After returning home, he enrolled at Kenyon College. He later shifted to Dayton Art Institute, where he did a course in cartooning. He was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

He dropped out of school during his final year at Springfield High School. He took part in the Pacific operation of the U.S Marine Corp during the Second World War.

Mother and son shifted to Springfield, Ohio, to live with Alice’s mother. A weak student, he derived solace in the company of the imaginary characters he developed, in solitude, in his room.

Jonathan Winters was born on November 11, 1925 at Bellbrook, Ohio, to Alice Kilgore Rodgers, a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an insurance salesman turned stock broker. When he was seven, his mother separated from his alcoholic father.

Career

Winters started doing comedy routines while he was a student at Kenyon College. Between 1950 and 1953, he hosted several local programs for Columbus's WBNS-TV, but resigned after the station refused him a raise.

He moved to New York, where, having lost his wristwatch, he was encouraged by his wife to participate in a talent contest that promised a wristwatch for the winner - he won the contest.

Following his win in the contest, he began to get more television assignments. In 1954, he featured in the Broadway revue, ‘Almanac’, and on the television series, ‘Chance of a Lifetime’, as Johnny Winters.

In 1956, he began hosting the television series, ‘The Jonathan Winters Show’, on NBC. The first ever public demonstration of color videotape was broadcast on this show, that year.

He was the voice of two talking beer mugs, Shultz and Dooley, in a television advertisement for Utica Club beer, between 1959 and 1964. He also represented the Hefty brand of trash bags in advertisements.

He cut numerous comedy albums for Verve Records. One of his characters during the 1960s was of Maude Frickert, an old woman whose behavior was outrageous and unbecoming of a woman her age.

He became popular in ‘The Tonight Show’ hosted by Jack Paar between 1957 and 1962. In a prank, he even pretended to be President Kennedy over the telephone, on the show.

He continued his association with ‘The Tonight Show’ after Johnny Carson became the host. He would appear disguised as a character, leaving it for Carson to guess, during a mock interview.

In the 60s and 70s, he appeared regularly on ‘The Dean Martin Show’, ‘The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast’, ‘The Andy Williams Show’, ‘The Steve Allen Show’, ‘The Garry Moore Show’, and ‘The Hollywood Squares’.

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In the final season of the sci-fi comedy show, ‘Mork and Mindy’ in 1981, he was introduced as Mearth, Mork & Mindy’s child. His appearance in the show failed to prop up its ratings.

In the 1980s, he dubbed for many television and film characters. He lent his voice to Grandpa Smurf in ‘Smurf’, to Bigelow in the film, ‘Pound Puppies’, and in the cartoon series Yogi's Treasure Hunt.

He starred in the 1994 superhero film, ‘The Shadow’ as Wainwright Barth, a serious cop and uncle of the protagonist Lamont Cranston (‘The Shadow’), played by Alec Baldwin.

In the ABC television sitcom, ‘Life with Bonnie’, that aired from 2002 to 2004, he guest starred as a writer with multiple personalities, and was nominated for an Emmy award.