Laverne & Shirley‘s David Lander Remembered by Michael McKean: ‘This Is a Loss Shared by All of Us’
Michael McKean says that the death of his longtime friend and Laverne & Shirley costar David Lander “is a loss shared by all of us, not just those who had the joy of knowing him.”
Lander died on Dec. 4, at age 73, after living for nearly four decades with multiple sclerosis. He and McKean actually met back in 1965, during acting classes at Carnegie Mellon University, where they first developed what would become their Lenny and Squiggy (fka “Ant’ny”) personae.
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In addition to their eight-season run as Laverne & Shirley‘s Leonard “Lenny” Kosnowski and Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman, the duo also both appeared on the big screen in Steven Spielberg’s 1941 and Robert Zemeckis’ Used Cars, as well as lent their voices to the animated TV series Oswald.
“Thanks for all of the kind condolences on David Lander’s passing,” McKean shared on Twitter, having previously posted a simple black-and-white photo of him and Lander. “You know this is a loss shared by all of us, not just those who had the joy of knowing him. If he made you laugh, he was your friend, too. Peace.”
Penny Marshall, who played the Happy Days spinoff’s titular Laverne DeFazio, died almost exactly two years ago, from diabetes-related complications.
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