Joshua Andrew Koenig was an American character actor, film director, editor, writer, and human rights activist. He was best known for his role as Richard “Boner” Stabone in Growing Pains.
Early life
Andrew Koenig was born August 17, 1968, the son of actor Walter Koenig and Judy Levitt. Writer Harlan Ellison spoke of the young Koenig – by his given first name of Josh – as being the inspiration for his story Jeffty Is Five. The story went on to win the 1977 Nebula Award and the 1978 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
Career
From 1985 to 1989, Koenig played a recurring role as Richard "Boner" Stabone, best friend to Kirk Cameron's character Mike Seaver in the first four seasons of the ABC sitcom Growing Pains. During the same period, he guest starred on episodes of the sitcoms My Sister Sam and My Two Dads as well as the drama 21 Jump Street. In the early 1990s he provided a voice for the animated series' as and Night Creeper Leader, and had a minor role as Tumak in the 1993 ' episode "Sanctuary |Sanctuary". Koenig played the role of The Joker in the 2003 fan film . Onstage, he played the Page Boy in the eight performances of Verdi's Falstaff, a production of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, in April 1982. As an adult, he starred as the M.C. in the 2007 interactive theater play The Boomerang Kid and performed with the improv group Charles Whitman Reilly and Friends. Though he continued his performing career in the 2006 independent film The Theory of Everything, Koenig worked increasingly behind the scenes. He wrote, produced and/or directed the shorts Good Boy and Woman in a Green Dress and Instinct vs. Reason. He worked as an editor on a number of films and was a video producer for the podcast Never Not Funny. His final role was in the film DaZe: Vol. Too — NonSeNse, in post-production at the time of his death, with Koenig portraying the role of Vice Chancellor.
Personal life
Andrew Koenig was an important part of the nonviolent direct action community in Venice Beach that focused on environmental protection during the 1990s. Koenig, a vegan, traveled to Burma in July 2007 and visited Burmese refugee camps in Thailand with his father as part of the U.S. Campaign for Burma. The following January, he protested the Communist Party of China's political and financial support of the military dictatorship in Burma during the 119th Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, California; after a pre-parade human rights march agreed to by parade officials was allegedly stifled by them, he entered the parade and stood in front of a Chinese float promoting the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Koenig, who carried a sign reading "China: Free Burma" in both English and Chinese, was arrested and briefly held for his act of civil disobedience. Koenig's defense attorney was Bill Paparian, a fellow protester and former mayor of Pasadena. "China sits on the UN Security Council and they have refused to condemn Burma. China purchases gas from Burma and sells them weapons that the military uses on the Burmese people. So they are really quite complicit, and that was the whole point of protesting the China float," Koenig explained. Koenig also noted the Chinese government's implicit support of genocidal forces in Sudan, sweatshops and tainted export products, saying of the float, "China is putting on a good face because of the Olympics, but send a message to the Chinese government that they have to not just change their face, but change the way they do things." The Pasadena Weekly quoted Koenig as stating, "Their free speech rights have been totally censored. As a country with a Constitution and a Bill of Rights, we need to continue to support and enforce ours, and recognize the rights of human beings all over the world."
Death
Koenig was last seen in Vancouver, British Columbia, on February 14, 2010 and missed a scheduled flight on February 16, which was the last day he used his cell phone or conducted any banking. On February 25, a group of friends and family found him hanging from a tree in Vancouver's Stanley Park; he had apparently hanged himself. His ashes were interred in a niche in the Garden of Memory section of Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.
