Buddy Hackett

Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker; August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American comedian and actor. --- Hackett was born in Brooklyn, New York, New York, the son of a Jewish upholsterer. He grew up on 54th and 14th Ave in Borough Park, Brooklyn, across from Public School 103 (now a yeshiva). Living next door was aspiring baseball player Sandy Koufax. He graduated from New Utrecht High School in 1942. While still a student, he began performing in nightclubs in the Catskills Borscht Belt resorts. He appeared first at the Golden Hotel in Hurleyville, New York, and he claimed he did not get one single laugh. Hackett enlisted in the United States Army during World War II and served in an anti-aircraft battery. 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. 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. In the late 1940s, Hackett's friend, Jules White, asked him if he would like to replace Curly Howard in The Three Stooges, due to Curly's stroke. According to The Love Bug audio commentary, Hackett turned down the role. But this story has been proved false, a tale by Hackett which he first told on The Tonight Show and it grew bigger and more fanciful as time went on. Jules White himself told several interviewers that the story was (censored), and he alternated between laughter and anger that Buddy was using his name to weave the tale. 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 Universal-International musical Walking My Baby Back Home, in which he was third-billed under Donald O'Connor and Janet Leigh. --- On June 12, 1955, Hackett married Sherry Cohen. They lived in Leonia, NJ in the late 1950s. In August 1958, they bought the house previously owned by deceased crime boss Albert Anastasia in Fort Lee, NJ. After renovations they moved in and lived there through most of the 1960s. In 2003, Hackett and his wife established the Singita Animal Sanctuary in California's San Fernando Valley. Hackett is the father of comedian Sandy Hackett who is married to Lisa Dawn Miller. Together they have two children, Oliver Richman and Ashleigh Hackett. --- Hackett died on June 30, 2003, at his beach house in Malibu, California, at the age of 78. His son, Sandy Hackett, said his father had been suffering from diabetes for several years which was aggravated by his obesity. His son Sandy also said he suffered a stroke nearly a week before his death which may have contributed to his death. His remains were cremated two days after his death on July 2, 2003, and his ashes were given to family and friends.