Calvert "Larry 'Bud' Melman" DeForest

Lately I have been memorializing people who have made an impression on me through the years. People like Bowie Kuhn and Paul Denault are people I was aware of when I was a teenager growing up and held in high respect.

Then there is Calvert DeForest, also to be remembered as Larry “Bud” Melman. DeForest came along later, appearing on television for the first time on NBC’s David Letterman show in 1982. For over twenty years, DeForest was a running gag for Letterman. He was an older looking man with a funny voice. Just seeing his cherubic face made you laugh.

I have been thinking about DeForest off and on in recent years. In the late nineties, he was turning up in a lot of places. He was doing commercials and appearing in a movie or two. It was sometime in the late nineties where I saw he was making a personal appearance in Champaign, IL. It was not a speaking engagement, or a book signing. I no longer remember where he was to be, but they were simply promoting that he would be there, likely to visit and sign some autographs.

DeForest was pop culture. He will be a question for “Trivial Pursuit” games (Q: What was the name of the character popularized by Calvert DeForest?). He never won awards. He even lost his job for his art. He had been a file clerk at a drug rehab facility and was told he could no longer appear on television and work for them as well. Television won out. Maybe that’s why he was touring the country doing personal appearances.

Somewhere along the line, DeForest disappeared. We all knew he was older and could have become ill. His last appearance on Letterman’s show was on his 81st birthday in 2002. I worried that since DeForest was not a big star, we would miss hearing any news.

My worry was for naught. DeForest passed away Monday at the age of 85. Reports say he had suffered a long illness, but nowhere does it say from what he suffered. DeForest is at peace now, and we are lesser world without him. Still, if I close my eyes and listen, I can still hear him laugh.