War Hero also inspired 'Taxi' Character
Donald Lapham Mygatt dies at 86
By Lori Varosh
The real-life inspiration for Christopher Lloyd's outrageous Jim Ignatowski character on "Taxi" was an avid piilot and straight arrow who didn't take drugs and rarely drank.
Donald Lapham Mygatt, Lloyd's half-brother, died of Alzheimer's disease at Mission Health Care at Bellevue on Wednesday. He was 86.
The Ignatowski character was an odd tribute, said Mygatt's daughter, Suzy Mygatt Wakefield, a retired Lake Washington High School counselor.
Her father's personality had little in common with the burned-out space cadet of the television show, Wakefield said. He played professional caliber piano but refused to go professional because of the "seedy lifestyle."
But there were similarities.
"It was his mannerisms -his hand motions, a shug of the shoulders," Wakefield said.
Lloyd often said "when he got off-character, he'd think of Dad," Wakefield said.
Although flattered, he father would reply, "I don't know if that's a compliment or not."
Mygatt was born Oct 22, 1916, - the same day as Lloyd but 22 years earlier - in New York City.
He completed his freshman year at Princeton University and went to work as a salesman for Texaco in 1939. He married Maryolive "Winnie" Winslow on April 6, 1940, and joined the Airforce in November 1942, flying with the Dynamite Gang, the 367th Fighter Group, during WWII.
Mygatt was awarded a Silver Star for bravery while flying a P38 Lightning with the 367th Fighter Group over Germany.
An air attack by 25 Focke Wulfe 190s set his left engine afire, Wakefield said. As he dove toward earth, Mygatt managed to shoot down a German plane. The descent extinuished the engine fire, and with a British Spitfire escort, Mygatt mad it back to base in Juvincourt, Fance, where "they were so sure he wan't coming back, they were dividing up his stuff," Wakefield said.
