You may not know who Tom Poston is. In fact, you’re probably wondering to yourself if this is someone you’d even recognize. Character actors like Poston often live life in a world of ambiguity, and yet each time you saw him on screen you knew something good could potentially happen. With a career spanning 50 years in the entertainment industry chances are you’ve run across the man’s work. At the age of 85, and the end of a tremendous career and life, Postman passed away at his Los Angeles Home.
Poston had an everyman charm that was put to frequent use in his roles. Along with Don Knotts, ‘The Steve Allen Show’ hired Poston for “man on the street” interview segments. This was the beginning of a career that would span the greatest times in television. Among those times is his greatest role as George Utley, the clueless handyman that always seemed unable to fix the simplest of problems at the inn Bob Newhart ran in ‘Newhart.’ Newhart was a close friend of Poston’s, even bringing him along on his next series ‘Bob’ as the main character’s former college roommate.
”Tom was always the `go-to guy' on `Newhart' in addition to being a good and longtime friend," Newhart said in a statement.
His wife Suzanne Pleshette, who had a brief fling with Poston in the 50’s before both went on to marry other people, survives Poston. Both widowed the couple found each other again in 2000. Pleshette was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2006, which her doctors said was caught early. Besides Pleshette, Poston is survived by his children Francesca Poston, Jason Poston and Hudson Poston. A private service is being held for the family, a public memorial service will be announced later.
