'Punky Brewster' patriarch George Gaynes dies

From: USA Today

George Gaynes, best known to TV viewers as the foster father to Soleil Moon Frye's Punky Brewster and her dog Brandon, has died at 98.

Gaynes was born George Jongejans in Helsinki in 1917 to a Russian artist mother and Dutch businessman father. He was raised in France, England and Switzerland and studied opera in Italy before World War II and a brief internment in Spain derailed his schooling. He spent the rest of the war serving in the Royal Dutch Navy.

At the war's end, he headed to America, where he performed with the New York City Opera, as well as Broadway, where he joined the cast of 1950's Out of This World.

1953 was a momentous year for him. He was cast in Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town, changed his last name to Gaynes and married actress Allyn Ann McLerie, with whom he spent the rest of his life.   They had a daughter, Iya, and a son, Matthew, a world-class kayaker who missed out on the Olympics due to the 1980 boycott. He died in a 1989 car accident in India.

The majority of Gaynes' career was spent in on the small screen, where he eked out a living doing TV movies and guest roles on shows like Columbo, Hawaii Five-0, Quincy, M.E. and the soap opera General Hospital.  Viewers recognized him but could never quite name him, making Gaynes the "Hey, It's That Guy" of his time.

The perpetual TV character actor's star rose with two films, 1982's Toostie and the Police Academy series, which spanned seven movies. (He also played a supporting role in 1973's The Way We Were.)

Then finally, 1984, at the age of 64, he graduated from character actor to leading man when he was cast as Chicago building manager-turned-foster dad Henry Warnimont. But it came at a cost: In an interview that year, he told  the New York Times, "The two things an actor dreads most are children and dogs. I have both in this series."

He played the role for four seasons, as well as in a short-lived animated spinoff. He would also find steady gigs on CBS' Hearts Afire and NBC's The Days of Nights of Molly Dodd, which allowed him to work alongside his wife.

Gaynes called it a career after 2003 Ashton Kutcher film Just Married. He spent several years of his retirement in Santa Barbara, Calif., before moving to Washington State to live with his daughter's family.

Soleil Moon Frye, his TV daughter, remembered Gaynes on Twitter Wednesday.

The universe just gained a gigantic star. You will be in my heart and soul always & forever. 

Your little Punky

RIP George Gaynes

— soleil moon frye (@moonfrye) February 17, 2016