

Her first husband was Stan Lewis. Her second husband, who survives her, is Jeremy Tarcher, brother of novelist Judith Krantz. Lewis' daughter, Mallory Tarcher, wrote for Lamb Chop's Play-Along and The Charlie Horse Music Pizza.

Jeremy Tarcher has/had a publishing company,with books about paranormal (psychic) phenomena.

[edit] Television shows

[edit] Episodic TV appearances

  • The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1966) - Lewis was the guest star in the episode known as "The Off-Broadway Affair"; she played an adorably perky, somewhat ditsy understudy.
  • Lewis (and Lamb Chop) guest-starred on episode 2.20, "Lamb Chop's on the Menu" of The Nanny, which premiered on February 13, 1995.

[edit] External links

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