Wissenswertes

As a struggling actor in 1979, he won $10,000 on The $10,000 Pyramid (1973) (then renamed "The $20,000 Pyramid"). with the help of celebrity player Patty Duke. As a celebrity, he played on The $100,000 Pyramid (1985), competing against Patty Duke twice during the weeks of October 21-25, 1985 and February 1-5, 1988.

Was a skilled saxophone player.

His funeral was attended by all the main cast members from the Police Academy movies.

There is a history of heart trouble in Graf's family. He died of a sudden heart attack at a family wedding. He was 9 days short of his 51st birthday. His father and grandfather also died of sudden heart attacks; both were 51 years old.

He was to known to get along very well with all of his costars and always made time to greet fans and answer any questions they had about Police Academy - Dümmer als die Polizei erlaubt (1984) or any of his other work.

In October 2000, Graf made a rare public appearance at the "Ray and Sharon Courts, Hollywood Collectors Show" in North Hollywood. California, with other Police Academy cast members. Graf appeared in all seven films in the Police Academy franchise.

Graf's widow, Kathryn, with whom he had two sons, wrote a stark, one-woman play chronicling her life after his death, "Surviving David".

Disliked attending celebrity conventions such as ComicCon and rarely made appearances at such events. Nonetheless he always maintained a professional and gracious demeanor when he participated in conventions.

Appeared in both the first and last scenes of the "Police Academy" film series.

Rarely turned down any roles that were ever offered to him. As a character actor his work was sometimes inconsistent in terms of roles offered so he always accepted opportunities for small parts in theatrical and TV films as well as guest spots in multiple TV series. He sometimes simultaneously worked on two or three projects at a time to support his family.

Had a fear of heights.

He originally turned down the opportunity to be Tackleberry in Police Academy - Dümmer als die Polizei erlaubt (1984) as he and his wife originally thought the script was trash. At the same time he was asked to play a role in Richard Benjamin's more critically acclaimed Racing with the Moon (1984) which coincidentally opened theatrically the same day as Police Academy. David and his wife felt that film was a better choice to show his range as an actor. However Warner Bros. eventually offered him a salary for Police Academy he couldn't say no to as he was struggling financially at the time of the films production and he had a feeling Police Academy would be more financially successful so he agreed to play Tackleberry. Police Academy received very poor critical reviews but turned out to be one of the top 10 grossing films of 1984 and was an even greater success on home video spawning six sequels while the other movie did well with critics but failed to make an impact at the box office while Police Academy is seen as a comedy classic still to this day as of April 2024.

Was friends with Bob Saget whom he co-starred with in the TV movie Father and Scout (1994).

According to his widow Kathryn, Jack Nicholson was a big fan of Graf and his work.

Attended Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio.

Was cast as Sam the Butcher in The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) at the insistence of Gary Cole who played Mike Brady and who was a close friend of his family. His widow Kathryn revealed in a 2019 35th anniversary interview for Police Academy - Dümmer als die Polizei erlaubt (1984) that while she has since thrown away some props from that franchise that belonged to her late husband she did in fact keep all of the aprons and props he used in this film from Sam's Butcher Shop because she was such a fan of The Brady Bunch (1969).

Though he played military veterans or active military personnel in a lot of movies and television series, he never served in the military in real life.

Was good friends with director Alexander Payne who directed him in a cameo role in his directorial debut Citizen Ruth (1996). The movie did badly at the box office but was well received by critics and Payne later became a household name director. As a result Payne asked Graf to participate in Election (1999) his next movie but Graf was busy with other projects and reluctantly declined. After that film Graf and Payne discussed working again on Payne's next film but Graf prematurely passed away in 2001. His widow Kathryn described Payne as "a very talented and very nice man." Payne later said if not for his untimely death he would have cast Graf in future more successful projects like About Schmidt (2002) and Sideways (2004).

According to his widow Kathryn in a 35th anniversary interview for Police Academy - Dümmer als die Polizei erlaubt (1984) after David's funeral and burial took place in Ohio in April 2001 and upon returning to the family's Los Angeles home Kathryn had a life celebration for David at home with many family friends and co-stars who had worked with him over the years. She was surprised that at the time of the party paparazzi surrounded her home trying to take pictures and ask questions about David's death as David was known to be a character actor and not a huge leading star that paparazzi's usually track down.