Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Latka Gravas is a fictional character on the television sitcom Taxi portrayed by Andy Kaufman. A sweet-natured and lovable-but-goofy mechanic, Latka is an immigrant from an unspecified nation. [ 1 ] He was based on a character Kaufman created known as Foreign Man .
The Foreign Man character was changed into Latka Gravas for ABC's sitcom Taxi, appearing in 79 of 114 episodes in 1978–83. [citation needed] Bob Zmuda confirms this: "They basically were buying Andy's Foreign Man character for the Taxi character Latka." [23] Kaufman's longtime manager George Shapiro encouraged him to take the gig.
From 1980 to 1983, Kane portrayed Simka Dahblitz-Gravas, the wife of Andy Kaufman's character Latka Gravas, on the American television series Taxi. She has theorized that she was cast in Taxi in part due to her work in Hester Street , where a significant portion of her dialogue was spoken in Yiddish , since Simka speaks a fictional language ...
Greta Gravas (Susan Kellermann) (1979–1982), Latka's mother. She has a short fling with Alex, which causes friction with Latka. Phyllis Bornstein-Consuelos (Louise Lasser) (1980–1982), Alex's ex-wife, with whom he had a daughter. Phyllis became fed up with his lack of ambition and remarried, but they remain strongly attracted to each other.
Alex, fellow drivers Bobby Wheeler (Jeff Conaway) and Tony Banta , Sunshine mechanic Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman) and bystander John Burns (Randall Carver) take one anyway and drive non-stop to Miami. When Alex finds his daughter at Miami International Airport , he learns that Cathy has been told that he is living on a ranch in Montana and is ...
She also appeared in three episodes of Taxi as Greta Gravas, mother of the character Latka. She made her Broadway debut in 1979 in the play Last Licks for which she received a Theatre World Award .
Latka falls for Simka (Carol Kane in her first Taxi appearance), a girl from his native land, but prejudice gets in the way when it turns out she is one of the "mountain people," the most hated group in his country. Note: First appearance of Simka Gravas .
Kaufman agreed to appear as Latka Gravas in 14 episodes per season, approximately half of the entire series if Tony Clifton was also allowed to guest star in the series. The producers were well aware that "Clifton" was an alter ego of Kaufman but went along with the fiction that Clifton was a separate actor.