Biography

Les Podewell

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Lester Burton Podewell was born on November 3, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the son of Edwin L. Podewell (1881-1964) and Anna B. Birkgit (1881-1961). He met actress Beverly Ruth Younger (1915-1999) in the Eugene O'Neill play, The Straw, in which they both had roles. They married later that year in 1937. He was a Chicago actor who starred with everyone from Chuck Norris in Equinox (1985) to Stockard Channing in Meet the Applegates (1990) to John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991). His last movie role was that of the homeless elderly gentleman befriended by Bill Murray in the film Groundhog Day (1993). He performed work in radio episodes of Sky King, The Shadow and Little Orphan Annie. In 1985, Mr. Podewell got rave reviews for his performance in David Mamet's adaptation of Anton Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard" at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. He suffered a stroke and died at home on November 22, 1998 in Evanston, Illinois, USA.
- IMDb mini biography by: SAGE STEPS

An actor until the end, Mr. Podewell was taken to Evanston Hospital after his stroke. The neurologists who were trying to gauge his coherence asked him to name the president of the United States and to tell them how many fingers they were holding up. At the urging of his daughter Polly, he instead regaled them with the Player's Speech, a soliloquy from Shakespeare's Hamlet, which he last had performed in the 1930s.
Mr. Podewell struggled with crippling rheumatoid arthritis that left his hands and feet twisted. Despite that, his children recalled him as a father who practiced carpentry and was a handyman around the house.
Grandfather of Cathy Podewell.
Father of Polly and Bruce Podewell.
With the advent of TV, Lester did a two-year stint as the announcer for WLS-TV's Perspectives and appeared regularly on the local show Hawkins Falls. In the 1960s, Mr. Podewell taught at Patricia Stevens Career College. He also performed in local theater, including Sam Shepard's Fool for Love at Steppenwolf, The Sunshine Boys at Pheasant Run, and Arsenic and Old Lace at Arlington Park Theater with the Gabor sisters.

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