Jonathan Winters died last night of natural causes, reports The New York Times. The actor burst onto the big screen in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963, before joining The Carol Burnett Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. From 1967-69, he headlined The Jonathan Winters Show.
Winters was a regular on such animated TV series as Ed Grimley and Fish Police, while taking on guest roles in Garfield & Friends, Animaniacs, Captain Planet & the Planeteers, and Johnny Bravo. He also voiced the thief in the Miramax cut of Richard Williams’ The Thief and the Cobbler. Winters can be heard every Christmas season as the Narrator in Frosty Returns. But for many animation fans, it is Winters’ work in various Smurfs projects that will be remembered best. The actor voiced Grandpa Smurf in the ’80s cartoon series and its TV movie, ‘Tis the Season to Be Smurfy, before voicing Papa Smurf in the live-action/CGI The Smurfs and its sequel, to be released this summer.