When I was a child, my mother went back to school. She left my older sister to babysit. Even though our bedtime was the horribly unjust eight o’clock, my sister could of course stay up until Mom got home, even on school nights, if Mom had evening class. At least once, Mom had Thursday night class, and Elaine watched NBC, of course, and sometimes, I would sneak to a place where I could see the TV, too. And that is how I first got to know and love Harry Anderson, in stolen glimpses of Night Court.

I honestly think he would’ve liked that story. I mean, not that Mom was a widow with three young children who had to scramble to support us, I admit, but the whole “going out of my way to watch the show,” “willing to risk getting into trouble” aspect of it. Oh, as I got older, I was also able to see the show in summer reruns, and I got to know his magic act and things like that. But it was as Judge Harold T. Stone that I came to love him.

There was a lot to love in Harry—who was a magic-performing Mel Torme fan named Harry before Anderson was ever cast in the role. He was kind. He was determined to see that justice was done, even if that meant a whole lot of “fifty dollars and time served.” He was friendly to everyone who deserved it, and his version of “who deserved it” generally meant being nicer to prostitutes and drug addicts than upper-class businessmen who ended up in his court for whatever reason. You had to be a major lowlife for Harry to believe you didn’t deserve for him to be nice to you.

Honestly, we were talking the other day about people you could make a pop culture hero, and Harry was one of those people, though I didn’t think about him until just now. Yes, he famously got the job of judge “because he was home,” but, as he points out, he was still on the list. Anderson played Elwood P. Dowd in a so-so remake of Harvey; Elwood is famously of the opinion that you can be either oh so smart or oh so nice, but I think Harry is proof that you legitimately can be both. And growing older does not necessarily mean putting your childish things behind you, though sometimes, Harry went a bit too far in that direction.

As for Anderson? He put Hollywood behind him. After Dave’s World went off the air, he decided he didn’t care about acting. He bought a magic shop in the French Quarter, then a nightclub where he could do his magic act. For over a decade, he lived in Asheville, North Carolina, with his second wife. From what I can tell, he seems to have been happy. Both Harry and Elwood would have been proud.