Harry Anderson

Harry Anderson met Leslie Pollock early in his career, when he was still performing on the streets. Leslie too, was a performer and was an expert in mentalism acts. Since they had similar interests, they started dating and eventually joined hands to come up with acts of their own.

He married Leslie in 1977 and had two children with her. Leslie would often appear along with Anderson in important events and award shows. She was also spotted at the 39th ‘Primetime Emmy Awards,’ which was held in September 1987.

Though Anderson and Leslie were happy together initially, their marriage began to deteriorate in the early 1990s. It led to their separation and eventually the couple decided to make their separation legal by opting for a divorce in the year 1999.

Harry Laverne Anderson was born on October 14, 1952 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States of America. He had a difficult childhood as his father, who was working as a traveling salesman, would often stay away from the family. In the mid-1950s, Anderson’s parents got separated and he moved to Chicago along with his mother and his siblings.

His childhood was predominantly spent in Chicago. In order to make both ends meet, his mother reportedly worked as a hooker, which was vaguely confirmed by Anderson later in his life. ‘My mom was a hustler, she did a lot of things and had many men friends,’ he had said in one of his interviews.

In the late 1950s, Anderson’s mother moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, along with her children. She started working in Las Vegas, where she became one of the earliest female blackjack dealers of the town. Anderson’s mother was good at handling cards, so much so that he developed an interest and fascination towards cards after getting inspired by his mother’s work as a blackjack dealer.

In 1962, Anderson moved to California in order to live with his father. He was subsequently enrolled at ‘North Hollywood High School’ in Los Angeles. He then became one of the members of the popular ‘Dante Magic Club’ during his teenage years. He graduated high school in 1970 and was the valedictorian of his class.

During his late teens, Anderson had developed a penchant for performing simple tricks. In fact, he started making money by displaying his tricks on the streets. He ran a lucrative shell game business in San Francisco when he was still fairly young. He also started hanging around with con-men, who were responsible in teaching him various tricks.

Anderson did not take long to catch the attention of many with his amazing yet simple magical tricks. He became extremely popular as he often combined elements of comedy in his tricks. His popularity soon took him to places, including the television set of one of the most famous American variety shows, ‘Saturday Night Live.’

Anderson’s brand of magic and comedy became a hit among the viewers of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ which prompted the show’s producer Lorne Michaels to make more number of episodes featuring the young magician.

Anderson went on to appear in the show on eight occasions from 1981 to 1985. While performing the dangerous needle-through-the-arm trick in one of the episodes, Anderson accidentally pierced his arm when he was trying to explain about the trick to a viewer, who was worried about him performing the trick.

Anderson’s popularity grew through ‘Saturday Night Live,’ which earned him an opportunity to star as Harry Gittes in the popular sitcom, ‘Cheers.’ He then made his film debut in 1982, when he played Harry Masters in ‘The Escape Artist.’ However, his biggest breakthrough as an actor came in the year 1984, when he played Judge Harold Stone in NBC’s popular sitcom, ‘Night Court.’

He was seen in 193 episodes of ‘Night Court’ from 1984 to 1992, during which he was nominated at the prestigious ‘Primetime Emmy Awards’ for three consecutive years. Meanwhile, he went on to appear in several series, miniseries, mockumentaries, and television films.

In January 2018, Harry Anderson suffered several strokes after being affected by influenza. He never recovered from the disease and on April 16, 2018, Anderson breathed his last while sleeping at his Asheville residence in North Carolina. He was 65 years old at the time of his death. The news was confirmed by his friend Turk Pipkin, who said Anderson was hospitalized a few months back and that he remained sick as a result of the flu.