George Gaynes

Birth Name: George Jongejans

Date of Birth: May 16, 1917

Place of Birth: Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire (now Finland)

Date of Death: February 15, 2016

Place of Death: North Bend, Washington

Ethnicity:
*50% Dutch
*40.625% Russian
*6.25% Polish
*3.125% French

George Gaynes was an American singer and actor of stage, screen, and television, and a voice artist. He is known for playing Commandant Eric Lassard in the Police Academy series.

George’s parents were Gerrit Jongejans, a Dutch businessman, and Iya Grigorievna De Gay (later known as Lady Iya Abdy), a Russian artist.

George’s maternal grandparents were Grigoriy Grigorievich De Gay (the son of Grigoriy Nikolaevich Gay and Maria Dmitrievna Kareeva) and Anna Ivanovna Novikova (the daughter of Ivan Petrovich Novikov and Maria Iosifovna Turgeneva). George’s great-grandfather Grigoriy was the son of Nikolay Osipovich Gay and Yelena Yakovlevna Sadovskaya. Nikolay’s father, Osip Matveevich Gay, was of French desсent, and Nikolay’s mother, Daria Yakovlevna Korostovtseva, was Russian. Yelena was likely of Polish ancestry. The rest of George’s father’s family was Russian.

Source: Genealogy of George Gaynes (focusing on his father’s side) – http://www.geni.com