Bill Saluga Dies: ‘You Can Call Me Ray’ Comedian Was 85
deadline.comBill Saluga, whose trademark lines that began with “You can call me Ray” cracked up a generation of comedy fans, died in Los Angeles on March 28, according to his friend, Eric Brenner.
He was 85 and his death was attributed to complications of heart failure and arthritis, according to his friend, Bill Minkin, who joined with him, Fred Willard, Patti Deutsch, Michael Mislove, and George Memmoli in the improv group Ace Trucking Co. “He was an icon,” said Minkin, who characterized his friend as quiet and polite when he wasn’t on stage, a stark contrast to the brash characters he portrayed.
Saluga was best known for his cigar-smoking, zoot suited character Raymond J. Johnson Jr. A frequent talk-show guest, Saluga would be triggered by someone calling him “Mr.
Johnson.” Feigning outrage, he would then launch into a soliloquy for his catchphrase, “You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me…”He would then ramble through every conceivable permutation of his name before finishing with “…but you doesn’t has to call me Johnson!” The character became nationally known in the late 1970s after being used in a series of beer commercials for Miller Lite and Anheuser-Busch.
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