Lorenzo Music
May 2, 1937 — August 4, 2001 — Brooklyn, New York / Los Angeles, California
Lorenzo Music was an American comedy writer, actor, and voice actor who co-created the CBS sitcom Rhoda, voiced the beloved unseen Carlton the Doorman on that same show, and then became the official voice of Garfield the cat in all animated productions from 1982 until his death — a voice so identified with the character that when it was recast after his death, many fans took notice.
A Writer Who Found His Voice
Born in Brooklyn on May 2, 1937, Lorenzo Music was born with the name Gerald David Music (he legally adopted "Lorenzo" later, inspired by a chance name on a delivery truck). After doing stand-up and sketch comedy in the early 1960s, he joined the writing staff of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where he worked alongside James L. Brooks and Allan Burns. When the show produced a spinoff — Rhoda (1974–1978), centered on Mary's friend Rhoda Morgenstern — Music was a co-creator and head writer. He also voiced Carlton the Doorman, an unseen character who spoke only through an intercom. Carlton never appeared on screen, yet Music won an Emmy Award for the performance in 1981 — one of the most unusual Emmy victories in television history.
The Voice of Garfield
When Jim Davis's comic strip cat Garfield was adapted for animated television specials and then the Saturday morning series Garfield and Friends (1988–1994), Music was cast as the voice of the lazy, lasagna-obsessed cat. His voice — warm, sardonic, slightly weary — fit the character perfectly, and he voiced Garfield in every animated production from 1982 to 2001, including the holiday specials that became perennial television fixtures. In a notable piece of casting irony, when the 1984 film Ghostbusters was adapted into the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, Music was cast as Peter Venkman (the character Bill Murray played in the film) — while Bill Murray himself would later voice Garfield in the 2004 live-action film after Music's death.
Did You Know?
The Emmy Award that Lorenzo Music won for voicing Carlton the Doorman was for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series — for a character who never appeared on screen. Carlton only spoke through an intercom, and viewers never saw his face. The Emmy recognized that a brilliant voice performance could carry an entire character. Music played the character with just the right mix of sleepy unhelpfulness and strange warmth, making Carlton one of the most fondly remembered supporting presences in 1970s television.
Legacy
Lorenzo Music died on August 4, 2001, in Encino, California, from lung cancer. He was sixty-four. Bill Murray, who took over the voice of Garfield in the 2004 film, said he took the role partly out of what he thought was loyalty to his friend Murray, confusing the producer's name. Music left behind a body of work that spanned television writing, performance, and voice acting across three of the most successful animated and live-action comedy properties of his era — a quiet achievement that becomes more impressive the longer you look at it.