Titanic star Lew Palter has died. He was 94.
The actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as real-life department store magnate Isidor Straus, who embraced his wife in bed, in James Cameron’s 1997 drama, Titanic, passed away from lung cancer at his Los Angeles home on May 21.
His daughter Catherine announced the news in a statement on Monday, writing that her dad, “As a teacher, he seemed to have truly changed people’s lives.”
Palter was also a professor at the CalArts School of Theater and his students included four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris, Oscar nominee Don Cheadle, and two-time Emmy nominee Cecily Strong during the 42 years he spent there, before retiring in 2013.
In a lengthy post on Instagram, Strong said Lew grew to a “beautiful 94”.
“What a great teacher. Lew Palter. Scratched his big giant ears and hit his “Ks” so wet and reminded us often that as the great Bertold Brecht said, ‘The proof is in the pudding’,” …