Funnyman Buddy Hackett dead at 78
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Buddy Hackett, the
squat, round, rubbery-faced funnyman who appeared for more than 50 years as a
top act in nightclubs, Broadway shows, on television and in such movies as
"The Music Man," "The Love Bug" and "It's a Mad, Mad,
Mad, Mad World," has died, his son confirmed Monday night. He was 78.
Hackett died
at his Southern California beach house
either late Sunday or early Monday,
Sandy Hackett told The Associated Press.
His body was found Monday.
"He was one of the greatest ever.
He was a terrific father. He was my best
friend. He prepared me very well for
this day, but no matter how much you
prepare it still hurts," Sandy
Hackett said as he arrived at his
mother's house in Los Angeles.
The
younger Hackett, who is also a comedian,
said he had driven to Los Angeles from
his Las Vegas home as soon as he got
word of his father's death.
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Hackett was invited to join the Three Stooges
when "Curly" Howard, the bald-headed member of the comedy team,
suffered a stroke in 1946. But Hackett declined, believing he could develop
his own comedy style. Playing for small money on the Borscht Circuit for New
York City vacationers in the Catskill Mountains, he learned to get laughs with
his complaints about being short, fat and Jewish.
His career grew with appearances on the variety TV shows of Jack Paar, Arthur
Godfrey and others. Soon he was earning top money in Las Vegas, Florida and
Las Vegas. In the beginning his material was suitable for family audiences,
but in later years nightclubs advertised his show "For Mature Audiences
Only." His performances in those days were noted for their prolific use
of four-letters words at a time when that just wasn't done.
"Compared to motion pictures," he
remarked in 1996, "I'm very mild these days."
He was born Leonard Hacker in a Jewish section
of New York City's borough of Brooklyn on August 31, 1924. For a time he
apprenticed in his father's upholstery shop, but at school he found he had a
talent for making his fellow students laugh. That was a necessity to offset
the taunts about his roly-poly shape.
When he received a star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame a few years ago, he quipped that he had left Brooklyn "to get
away from the subway" only to discover that the star had been placed
above the one in Los Angeles.
"It's a damn circle," he complained.
After graduating from New Utrecht High School,
where he played on the football team, Hacker spent three years in the military
during World War II, then reinvented himself as Buddy Hackett, standup
comedian.
Using other writers' jokes, he flopped in New
York City. Realizing only he could write for Buddy Hackett, he moved on to Los
Angeles and scored at a small showcase club. He began making big money across
the country, and audiences called for his most noted routine, the Chinese
waiter.
In 1954, playwright Sidney Kingsley persuaded
Hackett to appear on Broadway in "Lunatics and Lovers." Brooks
Atkinson, writing in The New York Times, described Hackett as "a large,
soft, messy comic with a glib tongue and a pair of inquiring eyes."
He also appeared on the New York stage in
"Viva Madison Avenue" (1960) and "I Had a Ball" (1964).
Hackett made his film debut in 1953 with
"Walking My Baby Back Home." Among his other movies: "Fireman
Save My Child," "God's Little Acre," "All Hands on
Deck," "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm,"
"Muscle Beach Party," "Loose Shoes," "Scrooged"
and Disney's animated "The Little Mermaid," as the voice of Scuttle.
The comedian appeared on television from the
medium's beginnings, starring in two short-lived series: "Stanley"
(1956-1957) and "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1968).
He also made guest appearances on numerous
sitcoms and played Lou Costello in the 1978 movie "Bud and Lou."
He turned down numerous other offers from TV
series, complaining that he could rarely get along with network executives.
"That ends the meeting," he once said
of network executives telling him how to structure a comedy show.
Hackett was married to the former Sherry
Dubois, whom he met at the Concord Hotel in the Catskills. They had three
children: Ivy, Lisa and Sandy, who did a comedy opening act at his father's
appearances.
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