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Actor and comedian Jonathan Winters, 87, died last night of natural causes at his home.

Los Angeles Times obituary:

Born in Dayton, Ohio, on Nov. 11, 1925, he grew up to have a rubbery, moon-shaped face and pitch-perfect ear for speech patterns. Winters could slip into such diverse characters as a redneck ballplayer, a lisping child and a prissy schoolmarm.

Winters punctuated his comedy vignettes with realistically accurate sound effects -- a rotary phone being dialed, falling raindrops or a rushing subway. As he explained, "I try to paint verbal pictures."

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