Nickname:	Andy Kaufman / Baji Kimran / Tony Clifton /
Known for:	Heartbeeps, In God We Tru$t, God Told Me To
Birth name:	Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman
Birthday:	17 January 1949, New York, New York, USA
Height:	6' (1.83 m)

"Taxi" co-star Jeff Conaway decked him after the 1979 Golden Globes, when he insulted his co-stars. Graduated from Great Neck North High School in 1967. Attended Boston's Grahm Junior College. "Saturday Night Live" viewers voted him off the show forever in a call-in poll in 1982. Daughter, Maria Colonna, was born when Andy was 20, and his girlfriend was 17. Maria was put up for adoption, but later reunited with Kaufman's family, after tracing her biological parents in 1992. Of all Elvis impersonators, he was the REAL Elvis' favorite. R.E.M. wrote a song about him for their 1992 album "Automatic for the People" called "Man on the Moon". According to Jim Carrey as stated in "Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman", Kaufman created and originally played the "Tony Clifton" character. The secret kept for 15 years (according to Carrey) was that he did so only briefly and the character was soon passed off to Bob Zmuda (Kaufman's writer) Most of the TV appearances of Tony Clifton are actually Zumda, not Kaufman. Interred at Beth David Cemetery, Elmont (Long Island), New York, USA. Kaufman was renowned for bizarre stunts that were part of his stage performances, such as the time he took his entire Carnegie Hall audience out for milk and cookies, via 35 waiting buses. Museum of TV and Radio presented 90-minute film of Kaufman highlights to honor him posthumously in New York and L.A. in October, 1999. Although he died of lung cancer, Andy was very healthy. Andy had never smoked, did not drink regularly, and was a vegetarian. Along with his writing partner Bob Zmuda, he wrote "The Tony Clifton Story", a full length feature film about the adventures of his alter ego Tony Clifton, however after his movie "Heartbeeps" tanked at the box office, it was scrapped by the movie studios. When trying to bring his wrestling women act into the world of mainstream pro wrestling, Kaufman wanted to wrestle at Madison Square Garden for the World Wrestling Federation, but Kaufman's good friend Bill Apter, a head editor for several wrestling magazines, told him that Vince McMahon, Sr. would never go for such a thing, so they tried to talk to Apter's friend Jerry Lawler, which led to Andy's infamous feud with Lawler from 1982-83. Many people doubted Kaufman's death, thinking it was just another gag. Kaufman and Jerry Lawler's famous feud, including their infamous Late Night with David Letterman appearence, was all later confirmed as a setup and not real as many believed. Lip-synched the Mighty Mouse theme on the first episode of "Saturday Night Live." Shared the same birthday with Jim Carrey, who plays him in the film Man on the Moon. Was piledriven twice by Jerry Lawler Despite having his neck broken by Jerry Lawler's Piledriver, he still won the match they had (the Piledriver was illegal where they were wrestling, so Lawler had gotten disqualified, giving Kaufman the win). Had one granddaughter, Brittany Colonna, who played Andy's younger sister as a child in 'Man On the Moon' Diagnosed with a rare, large-cell, carcinoma lung cancer on December 11, 1983. Was the subject of the song "Andy Kaufman" by punk band The Bunkers [1995] According to wrestler Jerry Lawler, when they cleaned out Andy's house after his death, many uncashed checks from Mid-South Wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett were found. These were given as payment for his stint as a wrestler, and brings many to the conclusion that he didn't wrestle for the money, but rather for the love of it. Was a contestant on the Dating Game. His style of entertainment is now known as "performance art." His Tony Clifton character was supposed to appear on the Christmas episode of "Taxi" as Louie De Palma's brother, but "Tony" repeatedly pushed everyone's buttons and slowed down production until he was replaced (much to Andy's delight). He was the original creator of the format TV show "Andy's Funhouse" which has later re-vamped by Paul "Pee-Wee" Reubens into "Pee-Wee's Playhouse." Reubens got permission from Kaufman himself right before his death. Before Andy Kaufman, there was no real way to describe what he did. Now it has been coined as "performance art" and many people imitate his style of "entertainment." On the DVD "Best of R.E.M., The" (2003), Andy Kaufman appears on the videos "The Great Beyond" (originally released in 1999), and "Man On The Moon" (originally released in 1992). The video "The Great Beyond", which originally featured clips of Jim Carrey performing as Andy Kaufman on the movie Man on the Moon (1999), was modified on the DVD "Best of R.E.M., The" (2003) by clips of the original Andy Kaufman. Was working on a novel loosely based on his life that weaves in and out of reality titled The Huey Williams Story but had to stop because of his illness. He was such a hardcore Elvis fan that he drove into a town that had an Elvis movie playing, with a TV set, so that he could plug in the set somewhere to see the movie on television! One of his most famous performances was on the 1975 summer replacement show "Van Dyke and Company", hosted by Dick Van Dyke. As his "Foreign Man", he did two very poor celebrity impressions, and then broke into a dead solid perfect impression of Elvis Presley. After the audience gave him thunderous applause, he replied, in his "Foreign Man" voice, "Thenk yew veddy much!" The audience went into hysterics. Andy once joked about faking his own death and returning 20 years later. In 2004 several of his friends threw a "Welcome back Andy" -party. However, Andy Kaufman himself didn't show up. Was the world's very first inter-gender wrestling champ. Had a perfect undefeated track record and took home the belt. During the height of his Taxi fame, Andy worked part time at "The world famous Jerry's Deli" on Venture Blvd. in LA as a busboy just to stay grounded.

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