{{short description|American actor (1921–2009)}} {{Infobox person | image =Jan Leighton.jpg | imagesize = | caption = | alt = | birth_name =Milton Lichtman | occupation =Actor | birth_date =December 27, 1921 | birth_place =The Bronx, New York, U.S. | death_date ={{death date and given age|2009|11|16|87}} | death_place =Manhattan, New York, U.S. | years_active =1949–2009 | spouse =Lynda Myles | children =2 }}
'''Jan Leighton''' (December 27, 1921 - November 16, 2009) was an American actor and model who appeared in more than 3,000 roles. He specialized in portraying historic characters, but also worked as a voice actor and hand model. He was credited by the Guinness Book of World Records with having played more roles than any other actor.
==Life and career==
===Early years=== Leighton was born in The Bronx, New York as '''Milton Lichtman''' in 1921. He would later change his professional name to Jan Leighton in 1949 to de-emphasize his Jewish heritage in order to get more work.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/theater/28leighton.html?_r=0 | work=The New York Times | first=Bruce | last=Weber | title=Jan Leighton, Actor Who Played Everyone, Dies at 87 | date=2009-11-28}}</ref> His father owned a fleet of taxis, and his mother was a housewife. He attended Aviation High School, but left school at age 17 to work as a mechanic for an aeronautics firm. He joined the U.S. military during World War II, working as a physical training instructor.<ref name=NYM/> He briefly attended the University of Mexico in Mexico City after the war, but moved to El Paso, Texas after six months. While living in Texas, he received government funding to attend an acting workshop in New York.<ref name=NYM/>
===Stage and television actor=== Leighton began his acting career appearing in live television dramas and in theater. He was described as "a large, broad-shouldered man with an amiable face."<ref name=NYT2/> He won a small role in the Broadway production, ''Home Is Tomorrow'' and roles in the television series, ''Robert Montgomery Presents'', ''Kraft Television Theater'', ''Studio One'' and ''Man Against Crime''.<ref name=NYM/><ref name=imdb>{{cite web|title=Jan Leighton|publisher = IMDB|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0500353|accessdate=2009-11-28}}</ref> In 1960, he appeared on Broadway with Lucille Ball in ''Wildcat''.<ref name=NYT/>
===Portrayal of historic characters=== Leighton later developed a career as an impersonator of historic characters in numerous media—television and print advertisements, industrial and training films, radio, personal appearances and at least one feature film.<ref name=NYT2/><ref name=NYT/> To prepare for a role, Leighton read biographies on the subject and studied any available reproductions of the subject's appearance and voice.
In 1988, Leighton told ''The New York Times'' that "getting" the voice was the key to unlocking the rest of the personality. He said, "By adjusting my face, body and voice, I can be anyone in history. It's my calling."<ref name=NYT2>{{cite news|title=Among Records, A Record Holder|newspaper=The New York Times|date=1988-05-11|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/11/garden/among-records-a-record-holder.html}}</ref> Leighton also created his own costumes.<ref name=NYT2/> He maintained a prop and wardrobe collection arranged by character and period in his crammed Manhattan apartment; the collection included 121 pairs of shoes, 203 wigs, 197 hats, 71 pairs of glasses, 36 pipes, ten togas, and three inkwells.<ref name=NYM/>
He was credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the actor who had played the most roles.<ref name=NYT/> In 1988, Guinness credited him as the man with the most disguises, having played 1,200 famous people in television and print advertisements, and 1,800 more on radio.<ref name=NYT2/> At a gathering of 32 Guinness record-holders in 1988, Leighton appeared in full costume as General George Patton.<ref name=NYT2/>
In May 1989, ''New York'' magazine published a feature story on Leighton, calling him the "Man of a Thousand Faces."<ref name=NYM>{{cite news|author=Bernice Kannner|title=Man of a Thousand Faces: Jan Leighton, Master of Disguise|work=New York|pages=20–21|date=1989-05-29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HegCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 }}</ref> He told the magazine that he avoided costume parties:<blockquote>"I never go to costume parties. That's a busman's holiday. Heaven for me is to lie in bed stark naked with no costume -- living in my own face and not someone else's -- and luxuriate in my own skin."<ref name=NYM/></blockquote>
By the end of his career, Leighton had reportedly professionally portrayed 3,372 historic notables.<ref name=Home>{{cite web|title=Jan Leighton Home Page|publisher=Jan Leighton|url=http://www.janleighton.com/index_new12_1024_p1.html|accessdate=2009-11-28|archive-date=2010-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129085802/http://www.janleighton.com/index_new12_1024_p1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In its obituary of Leighton, ''The New York Times'' called him the "Actor Who Played Everyone."<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|author=Bruce Weber|title=Jan Leighton, Actor Who Played Everyone, Dies at 87|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2009-11-27|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/theater/28leighton.html?ref=obituaries}}</ref>
