'Bewitched' Actor David White Forever Mourned the Tragic Pan Am/Lockerbie Death of His Son

Photo byClassic TV Preservation Society

[Note: The quotes and commentary that appear in this article are from an interview the author conducted with David White in 1989.]

Backstory

Actor David White, who died in 1991, found great success for his best-known and likable performance as the devious advertising executive Larry Tate on the classic TV sitcom, Bewitched (ABC, 1964-1972).

However, White experienced much tragedy in his life. Namely, his wife Mary Welch died when she was only 35. Then, decades later, White lost their only son, Jonathan.

A Closer Look

David White was born on April 4, 1916, in Denver, Colorado. He and his family eventually relocated to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, while White would later attend and graduate from Los Angeles City College.

White made his live stage debut at the Pasadena Playhouse and the Cleveland Play House. A World War II Marine Corps veteran, White's charismatic stance made quite an impression on the Broadway stage.

Tragedy Strikes

In 1952, David White wed actress Mary Welch, who performed in many successful Broadway productions. A member of Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio, she would go on to open her own school called The Welch Workshop.

White and Welch, who had one son named Jonathan, had a sole performance together in a regional theater production of Tea and Sympathy.

However, in 1958, Welch died of complications from their second pregnancy. After

After his wife's demise, White and his son relocated to Hollywood where he commenced a career in movies. In 1957, he made his big-screen debut with Tony Curtis, Barbara Nichols, and Burt Lancaster in The Sweet Smell of Success.

White's other feature films include The Apartment, Sunrise at Campbello, and Brewster’s Millions.

Before Bewitched

Before being cast as Larry Tate on Bewitched, opposite Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha, the witch-with-a-twitch Stephens, the two actors worked together in an acclaimed episode of The Untouchables crime-drama.

After Bewitched was canceled in 1972, White went on to make guest appearances on sitcoms like Rhoda and played J. Jonah Jameson in the short-lived but ground-breaking 1977 CBS TV adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man.

Tragedy Strikes Again

On December 21, 1988, the Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York exploded in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland. The horrific result: all 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard were killed, as well as 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground.

A bomb hidden inside an audio cassette player detonated in the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. The disaster, which became the subject of Britain’s largest criminal investigation, was believed to be an attack against the United States. One hundred eighty-nine of the victims were American - and that included David White's son, Jonathan White.

One Loss After the Next

In his later years, a despondent David White lived as a recluse in a modest home in the San Fernando area of Los Angeles. In an exclusive interview in May of 1989, one year after his son's tragic demise, the actor mentioned how then-super-popular rock-pop star Madonna would visit her friend and White's next-door neighbor, the actress/comedian Sandra Bernard.

Although despondent over the loss of his son, White found a measure of humor and a welcome distraction in observing the visit of music superstar Madonna to his humble neighborhood.

As White noted in 1989, "There she was, Madonna, pulling up on my street in her long black limousine, visiting Sandra. It was quite a site to see."

However, after the horrific loss of his son, White was never the same again. "I'll never get over losing Jonathan," he said. "He was the center of my life."

White passed away two years later, in 1991, from a heart attack.

A Magical, Immortal Tribute

David White experienced much grief in his life, first with the loss of his wife, and then the death of his son.

In retrospect, and in one way, a tribute to Jonathan White appears on Bewitched. White loved his son so much that, while working on the show in the 1960s, the actor asked that his TV character Larry Tate have a son named Jonathan.