RIP: Calvert DeForest, aka Larry "Bud" Melman

Calvert DeForest, the white-haired, bespectacled nebbish who gained cult status as the oddball Larry ``Bud'' Melman on David Letterman's late night television shows, has died after a long illness.

The Brooklyn-born DeForest, who was 85, died Monday at a hospital on Long Island, Letterman's ``Late Show'' announced Wednesday.

He made dozens of appearances on Letterman's shows from 1982 through 2002, handling a variety of twisted duties: dueting with Sonny Bono on ``I Got You, Babe,'' doing a Mary Tyler Moore impression during a visit to Minneapolis, handing out hot towels to arrivals at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.



``Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself -- a genuine, modest and nice man,'' Letterman said in a statement. ``To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him.''

The gnomish DeForest was working as a file clerk at a drug rehabilitation center when show producers, who had seen him in a New York University student's film, came calling.

He was the first face to greet viewers when Letterman's NBC show debuted on Feb. 1, 1982, offering a parody of the prologue to the Boris Karloff film ``Frankenstein.''

``It was the greatest thing that had happened in my life,'' he once said of his first Letterman appearance.

DeForest, given the nom de tube of Melman, became a program regular. The collaboration continued when the talk show host launched ``Late Show with David Letterman'' on CBS in 1993, though DeForest had to use his real name because of a dispute with NBC over ``intellectual property.''

Cue cards were often DeForest's television kryptonite, and his character inevitably appeared in an ill-fitting black suit behind thick black-rimmed glasses.

DeForest often drew laughs by his bizarre juxtaposition as a ``Late Show'' correspondent at events such as the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway or the anniversary Woodstock concert that year.

His last appearance on ``Late Show,'' celebrating his 81st birthday, came in 2002.

DeForest also appeared in an assortment of other television shows and films, including ``Nothing Lasts Forever'' with Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.

At his request, there will be no funeral service for DeForest, who left no survivors.