An acting publication, ''SAGWatch'', wrote of Leighton: "You'd never know it from his IMDB page, but the Guinness Book of Records says Jan Leighton played more different roles than any other actor in history. ... He was known as an actor who would go anywhere to do any role, in any medium. His website noted 'If you call Jan Leighton at 10 in the morning from New York City, he can show up and play the person before lunch–in full costume!'"<ref>{{cite web|title=HIS RECORD MAY NEVER BE BROKEN|publisher=SAGWatch|date=2009-11-28|url=http://www.sagwatch.net/|accessdate=2009-11-29}}</ref>
===Hand model and voice actor=== In addition to his work portraying historic figures, Leighton also worked as a hand model and voice actor. His hands were transformed into the Ford logo in a long-running advertisement for the automobile company. He was also the trilling voice of the "R-r-r-olling Wr-r-r-iter" pen. He also provided the voice for a talking Spalding golfball, "I'm a Spalding dot ... and this guy can hit me a helluva long way if he wants to."<ref name=NYM/>
===Representative roles=== Some of the historic and fictional figures Leighton portrayed:
* Leonardo da Vinci and Henry Kissinger on covers of ''New York'' magazine * Uncle Sam on the cover of ''Time'' magazine * William Shakespeare in a skit on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' * Confucius and others on the jacket of Gore Vidal's book ''Creation'' * Fidel Castro, lighting a cigar, in a commercial for Bic lighters * Alexander Hamilton in a commercial for Cheerios * Mr. Whipple's twin in a commercial for Charmin toilet paper * Johann Sebastian Bach in a beer commercial * Albert Einstein in a commercial for a California Toyota dealership * Dracula in a commercial for a mobile telephone company * Frankenstein's monster in a commercial for cough syrup * John Wayne on the 1981 hit disco single "Get Tough" by Kleeer * Abraham Lincoln in a commercial for a Minnesota bank * Robert E. Lee in a commercial for an Arizona department store * Clark Gable, Groucho Marx, Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt, complaining about check charges, in a series of commercials for a bank<ref name=NYT/> * Albert Einstein in the 1982 motion picture ''Zapped!''<ref>{{cite web|title=Full cast and crew for "Zapped"|publisher=imdb.com|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084945/fullcredits#cast}}</ref>
===Author=== Leighton and his daughter, Hallie, co-authored the book ''Rare Words and Ways to Master Their Meanings: 500 Arcane But Useful Words for Language Lovers'' in 2003,<ref>{{cite book|author=Jan Leighton & Hallie Leighton|title=Rare Words and Ways to Master Their Meanings: 500 Arcane But Useful Words for Language Lovers|year=2003|publisher=Levenger Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYsSOTGDAcYC&q=Rare+Words+and+Ways+to+Master+Their+Meanings | isbn=978-1-929154-12-8}}</ref> and a 2008 sequel titled ''Rare Words II and Ways to Master Their Meanings''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jan Leighton & Hallie Leighton|title=Rare Words II II and Ways to Master Their Meanings|publisher=Levenger Press|year=2009|url=http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=category=14-238%7clevel=2-3%7cid=6099}}</ref> Charles Osgood called the first book "both rare and well done".<ref>The comment by Osgood is contained on the back cover of the book, which is linked above.</ref> The books' publisher also issued a series of flash cards, "Rare Fare," with words and rhymes from ''Rare Words II''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rare Words II and Rare Fare Cards|publisher=Levenger Press|url=http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=category=16-776%7clevel=2-3%7cpageid=6605|accessdate=2009-12-02}}</ref>
===Family and death=== Leighton was married four times, including actress/Emmy Award-winning writer Lynda Myles, his co-star in ''The World Turned Upside Down''. His first marriage ended with an annulment, and the others ended in divorce. In November 2009, Leighton died due to complications from a stroke at age 87.<ref name=NYT/> Leighton was survived by a daughter, Hallie Leighton, and a son, Ross Leighton.
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leighton, Jan}} Category:1921 births Category:2009 deaths Category:American male film actors Category:Male models from New York (state) Category:American male television actors Category:American male voice actors Category:20th-century American male actors Category:21st-century American male actors Category:American impressionists (entertainers) Category:Jewish American male actors Category:Jewish male models Category:Male actors from the Bronx Category:Comedians from the Bronx Category:20th-century American comedians Category:21st-century American comedians Category:20th-century American Jews Category:21st-century American Jews