Farewell, Captain Lou Albano

By at 8:41 pm Wednesday, Oct 14

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AP: "Captain Lou Albano dies at 76; wrestler appeared in Cyndi Lauper videos."

He may be best known for his roles in those early MTV classics, but I betcha don't know this, gamers: he also played "Mario" in "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show (1989-1991)," a live-action/animated kids' show based on the famous arcade game. Here's a trailer video, which shows Mr. Albano in that role -- and here's the credits, with Albano urging you to "Do the Mario!"

Image: detail of this photo, from LIFE. Related: one with Cyndi Lauper, and another here, 1984 (no photographer credit).

Update: Another YouTube gem. @EvilPRGuy reminds us of this fantastically bad anti-drug PSA Albano did in the '80s (in character as Mario), which warned that if you do drugs, "you'll go to hell before you die."

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Xeni Jardin

Boing Boing partner, Boing Boing Video host and executive producer. Xeni.net, Twitter, Google+. Email: xeni@xeni.net.

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