Coe Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Bye

George Coe, who I had no idea voiced Wodehouse on Archer, has died at the age of 86. Coe holds the distinction of being the first person fired from Saturday Night Live, getting a call out in the first episode and making a few more appearances before joining Chuck Cunningham, Cousin Oliver and Judy Winslow in the TV Penalty Box. Coe earned an Oscar nomination for his 1968 short film, a Bergman parody called The Dove. He played General Watson in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, who didn’t care, but surprisingly could tell, that Kate Mulgrew was a woman. He ran Network 23 on Max Headroom and played the patriarch of the Huntzberger clan on Gilmore Girls. He made two appearances on The West Wing as Senator Howard Stackhouse, whose titular filibuster held up healthcare legislation for the benefit of his autistic grandson, and who later considered a left-wing challenge to President Bartlet’s second-term nomination. Most recently, he voiced the heroin-addicted, much put upon valet of Sterling Archer.