Actor Calvert DeForest, best known for his role as Larry ⿿Bud⿿ Melman on the Letterman show, has
died at the age of 85.
The balding, bespectacled nebbish who gained cult status as the oddball Larry ⿿Bud⿿ Melman on David Letterman⿿s late-night television shows has died after a long illness. Brooklyn-born Calvert DeForest, who was 85, died Monday at a hospital on Long Island, the Letterman show announced Wednesday.
He made dozens of appearances on Letterman⿿s shows from 1982 through 2002, handling a variety of twisted duties: singing a duet with Sonny Bono on ⿿I Got You, Babe⿿; doing a Mary Tyler Moore impression during a visit to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where her 1970s show was set; handing out hot towels to arrivals at New York⿿s Port Authority Bus Terminal. Cue cards were often DeForest⿿s television kryptonite, and his character invariably appeared in an ill-fitting black suit behind thick, black-rimmed glasses.
⿿Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself ⿿ a genuine, modest and nice man,⿿ Letterman said in a statement. ⿿To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him.⿿
DeForest⿿s gnomish face was the first to greet viewers when Letterman⿿s NBC show debuted on Feb. 1, 1982, offering a parody of the prologue to the Boris Karloff film ⿿Frankenstein.⿿ ⿿It was the greatest thing that had happened in my life,⿿ he once said of his first Letterman appearance.
DeForest, given the nom de tube of Larry ⿿Bud⿿ Melman, became a program regular. The collaboration continued when the talk show host moved to CBS to launch ⿿Late Show with David Letterman⿿ in 1994. The Melman character opened Letterman⿿s first CBS show, too ⿿ but used his real name because of a dispute with NBC over ⿿intellectual property.⿿ DeForest, positioned inside the network⿿s familiar eye logo, announced, ⿿This is CBS!⿿
DeForest often drew laughs by his bizarre juxtaposition as a ⿿Late Show⿿ correspondent at events such as the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway and the Woodstock anniversary concert that year. His last appearance on ⿿Late Show⿿ came in 2002, celebrating his 81st birthday.
Rest in peace.
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