By the time Paul Winchell died, last weekend at 82, the BBC was only able to point out that he had done the voice of Tigger for Disney.

He was so much more. Like Hedy Lamarr, who created the technology underlying WiFi, he led a double-life, as an intellectual in the fun house.

For starters he was the first TV star I remember, one of many models for what became The Simpsons' Krusty the Klown. He had a morning show with puppets, more entertaining (I thought) than Kaptain Kangaroo, with more brain and heart (I thought) than even Fred Rogers. The puppets, which he made himself, were called Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff (right).

What I didn't know at the time was he was also a polymath, with a wide range of interests and a photographic memory. One of his interests was medicine. As an entertainer he manuevered into the worlds of famous physicians, including Dr. Henry Heimlich (then Arthur Murray's prospective son-in-law), and with his help won the first U.S. patent on an artificial heart.

There was even more to his life than that. He sought early funding for the farm-raising of tilapia, He was a skilled painter. And, of course, he was a ventriloquist and a subversive humorist who emphasized the fun of the mind.

Taken directly from his own Web site (he was working on streaming video at the time of his death) is a list of his inventions (remember he was self-taught):

Other inventions include the flameless cigarette lighter, illuminated pen- ballpoint (behind cartridge), the freezer interrupt indicator (which allowed people to see if their food had gone bad when their electricity was interrupted), battery heated gloves, a battery lighted key case, a portable blood plasma defroster, a sectional garment for hypothermia, a piezo-electric diaphragm, an aluminum electrical generator, novelty phonograph records, novelty upside down mask and mirror, a reversible alphabet that could be seen normally when shown in a mirror, rubber sand that allowed for the sturdy attachment of pictures to frames, an invisible garter belt and a retractable fountain pen.

Oh, did I mention he rose out of a Brooklyn ghetto and a childhood marked by abuse? Plus, he was a truly honest man, honest both with himself and with his audience.

Until he died, and I learned his full story, I really had no idea how big an influence he had on my own life. So many attitudes which I can't credit to either of my parents, I now believe, came directly from him, probably from his show. I wish I had known that, and had gotten a chance to tell him. I think he would have appreciated that and enjoyed it.

Guess I'll just have to look him up in heaven.