Comedian & Game Show Icon Mitzi McCall Dies at 91
Comedian and game show icon Mitzi McCall passed away at the age of 91. Her longtime husband and show biz partner Charlie Brill confirmed the news on Facebook in a since-deleted post and wrote, “I lost my Mitzi last night. Rest in peace my one and only love … Rest in peace and laughter.”
McCall and Brill are best known for appearing on Match Game and Tattletales and famously followed the U.S. TV debut of the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964. Fans went wild for the Beatles and didn’t quite understand the comedic duo’s set that came after.
Years ago, the husband and wife pair recalled that night and said they couldn’t even hear each other over the audience screaming for the Beatles to come back out. So, they bombed, but McCall once called the experience “an honor. We were there when the world changed.”
Everett Collection
Born in Pittsburgh on Sept. 9, 1932, McCall spent her life as an entertainer and started when she was just a teen. She had her own local Kiddie Castle TV show before heading to Hollywood and made her national TV debut as a voice actor in The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse in 1955. She went on to appear with Jerry Lewis in You’re Never Too Young.
McCall was also seen in Machine-Gun Kelly, The Cry Baby Killer, The Twilight Zone, Maude, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. She did voice work in series such as The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show and The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang. She is also credited as a writer for iconic shows such as ALF and Charles in Charge.
She is survived by Brill and their daughter, Jenny.
1968 Retrospective
January 2018
This special expanded issue celebrates all things pop culture in 1968.
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