Lorenzo Music
Gerald David "Lorenzo" Music (May 2, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was an American actor, composer, musician, performer, writer and producer. Music began his career in the 1960s with his wife, Henrietta, forming the comedy duo Gerald and His Hen. He then became a writer and a regular performer on the controversial CBS variety show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Also recorded as Gerald David Music
Lorenzo Music

Published on zenithcity.com by David Ouse · Public domain
- Born
- 1937. · Brooklyn.
- Died
- 2001. · Los Angeles.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- actor, writer, television producer, musician and screenwriter.
- Education
- University of Minnesota Duluth and Central High School.
- Honours
- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.
- Languages
- English.
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Gerald David "Lorenzo" Music (May 2, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was an American actor, composer, musician, performer, writer and producer. Music began his career in the 1960s with his wife, Henrietta, forming the comedy duo Gerald and His Hen. He then became a writer and a regular performer on the controversial CBS variety show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
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Lorenzo Music (1937–2001) was an American actor, musician and screenwriter, among other activities. Born in Brooklyn, the actor died in Los Angeles. Lorenzo Music studied at Central High School and University of Minnesota Duluth. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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In this article
Early life and career
Early life and career
In the 1970s, Music co-created the sitcom The Bob Newhart Show with David Davis and composed its theme music with his wife. He also wrote episodes for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda, and got a major voiceover role for playing the unseen, but often heard, Carlton the Doorman in Rhoda. Music gained fame in the 1980s for voicing Jim Davis's comic strip character Garfield in twelve animated specials, and later an animated series, video games, and commercials. His nostalgic, drawling voice as Garfield was imitated by later actors after his death in 2001.
Gerald David Music was born on May 2, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York City to Harry and Sophie (née Nessell) Music. He was six years old when his family moved to Duluth, Minnesota because of his father's job at one of the shipyards. His parents later divorced. He was a student at Central High School and then at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Music met his wife, Henrietta, in college at its Theatre Arts Department. Together, they had four children and formed a comedy duo, Gerald and His Hen, performing together for eight years, even performing at a USO show in Japan.
Garfield
Garfield
In the 1980s, Jim Davis's Garfield was the most popular comic strip in America since Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts. Compilation books and merchandising of the strip were topping best-seller lists, and Davis decided to develop an animated television special. The producers were hiring someone to voice the titular character in the strip, who was a fat, lazy, sarcastic, and lasagna-loving cat. The audition attracted several famed vocal talents, including Sterling Holloway, the voice of Winnie the Pooh. After one audition, Music was immediately cast as the voice of Garfield. Davis responded by saying: "I looked at the room full of [voice] actors, and then in the corner I saw Lorenzo, quietly licking himself". Music would serve as the voice of Garfield in all twelve specials, an animated series, video games, and commercials until his death in 2001.
Other work
Other work
Music also voiced characters for the animated series Pac-Man, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Fluppy Dogs, The Real Ghostbusters, Pound Puppies, TaleSpin, and Darkwing Duck. After Garfield and Friends ended in 1994, Music retired from voice acting for animation. Music did voice-overs for many commercials for prime-time TV, such as Larry the Crash Test Dummy in the "You Could Learn a Lot from a Dummy" public safety announcements sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation and for Florida grapefruit juice, a lesser-known series of commercials extolling Florida agriculture as opposed to the more popular "Florida orange juice" commercials. These commercials were animated by Jim Jinkins, and featured a prototype of the titular main character of Jinkins's later television series Doug. In keeping with his beliefs in Subud and its emphasis on charity, Music frequently volunteered his time on a suicide hotline. Music recalled that sometimes a caller would change his tone: "I am bankrupt, my wife ran off with another man... Hey, you sound just like that cat on TV!" Music's voice could be heard on Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America Volume Two, released as a CD by Rhino Records. Music appeared on the album as James Madison and Robert E. Lee. He also appeared as an intercom announcer on an episode of The Drew Carey Show. Music served as the voice-over for commercials for Ore-Ida Potatoes and Fruit and Cream Strawberry Twinkies. He later served as the pitchman for Ruggles Ice Cream.
Personal life
Personal life
Music was married to composer/writer Henrietta Music for forty-two years. Together they had four children.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1937
Lorenzo Music born at Brooklyn.
2001
Lorenzo Music died at Los Angeles.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Brooklyn.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
Writer
Music became a writer and a regular performer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour from 1967 to 1969 and won an Emmy Award for writing. He was a writer and story editor on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and he co-created The Bob Newhart Show with his writing partner, David Davis. The show ran on CBS from 1972 to 1978. He also co-wrote the theme song to the show with his wife. Music continued writing for The Mary Tyler Moore Show spin-off Rhoda, which he co-developed with Davis. While casting Rhoda, the producers were looking for a voice actor to play the part of Carlton, the comically unseen doorman. Music had no interest in being an actor, but the producers loved his sleepy, husky voice and offered him that role, which made his voice recognizable to a worldwide television audience. The character was popular enough to warrant a one-off single in 1975 called "Who Is It?" (b/w "The Girl in 510", United Artists UA-XW643-X), which became a regional hit. Music also co-produced and co-wrote a 1980 animated special titled Carlton Your Doorman, which won an Emmy Award. Though it was a pilot episode, CBS did not pick it up as a series. In 1976, Lorenzo and Henrietta were given the opportunity to host a syndicated television variety show of their own. The Lorenzo and Henrietta Music Show was produced at a time when there was a glut of television variety shows, but it did not last. In 1983, Music voiced Ralph the All-Purpose Animal in the stop-motion animated film Twice Upon a Time.
Death and legacy
Music died from complications related to lung and bone cancer on August 4, 2001, at the age of 64. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea. After Music's passing, Frank Welker took over as the voice of Garfield in three fully CGI films, an animated series, and the Nickelodeon crossover fighting video game All-Star Brawl. Bill Murray also voiced Garfield in two live-action films. Interestingly, Music had voiced Murray’s character, Peter Venkman, in the first two seasons of The Real Ghostbusters before being replaced by Full House star Dave Coulier. In that same series, Welker voiced Ray Stantz and Slimer. In 2024, Chris Pratt voiced Garfield in a reimagined CGI animated film, which departed from Music’s original vocal style for the character.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Lorenzo Music”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q143230: Lorenzo Music
Unverified · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Lorenzo Music – Actor, 64. The New York Times. Associated Press. August 8, 2001.
- 2.Lorenzo Music. Behind the Voice Actors.
- 3.Lorenzo Music. Zenith City Press. April 16, 2017.
- 4.Oliver, Myrna. Lorenzo Music; Voice of Garfield the Cat. Los Angeles Times. August 8, 2001.
- 5.Lorenzo and Henrietta Music College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences UMN Duluth. cahss.d.umn.edu.
- 6.Lorenzo Music, voice of Garfield, dies. Chron. Associated Press.
- 7.Oliver, Myrna. Lorenzo Music; Voice of Garfield the Cat. Los Angeles Times. 2001-08-08.
- 8.Evanier, Mark. Lorenzo Music, R.I.P. News From Me. August 5, 2001.
- 9.Lorenzo Music: Actor. IMDb.
- 10.Oliver, Myrna. Lorenzo Music; Voice of Garfield the Cat. Los Angeles Times. August 8, 2001.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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