Star Wars buffs would know that Jason Wingreen was the uncredited voice of Boba Fett in Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back. But only for a while. It only remained there for the original release and the 1997 re-release, but by the time the DVD rolled around in 2004, Boba’s voice had been re-dubbed by Temuera Morrison in order to create better continuity between the two trilogies. Anyway. Although I am certainly interested in Star Wars, that really had nothing to do with my interest in Jason Wingreen.
It so happens that Mr. Wingreen, who was 91 at the time that I met him at the Hollywood Show on February 11, 2012. It just so happens that he had also played the role of Harry Snowden, the bartender at Kelsey’s and eventual co-owner with Archie, in 26 episodes of All in the Family and then 63 episodes of Archie Bunker’s Place.
In addition, he starred in three episodes of The Twilight Zone, an episode of Seinfeld, 11 episodes of Matlock, plus The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Rockford Files, Happy Days, The Partridge Family, Columbo, Mission: Impossible, and the list goes on and on. In short, if you’ve ever seen TV, you’ve seen Jason Wingreen.
Meeting him was kind of a biggie for me. He was a nice guy with the reasonable price of $20, which included a free photo with him. You’d think all of those years dealing with Archie Bunker might have soured him, but he was still the same amiable guy that I know for a fact you’ve seen on TV.
Celebrities of the Winter 2012 Hollywood Show will continue…
Nice. I know him best from his appearances on “The Rockford Files.” His “Mission: Impossible” appearances were very minor.
Peter
September 8th, 2012