Jonathan Winters, Jonathan Winters Screenprint on Canvas Painting Umbrellas Hollywood Star Pop Art, 1988 (2024)

This is a mixed media print on canvas by beloved comedian and artist Jonathan Winters.
This one depicts a surrealist bird with umbrellas
Artist: Jonathan Winters
Medium: Mixed media print on canvas; hand embellished
Signature: Signed by the artist in gold paint pen, lower right
from A/P edition of 25 signed in gold paint pen; original plates have been destroyed

Condition: Excellent Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, and artist. Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label. He also had records released every decade for over 50 years, receiving 11 Grammy nominations, including eight for Best Comedy Album, during his career. From these nominations, he won the Grammy Award for Best Album for Children for his contribution to an adaptation of The Little Prince in 1975 and the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album for Crank(y) Calls in 1996.
With a career spanning more than six decades, Winters also appeared in hundreds of television shows and films, including eccentric characters on The Steve Allen Show, The Garry Moore Show, The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters (1972–74), Mork & Mindy, Hee Haw, and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. He also voiced Grandpa Smurf on The Smurfs TV series from 1986 to the show's conclusion in 1989. Over twenty years later, Winters was introduced to a new generation through voicing Papa Smurf in The Smurfs (2011) and The Smurfs 2 (2013). Winters died nine days after recording his dialogue for The Smurfs 2; the film was dedicated in his memory.
In 1991, Winters won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Gunny Davis in the short-lived sitcom Davis Rules. 1999 saw Winters become the 2nd recipient of the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2002, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as Q.T. Marlens on Life with Bonnie. Winters was presented with a Pioneer TV Land Award by Robin Williams in 2008.
Winters also spent time painting and presenting his artwork, including Surrealist silkscreens and sketches, in many gallery shows. He authored several books. His book of short stories, titled Winters' Tales (1988), made the bestseller lists.
Winters was born in Dayton, Ohio, to Alice Kilgore Rodgers, who later became a radio personality, and her husband Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an insurance agent who later became an investment broker. He was a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio (now part of JPMorgan Chase). Of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry. Winters had described his father as an alcoholic who had trouble holding a job. His grandfather, a frustrated comedian, owned the Winters National Bank, which failed as the family's fortunes collapsed during the Great Depression.
During his senior year at Springfield High School, Winters quit school to join the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17 and served two and a half years in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Upon his return, he attended Kenyon College. He later studied cartooning at Dayton Art Institute.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Winters acted in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), had a weekly CBS show called The Jonathan Winters Show from 1967 to 1969, and appeared in Viva Max! (1970).[3] Additionally, he was a regular (along with Woody Allen and Jo Anne Worley) on the Saturday morning children's television program, Hot Dog in the early 1970s.
Winters received eleven Grammy nominations during his career, including eight for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album; he won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album for Crank(y) Calls in 1996.
In 1999, he was awarded the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, becoming the second recipient.
In 2004, Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time ranked Winters as the #18 greatest stand-up comedian.
Winters lived near Santa Barbara, California, and was often seen browsing or "hamming" for the crowd at the antique and gun shows on the Ventura County fairgrounds. He often entertained the tellers and other employees whenever he visited his local bank to make a deposit or withdrawal. Additionally, he spent his time painting and attended many gallery showings, even presenting his art in one-man shows.
With his round, rubber-faced mastery of impressions (including ones of John Wayne, Cary Grant, Groucho Marx, James Cagney, and others) and improvisational comedy, Winters became a staple of late-night television with a career spanning more than six decades. He named James Thurber's sophisticated absurdity as influential and said he idolized writers with a gift for humor.
Winters was an inspiration for performers such as Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Tracey Ullman, Lily Tomlin, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, and Jimmy Kimmel. Robin Williams credited Winters as his comedy mentor, and the two co-starred on Mork & Mindy.
Filmography
The New Scooby-Doo Movies as Himself and Maude Frickert
The Muppet Show (season 4, episode 16)
Mork & Mindy (recurring role) as Mearth
Alice in Wonderland (in two-part TV film) as Humpty Dumpty (voice)
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle as Whoppa Chopper Pilot / Ohio Cop with Bullhorn
National Lampoon's Cattle Call as Thomas the Studio Tour Guide
The Little Prince (featured in an adaptation with Richard Burton)
The Smurfs (voice of Papa Smurf)
Jonathan Winters' Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (in conjunction with the film of the same name)
Jonathan Winters: The Lost Episodes (VHS) (rare TV footage from the 1950s and 1960s including Mickey Rooney, Art Carney, Dinah Shore, Jack Paar, Louis Nye and others)
Certifiably Jonathan (DVD) (features Howie Mandel, Tim Conway, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman and others)
Hang-Ups: Paintings by Jonathan Winters (1st edition 1988) (hardcover) featuring his own personal surrealism. less