Grammy Award Winner John Strauss, Writer of 'Car 54, Where Are You' Theme, Dies

By The Editors at AOL News Posted Feb 18th 2011 02:00PM

John Strauss, who penned the theme song to the 1960s comedy TV series 'Car 54, Where Are You?,' has died in Los Angeles at the age of 90.

A music editor as well as composer, Strauss had a long career that included an Emmy Award for sound editing in 1977's 'The Amazing Howard Hughes' and a Grammy Award for best classical album for 1984's 'Amadeus.' The latter film won an Oscar for Best Picture and included a brief shot of Strauss playing a conductor.

He also worked as a music editor for the 1980's hit 'The Blues Brothers'; Woody Allen's films 'Take the Money and Run,' 'Bananas' and 'Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)'; and NBC's television series 'L.A. Law.'

Strauss was born in New York on April 28, 1920. He served in France and North Africa during World War II, then returned home to study under Paul Hindemith at the Yale School of Music, according to Reuters. He married actress Charlotte Rae, with whom he collaborated on cabaret shows, but the couple divorced in 1975. His relationship afterward, with artist Lionel Friedman, ended in 2003 with Friedman's death.

Strauss' son, Larry Strauss, said his father died Monday night at a nursing home from Parkinson's disease complications. In addition to his son, he is survived by three grandchildren.

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Comments

(12)

Friday 18 February

By SUSAN

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"There's a holdup in the Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights.
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
That's backed up to Jackson Heights.
There's a scout troop (short of) child,
Khruschev's still at Idlewild!
Car 54, where are you?"

Loved that show! RIP, Mr. Strauss.

By maxiesmom067

RIP Mr. Strauss.

By p curley

I always thought the lyric was "Khruschev's DUE at Idelwield", and "a scout troop short a child".

By Laura H. Salovitch

Did you notice in the video clip that one of the leads was played by Fred Gwynne, who later went on to star as Herman in "The Munsters?" I neer knew that.

Amazing what you can learn from this thing.

Saturday 19 February

By mhdjl

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If you ever get to see any episodes, you will also see Grandpa from the "Munsters", Al Lewis.

By Graydon

Ooo! Ooo! I loved the Gunther Toody character!

Whoops. I meant I *never* knew that.

By old enough to remember

Laura, if you ever get to watch an old episode, you will also see Al Lewis, who played Grandpa in "The Munsters".

By Jud

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Two very funny guys. Did you know that the actual car 54 was red? Show was filmed in B%W so you thought is was a regular police car in the show but it was Red and White. They were filiming one day on either 77th or 78th street in a candystore. At least when you are a kid it was a candystore. It had a counter where you could order food or soda's We wanted to be in the show and we would not get out of the store while they were filming. We never made it in the show. Guess we were edited out. Too bad for us as we watched so we could find ourselves and say we were in a TV show. It was very cool to watch the filming of the show. The red and white cop car was something else. We asked why and they said so it would not be mistook for a real cop car if something was going on for real.

By Laura

@Jud:
What a fantastic story! Sorry you ended up on the cutting-room floor. But maybe it's just as well. Probably would've gone to your head.

By Joye Lange

I REMEMBER THAT SONG,AND THE SHOW. R.I.P. MR. STRAUSS.

Sunday 20 February

By YellowRose3218

I remember seeing this show when I was about 5 years old.
All of my brothers used to watch it with our father, they liked this show a lot.
RIP Mr. Struss.

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