Tom Poston, the tall comic actor whose sly delivery mixed with a straight comic expression created some wonderful highpoints in television - and on occasion - film comedy, died of natural causes on April 30 in his Los Angeles home. He was 85.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, on October 17, 1921, Poston was a student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York shortly after serving in the Army during World War II. He made his Broadway debut in 1947 acting with the legendary Jose Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac. As a New York based actor, it wasn't long before he found work in many high quality, live anthology programs that were so popular in the early '50s: Studio One, Goodyear Television Playhouse, and Robert Montgomery Presents were just a few of the shows that showed him off to good effect. Still, it would be his great comic turn as the "perennial amnesiac," or better known as the man who simply could not remember his name for five seasons on the The Steve Allen Show (1956-61), that proved his ability as a unique comic actor. His perfect "deadpan" persona could leave audiences in hysterics with just the slightest of facial and hand gestures.

Unfortunately, he never really had a successful or busy film career despite his popularity on television. After appearing in a minor role in his film debut, City That Never Sleeps (1953) - he played the lead in a handful of quirky offbeat B-movies such as William Castle's Zotz! (1962) and The Old Dark House (1963). Probably his best movie role was as the pleasant, chain-smoking inebriate that Dick Van Dyke has to physically threaten to leave town so the locals can claim a huge cash prize in Norman Lear's cigarette satire Cold Turkey (1971). Yet the remainder of his film career would be stuck in strident, middling comedies: The Happy Hooker (1975), Rabbit Test (1978), Up the Academy (1980) and Carbon Copy (1981) - movies that weren't worthy of him.

Still, if the movie industry wasn't charitable to Poston, television certainly was. Specifically, his eight year run as the likable, but slightly bent handyman of a Vermont B&B, George Utley, in Newhart (1982-1990) was one of the best sitcoms of the 80s. Leave it to Poston to not only hold his own against the inimitable Bob Newhart, but keeping what could have been a one dimensional comic character fresh and vital after such a long run. After Newhart, you simply couldn't stop Poston from receiving guest offers from nearly all the hit sitcoms of the '90s: Home Improvement, Just Shoot Me!, Suddenly Susan, Dharma & Greg; and the new millennium: The Drew Carey Show, Will & Grace, That '70s Show, 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter. And even though the theatrical movies he made toward the end of his career were still not on par with his talents, he was always a welcoming presence in such titles as: Krippendorf's Tribe (1998), The Story of Us (1999), and his last film, Christmas with the Kranks (2004). He is survived by his wife of six years, the actress Suzanne Pleshette; and three children, Francesca, Hudson and Jason.

by Michael T. Toole