Baby Boomer Alert: Happy Birthday to “The Cowardly Lion,” Actor Bert Lahr! (VIDEO)

Happy Birthday (August 13, 1895) to Bert Lahr!

Actor Bert Lahr was already a well established actor before he ever signed to portray the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz."  He was one of the biggest names in vaudeville and made his film debut in 1931 in "Flying High."

Lahr was a zany, physical comic who had several trademarks moves or gestures in his schtick.  "Heavens to Mergatroid" was a favorite saying of his as well as rolling his eyes and shouting "gong gong gong."

He was signed to play the Cowardly Lion in July of 1938 when he was 43 years old.  Of course it would be the singular iconic role of his half century in show business.  An interesting factoid about the role is that the costume he wore was actually made out of lion hair and was unbearably hot.

Bert Lahr, like so many of the old veterans of the vaudeville era, Lahr literally died in the spotlight.  He was filming the movie "The Night They Raided Minksky's" in 1967.  The film was more than half finished and a double was used to complete the movie.

Late in his life Bert Lahr was signed to be the spokesman for Lay's Potato Chips in their famous "I'll bet you can't eat just one" advertising campaign.  It made him popular with a whole new generation of young television viewers.

He died December 4, 1967.