Ed Williams, Ted Olson in Police Squad!, dies at 98

Ed Williams, the character actor best known for playing lab technician Ted Olson on the 1982 television series Police Squad! and its movie adaptations in The Naked Gun franchise, died Oct. 2 in Los Angeles. He was 98, his granddaughter Stephanie Williams confirmed, and his nephew announced the news online. Williams and Leslie Nielsen were the only performers to appear in both the original short-lived series and the subsequent feature films.

Born Edwin Wallace Williams on Nov. 26, 1926, in San Jose, California, Williams served in the U.S. Navy and began his career in local theater and radio, performing in more than 200 radio plays. He moved to Los Angeles in 1955 and took a position teaching at the Don Martin School of Radio and Television Arts and Sciences before joining the speech and broadcasting faculty at Los Angeles City College. He taught for 28 years and retired from teaching in 1989.

After a long break from auditioning, Williams resumed acting in the early 1980s while teaching speech courses and won the role of Ted Olson on Police Squad!, a rapid-fire parody of police procedurals created by Jim Abrahams and brothers Jerry and David Zucker. The television show ran for six...