Young played architect Wilbur Post on the fondly remembered sitcom, which ran on CBS from 1961-1966. And no one can talk to a horse, of course. He has been a resident of the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) retirement community for over four years, reported People magazine.
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“I started a big lie”, he confessed in a 2001 interview with the Archive of American Television.
Young told the newspaper that Wilbur Post was bumbling while Mister Ed was wily. After his show was canceled (and radio was fading in general), Young assembled a comedy act and toured the U.S.
In fact, a piece of nylon thread was used to manipulate Mr Ed’s lips in the early episodes. He was very much interested in radio comedy programs and by the age of 17 he was already writing and performing his own show, “The Alan Young Show”, on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. radio variety comedy program. It aired until 1953 and also took home the Emmy Award for Best Variety Series in 1951. In animated cartoons, Young was a versatile utility man on numerous series (Batman The Animated Series, The Smurfs, Scooby Doo, Alvin and The Chipmunks, etc.) and in feature films (The Great Mouse Detective, The Blinkins) – not to mention his memorable roles as “Keyop” and “7-Zark-7” of G-Force in Battle of the Planets (the USA dub of anime hit Gatchaman).
More recent roles saw him reprise his role in The Time Machine role for a mini-sequel in 1993, and co-star with Eddie Murphy in 1994 film Beverly Hills Cop III. He even spent time as a lecturer in the church between acting. More recently, he appeared in guest roles on many shows over the year, from “THE LOVE BOAT” to “ER” to “PARTY OF FIVE”, and provided voice work for several video games, notably as Scrooge McDuck in DISNEY games.
Mister Ed has remained popular forever. Two years ago, Young got into a packed elevator, faced the door and then softly sang the first line of its theme song: “A horse is a horse”. The marriage ended in 1947.
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Young married singer Virginia McCurdy in 1948 and had a son, Cameron Angus, and a daughter, Wendy. Information on survivors was not available.
