Buddy Hackett
dead at age 78
LOS ANGELES, June 30 — 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 Monday night. His body was found Monday.
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.
For those of you who are watching Last Comic Standing, remember Buddy, whose last job was a reality show.
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