Kenneth Mars, 'The Producers' Actor, Dies of Cancer
 

Mel Brooks movie staple Kenneth Mars has died at age 75. His family tells the AP the cause was pancreatic cancer.

Mars' most famous performance was his ludicrous turn as German playwright Franz Liebkind in 'The Producers' in 1968. He is also recognizable as the one-armed, eyepatched police inspector in Brooks' 1974 spoof classic 'Young Frankenstein.'

Chicago-born Mars also appeared on TV shows like 'Gunsmoke' and 'Get Smart' and 1962 Broadway production 'The Affair.'

Mars is survived by his daughters Susannah Mars Johnson and Rebecca Mars Tipton, as well as six grandchildren.
Entertainment Weekly remembers Mars as "the actor who played two of Mel Brooks' nuttiest cinematic characters."

Mars also appeared in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' and two of Woody Allen's films, 1987's 'Radio Days' and 1991's 'Shadows and Fog.' He got into voice work in the late '80s and '90s, voicing King Triton in 'The Little Mermaid.' His latest credit was a TV series of the animated dinosaur tale 'The Land Before Time.'