An Interview with Al Lewis: The many faces of Grandpa Munster
So when did you start becoming political, when did you start becoming in touch with things going on in the world?
I guess having been in my mother's household I was probably political at five or six. I don't know what you mean --what is "political?" It's all bullshit terminology. You're aware of bread and butter issues. How could I not be aware during the Depression that people were starving? And I was helping my mother sell apples. How could I not be aware? Forget that philosophical bullshit terminology, "you become aware." It hits you in the stomach and then a cop hits you on the head (laughs) -- you become aware!
From Alternative Press Review
An Interview with Al Lewis
The many faces of Grandpa Munster
(Best known as Grandpa Munster from the 1960s television show "The Munsters," Al Lewis talks about his acting career, his life-long involvement in social and political activism, and his thoughts on today's crop of radical activists in this entertaining and funny interview. This appeared in the Winter 1998 issue of Alternative Press Review. Al Lewis died February 3, 2006. He was 95.)
This interview with Al Lewis and SHADOW editors Chris Flash and A. Kronstadt took place on October 21, 1997
You may know him best as Grandpa Munster on The Munsters TV show, or as Officer Schnauzer on Car 54, Where Are You? I remember seeing Al Lewis in countless parts on almost every TV show I watched in the 1970s and 80s, from Lost In Space to The Night Stalker to Here's Lucy to Taxi, not to mention movies like They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and They Might Be Giants. I've always enjoyed his performances, whether comedic or dramatic (he was fucking hilarious in the Taxi episode!!) In recent months though, we've discovered that there's a lot more to Al Lewis than just playing TV and movie roles. Beside being a Talmudic scholar, Al Lewis has devoted his life to social and political activism from the 1930s through the present. Now at 87 years of age, Al Lewis has settled back in New York City, where he shares his insights, his razor sharp wit and viewpoints with a receptive audience on his radio show on listener-supported WBAI (Saturdays at noon, on 99.5 FM.), when he's not making movies.
Shadow: It's only recently that we found out there's more to Al Lewis than most people think.
Al Lewis: There's more to anybody. Just because you haven't noticed it, that's your problem, that's not mine.
Where did you grow up?
Upstate New York near the Canadian border, on a farm.
When did you first come to New York City?
About 1924. I lived in Brooklyn, Manhattan, never lived in Queens, never lived in the Bronx.