Schreiber
Comic and actor Avery Schreiber, who with partner Jack Burns was a fixture on TV in the 1960s and '70s, particularly for their taxi-cab routines, and who was known to younger viewers as the Doritos chip "cruncher," died Monday Jan. 7 of a heart attack at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was 66.
Burns and Schreiber often appeared often on such TV programs as "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "Hollywood Palace." They had their own summer comedy-variety series, "The Burns and Schreiber Show," on ABC in 1973.
After the duo went their separate ways, Schreiber became a fixture in Doritos commercials, appearing as a chef, sultan, judge, pilot or some other character who would be distracted by the loud crunch the chip made.
Recent TV credits included an episode of the CBS sitcom, "Becker," in 2000.
He also taught improvisational theater to Hispanic comedians and was working on a screenplay, "Julius and Ethel," about the Rosenbergs' 1950s espionage trial and execution. He especially enjoyed political satire and skewering politicians, particularly Richard Nixon. Among Burns and Schreiber's works was the album "The Watergate Comedy Hour."
Not all of Schreiber's work was comedy. He appeared onstage in both "Hamlet," and Ovid's "Metamorphoses." Other stage credits included "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "Can-Can," "Wally's Cafe," "Strike up the Band," "Showboat," "Sugar Babies," "Dreyfuss in Rehearsal," "Kelly" and "Fiddler on the Roof."
His last stage appearance was on Broadway in "Welcome to the Club," Cy Coleman's a 1989 musical about divorced men who refuse to pay alimony.
Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Rochelle, and a son and daughter.
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