Dick Wilson, a character actor who turned “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin” into a national catchphrase as exasperated shopkeeper Mr. Whipple in the TV commercial campaign that ran for more than two decades, has died. He was 91.
Wilson died Monday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, announced Procter & Gamble Co., maker of Charmin tissue.
From 1964 to 1985, and again in 1999, Wilson portrayed Mr. Whipple in more than 500 commercials for the toilet paper.
500? That’s 5 full length motion pictures, if you think about it. Topic: Toilet paper. Hmmm.
The first ad was filmed in Flushing, N.Y., a bit of trivia that the former stand-up comedian liked to share in interviews.
Whose good idea was that? Sheesh. Surely, it sounds like a straight line in a Zucker Brothers film.
And stop calling me Shirley.
Ya know, I’d always thought him admirably surnamed… since he would have made an ideal “Mr. Wilson” in the “Dennis the Meanace” movie.
Lileks has a few things to say on the topic.
