1. George Gaynes appeared as the curmudgeonly but lovable foster parent Henry Warnimont on the NBC series Punky Brewster; as high-powered theatrical producer Arthur Feldman on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd; as Senator Strobe Smithers in the hit TV show Hearts Afire; and as Frank Smith, the mob boss brought down by Luke Spencer and Laura Spencer on the soap opera General Hospital.
George Gaynes was born on May 16,1917, in Helsinki, in what was then the Grand Duchy of Finland, part of the Russian Empire, the son of Iya Grigorievna de Gay, a Russian artist of Finnish descent, and Gerrit Jongejans, a Dutch businessman.
George Gaynes graduated from the College Classique Cantonal near Lausanne in 1937.
George Gaynes attended the Music School of Milan from 1938 to 1939, and many many years later trained at the Actors Studio in New York City from 1953 to 1958.
In 1940, George Gaynes lived in France, but after the Battle of France and the German occupation, he escaped to the Pyrenees, but was arrested by the Francoist Spain police.
In 1942 after his release, George Gaynes intended to return to the Netherlands to join the Dutch resistance against the Nazi occupation, but instead made his way to the United Kingdom to enlist in the Royal Dutch Navy.
On July 14,1946, George Gaynes was honorably discharged from the Royal Dutch Navy.
In 1946, George Gaynes returned to France, but an American theater director offered him a role in a Broadway musical and he moved to New York City later that year and became an American citizen in 1948.
George Gaynes appeared in the films The Way We Were, Nickelodeon, and Tootsie.
George Gaynes provided the voice for Henry in the animated version of the show.
George Gaynes appeared as high-powered theatrical producer Arthur Feldman on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, in which Gaynes' real-life wife, Allyn Ann McLerie, co-starred as his love interest, and as Senator Strobe Smithers in the hit TV show Hearts Afire.
George Gaynes appeared in one episode of the sci-fi television series Sliders as the old-aged version of Quinn Mallory, played by Jerry O'Connell.
George Gaynes died at his daughter's home in North Bend, Washington, on February 15,2016, at the age of 98.