Buddy Hackett: Full(er) obit
Posted: Tuesday, July 1st, 2003 4:28 amBuddy Hackett, who broke into comedy as a young waiter-performer in New York’s Catskill Mountains and went on to achieve iconic status as a raunchy nightclub performer and rubber-faced clown in movies including “The Music Man” and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” died Monday at his home in Malibu. He was 78.
The cause of death was not immediately clear. Hackett had been suffering from a chest cold, although he had been in “robust good health” until a few days ago, according to a family spokesperson.
Hackett hadn’t worked professionally since 1996, when he stopped performing after experiencing dizziness and shortness of breath onstage. …
Like Milton Berle or Henny Youngman or Red Buttons, Hackett is among the pantheon of Jewish comedians forever associated with the rise of the stand-up comic on stage, radio and, eventually, television. … Read full obituary
