July 30, 1999

An actor whose black leather jacket and greased back-hair charmed and annoyed viewers of the Laverne and Shirley Show, now admits he hid a debilitating disease for years.

David Lander, better known to many as "Squiggy," says he did it to protect his career in the cut-throat world of show business.

David Lander was Squiggy - one half of the leering, yet endearing, upstairs neighbors of Laverne and Shirley.

Shortly after the comedy ended in 1983, Lander was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease he suspects he'd had for two years. He made a decision to keep it a secret.

"I don't think anyone would have hired me because I have m.s.," he says.

Some days, Lander needed an explanation of why he limped, or slurred his words.

"Someone would accuse me of drinking, I'd say 'I guess you're right.' I wouldn't tell them I had m.s., 'cause drinking, 'Well, you can go to the Betty Ford Clinic and heck, I was drinking myself when I quit.' Fine. It's a good old boy disease, but m.s.-- there's too much people don't know," he says.

Sometimes, acting hid his symptoms.

"I found, at times, the little waddle I had done to compensate for my limp at that moment, worked for the character," Lander explains.

But after 15 years, Lander couldn't keep his secret anymore - couldn't lie about his halting step, slurred speech and medication.

"Not to have to sneak it on the planes and say, 'Oh, no, no. You see, I can explain why I have a syringe here.' All those lies, they don't do you any good," he says.

A part in Once Upon a Mattress at the Utah Musical Theater in Ogden is the first work Lander has done since admitting to his illness.

"They let me out of rehearsals early because they think I might be tired, things like that. And there's always a chair offstage nearby."

In his time off, David Lander is going to Salt Lake Buzz and Ogden Raptor baseball games, since he's also a scout for the California Angels.