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Art Metrano

Art Metrano built a screen career around comic commitment: the ability to play foolishness with a straight face and let a routine become funnier through sheer persistence. Born in Bensonhurst on September 22, 1936, the American actor and comedian made his film debut as a truck driver in the 1961 Cold War thriller Rocket Attack U.S.A. Television gave Metrano room to develop his distinctive style. He appeared in episodes of Ironside, Bewitched and The Practice, as well as The Streets of San Francisco, and joined the regular cast of the short-lived CBS sitcom Loves Me, Loves Me Not in 1977. Yet some of his most characteristic work came outside conventional acting roles. During the early 1970s, he frequently appeared on talk and variety programs, particularly The Tonight Show, as The Great Metrano. The deliberately dubious “magician” performed absurd tricks—including making his fingers appear to jump from one hand to the other—while humming “Fine and Dandy.” The joke was simple, strange and sustained by Metrano’s deadpan control. His best-known film role arrived in 1985, when he played Ernie Mauser in Police Academy 2. He returned as Mauser in Police Academy 3 the following year, bringing his comedy to one of the era’s broadest ensemble franchises. A spinal injury in 1989 limited Metrano’s screen appearances while he underwent rehabilitation, though he returned to television a year later and continued taking guest appearances and small roles until retiring from acting in 2001. Between 1993 and 2001, he also toured his one-man show, “Jews Don't Belong on Ladders...An Accidental Comedy,” on an occasional basis. The show raised more than $75,000 for Project Support for Spinal Cord Injury, helping provide crutches, wheelchairs and other supplies for disabled people. After a final limited run of performances in 2008, Metrano retired. He died in 2021.