You knew him as Lenny Koznowski, the nasal, nerdish pal of Andrew "Squiggy" Squigman (David L. Lander) on the hit TV series Laverne and Shirley. Show-biz insiders knew Michael McKean as an intelligent, versatile actor and writer. Shedding himself of the "Lenny" image after Laverne and Shirley folded in 1983, McKean became involved in several ensemble comedy projects with such kindred spirits as Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest. In the 1984 "rockumentary" spoof This Is Spinal Tap, McKean played the cockney-accented heavy metal musician David St. Hubbins. Apparently McKean enjoyed posing as an Englishman, inasmuch as he has done it so often and so well since Spinal Tap, most recently as Brian Benben's snippish boss on the cable TV sitcom Dream On. In the early '90s, McKean was one of the stars of another, less memorable TV comedy, Grand, and appeared for two season on Saturday Night Live. He continues to land film roles, usually in comedies, including the successful The Brady Bunch Movie (1995).
by Hal Erickson
biography
