Buddy Hackett

Buddy Hackett
Hackett as he appeared in The Love Bug
Born	Leonard Hacker August 31, 1924(1924-08-31) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	June 30, 2003 (aged 78) Malibu, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor/Comedian
Years active	1950–2003

Buddy Hackett (August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American comedian and actor.^[1] In his later life, he and his wife set up the Singita Animal Sanctuary in the San Fernando Valley, California.^[2]

Early life

Buddy Hackett was born Leonard Hacker in Brooklyn, New York, of Jewish heritage, the son of an upholsterer. The family lived in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn at 504 Kosciuszko Street. He grew up on 54th and 14th Ave in Borough Park, Brooklyn across from PS 103 (now a Yeshiva).^[3] He attended Public School 103 and then went on to New Utrecht High School.^[3] After school, he held jobs with the local grocer, and answered the phone at a doctor's office.^[3] While still in high school, he began appearing in nightclubs, beginning with the "Borscht Belt" resorts in the Catskills. His first performance was at the Golden Hotel in Hurleyville, and he claims not to have gotten one laugh.^[3]

He served three years with an anti-aircraft unit during World War II. He married, and had a son and two daughters.

Early career

Hackett's first job after the war was at the Pink Elephant, a Brooklyn club. It was here that he changed his name from Leonard Hacker to Buddy Hackett.^[2] He made appearances in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and continued to perform in the Catskills. He acted on Broadway, in Lunatics and Lovers, where Max Liebman saw him and put him in two television specials. A television series, Stanley, was developed for him and produced by Liebman, which helped start co-star Carol Burnett's career. In the late 1940s, Jules White a friend of Hackett's asked him if he would like to replace Curly Howard in The Three Stooges, after Curly suffered a stroke, but he turned down the role, according to Hackett, as stated in the The Love Bug Audio Commentary.

Hackett's movie career began in 1950 with a 10-minute "World of Sports" reel for Columbia Pictures called King of the Pins. The film demonstrated championship bowling techniques, with expert Joe Wilman demonstrating the right way and Hackett (in pantomime) exemplifying the wrong way. Hackett would not return to movies until 1953, after one of his nightclub routines attracted attention. With a rubber band around his head to slant his eyes, Hackett's "The Chinese Waiter" lampooned the heavy dialect, frustration, and communication problems encountered by a busy waiter in a Chinese restaurant: "No, we no have sprit-pea soup ... We gotta wonton, we got eh-roll ... No orda for her, juss orda for you!" The routine was such a hit that Hackett made a recording of it, and was hired to reprise it in the 1953 Technicolor musical Walking My Baby Back Home, produced by Universal-International.

Hackett was an emergency replacement for Lou Costello in 1954. Abbott and Costello were set to make a feature-length comedy Fireman, Save My Child, with a guest appearance by Spike Jones and His City Slickers. Several scenes had been shot with stunt doubles when Lou Costello was forced to withdraw due to illness. Universal-International salvaged the project by hiring Hugh O'Brian and Hackett to take over the Abbott and Costello roles; Jones and his band became the main attraction.

Hackett became known to a wider audience when he appeared on television in the 1950s and 1960s as a frequent guest on such talk shows as those of Jack Paar and Arthur Godfrey, telling brash, often off-color jokes, and mugging at the camera. During this time, he also appeared as a panelist on What's My Line?. In 1960, he appeared as himself in an episode of NBC's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven, starring Skip Homeier, set on the Sunset Strip of West Hollywood. Hackett also appeared many times on the game show Hollywood Squares, in the late 1960s.

Hackett became widely known from his role in the 1963 box-office success It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. After starring on Broadway in I Had a Ball, Hackett appeared opposite Robert Preston in the 1962 film adaptation of The Music Man. Children became familiar with him as lovable hippie auto mechanic Tennessee Steinmetz in Disney's The Love Bug (1968). He appeared as Art Carney's replacement on The Jackie Gleason Show, and in the 1958 film God's Little Acre. His later career was mostly as a guest on variety shows and prime time sitcoms, such as Boy Meets World, in its 4th season.

As a singer

Recorded: Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, first recorded by: Brian Hyland.

Later career

In 1978, Hackett surprised many with his dramatic performance as Lou Costello in the television movie Bud and Lou opposite Harvey Korman as Bud Abbott. The film told the story of Abbott and Costello, and Hackett's portrayal was widely praised. He and Korman did a memorable rendition of the team's famous "Who's on First?" routine.

Hackett starred in the 1980 film Hey Babe! with a 13-year-old Yasmine Bleeth, in her first screen appearance.

Throughout the 1970s Hackett appeared regularly doing TV ads for Tuscan Dairy popsicles and yogurt. But his most famous television campaign was for Lay's potato chips ("Nobody can eat just one!") which ran for 3 years, 1968-1971.

His last film performance was reprising the voice of Scuttle, the goofy little seagull, in Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989) and the direct-to-video sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea in 2000. Hackett also appeared in the short term comedy series Action which starred Jay Mohr as movie producer Peter Dragon. He played Dragon's uncle Lonnie. He appeared again with Mohr as a judge in the reality show Last Comic Standing.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Hackett was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In April 1998, Hackett guest starred in an episode of LateLine called "Buddy Hackett." The episode focuses on a news broadcast paying tribute to Hackett following his death, only to discover that the report of his death was a mistake. Robert Reich and Dick Gephardt also appeared in the episode, paying tribute to Hackett.^[4]

Trivia

In 1993, Buddy Hackett guest starred in the fifth episode of Space Rangers playing the character, Lenny Hacker. Coincidentally that is his real name.

Death

Hackett died on June 30, 2003, at his beach house in Malibu, California, at the age of 78.^[1] His son, Sandy Hackett, said his father had been suffering from diabetes for several years which was aggravated by his obesity. Hackett did much for Duke University's bariatric program in which he was a patient and had participated in their famed Rice diet program.

Hackett's body was cremated.

Filmography

Features

• Walking My Baby Back Home (1953)
• Fireman Save My Child (1954)
• God's Little Acre (1958)
• All Hands on Deck (1961)
• Everything's Ducky (1961)
• The Music Man (1962)
• The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
• Muscle Beach Party (1964)
• The Golden Head (1964)
• The Love Bug (1968)
• The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969)
• Bud and Lou (1978) (TV Movie)
• Hey Babe! (1980)
• Loose Shoes (1980)
• Scrooged (1988)
• The Little Mermaid (1989) Scuttle
• Paulie (1998)
• The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000) (direct-to-video) Scuttle

Short subjects

• King of the Pins (1950) (pantomime)
• The Shoes (1961)
• Jack Frost (1979) (animation short: voice of Jack Frost)
• Mouse Soup (1992) (voice)

References

External links

• Disney Legends profile
• The final days: Buddy Hackett's last interview
• Buddy Hackett at Find a Grave Retrieved on 2009-03-11
• Buddy Hackett at the Internet Movie Database
• Buddy Hackett at the Internet Broadway Database
• Buddy Hackett at TV.com