Background
Graham was born Ronald Montcrief Stringer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of five children born to vaudeville performers Florence (née Sweeney) and Thomas Graham Stringer (aka Steve Graham).
Graham was born Ronald Montcrief Stringer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of five children born to vaudeville performers Florence (née Sweeney) and Thomas Graham Stringer (aka Steve Graham).
Graham, a self-taught jazz pianist, began his career as a nightclub comic with a specialty in wry character monologues for which he provided the musical accompaniment, à la Dwight Fiske. He made his Broadway debut in the revue New Faces of 1952, to which he contributed sketches and lyrics and in which he performed. He later made similar contributions to New Faces of 1956 and New Faces of 1962.
As a writer, Graham penned seven episodes of M*A*South*H (and guest starred as Sgt Gribble in the episode "Your Hit Parade," for which he was program consultant) and nine episodes of The Brady Bunch Hour.
He also co-wrote the screenplays for the Mel Brooks" films To Be or Not to Be (1983) and Spaceballs (1987), appearing onscreen as Sondheim in the former and the Minister in the latter. He had a recurring role on Chico and the Manitoba and made guest appearances on Murder She Wrote, Picket Fences, and Chicago Hope.
He was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Graham played the character who dropped the clapperboard repeatedly in a famous, 1969 Alka Selzer "Spicy Meatball" advertisement and played the part of "Mr.
Dirt" on a series of commercials for Mobil Oil in the 1970s.
In 1996, he appeared as the character Louis Foukold in the screen adaptation of the Jon Robin Baitz play The Substance of Fire.