Sunday, February 5, 2006

"Grandpa" Al Lewis

Al Lewis (Grandpa from The Munsters) died this weekend. According to most sources, he was 95. Or 82.

I never met him, but I spoke with him once.

On the way back from visiting family in my hometown, I'd listen to the radio late on a Sunday night. And I'd often tune in to the Allan Handleman show. And Al Lewis was a fairly regular guest on the show.

He was a liberal. Extremely liberal. But he struck me as one of those "good" liberals. He believed what he believed, but struck me as honest about it. War, for example. He opposed the War in Iraq. But he also opposed action in Kosovo. So, he wasn't like many liberals who favor war when one of theirs (Clinton) does it and oppose it when a conservative (or moderate, like Bush) does it. He was against it all the time.

Although I don't believe the same way he did, he was honest about it.

I won't go into all the positions he took that I differed (legalization of drugs, for example), but I liked the guy.

Not his position on issues. Him. He seemed to me to be a really nice guy.

And when he was on the Allan Handelman show one night, I called in. And got through. And spoke with him.

I asked him if he had been a liberal his whole life, or if his beliefs had changed over time. He said he felt his attitudes his whole life had been the same.

My question was prompted by my father's drift to the left over the last 20 years. He used to be to the right and me to the left. Now, we're opposites. I'm conservative, and he's a liberal. Go figure.

Anyway, I enjoyed my brief talk with "Grandpa" Al Lewis.

We all lost a good man.

2 comments:

  1. May he rest in peace. Genuine people are hard to come by, particularly when you delve into the political arena. It is interesting how you moved more to the right and your dad moved more to the left, by the way. Perhaps you might consider interviewing HIM someday soon. I'd love to know why he moved to the left?

    Blog ON, Sir...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carnival of the Celebrities...

    Al Lewis is dead. Paul McCartney isn't -- just his voice is....

    ReplyDelete

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