1. Alan King was a serious actor who appeared in a number of films and television shows.
34 Facts About Alan King
1. 2.
Alan King was born in New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants Minnie and Bernard Kniberg, a handbag cutter.
3.
Alan King spent his first years on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
4.
Alan King used humor to survive the tough neighborhoods, and performed impersonations on street corners for pennies.
5.
Alan King lost first prize, but was invited to join a nationwide tour.
6.
At 15, Alan King dropped out of high school to perform comedy at the Hotel Gradus in the Catskill Mountains.
7.
Alan King later worked in Canada in a burlesque house while fighting as a professional boxer; he won 20 straight bouts.
8.
Nursing a broken nose, Alan King decided to quit boxing and focus on comedy.
9.
Alan King worked as a doorman at the popular nightclub Leon and Eddie's, while performing comedy under the last name of the boxer who beat him, King.
10.
Alan King began his comedy career with one-liner routines and other material concerning mothers-in-law and Jews.
11.
Alan King realized that Thomas was speaking to his audience, not at them, and was getting a better response.
12.
Alan King changed his own style from one-liners to a more conversational style that used everyday life for humor.
13.
Alan King's wife had persuaded the New Yorker to forsake Manhattan for suburban Forest Hills, Queens.
14.
Alan King was opening for Judy Garland, Patti Page, Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, Lena Horne, and Tony Martin.
15.
Alan King's career took off after appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Perry Como Show, and The Garry Moore Show.
16.
Alan King emceed President John F Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.
17.
Alan King became a regular guest host for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
18.
Alan King headlined two unsold television pilots on CBS, both titled The Alan King Show.
19.
Alan King eventually expanded his range and made a name for himself in a wide variety of films.
20.
Alan King frequently worked for director Sidney Lumet, beginning with Bye Bye Braverman and The Anderson Tapes.
21.
Alan King played in an uncredited cameo in Lumet's Prince of the City.
22.
Alan King often portrayed gangsters, as in I, the Jury and Cat's Eye.
23.
Alan King had another major role in Memories of Me as the so-called "king of the Hollywood extras", portraying Billy Crystal's terminally ill father.
24.
Alan King played the role of corrupt union official Andy Stone in Martin Scorsese's 1995 film Casino.
25.
Alan King appeared in Night and the City, starring Robert De Niro.
26.
Alan King was the long-standing host of the New York Friars Club celebrity roasts and served as the club's historian.
27.
Alan King was the first recipient of the award for American Jewish humor from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.
28.
Alan King inspired other comedians, including Joan Rivers, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Billy Crystal, Robert Klein, and Bill Cosby.
29.
Alan King's wife persuaded him to move to Forest Hills, Queens, for their children's sake.
30.
Alan King founded the Alan King Medical Center in Jerusalem, raised funds for the Nassau Center for Emotionally Disturbed Children, and established a chair in dramatic arts at Brandeis University.
31.
Alan King created the Laugh Well program, which sends comedians to hospitals to perform for patients.
32.
Alan King, who smoked cigars heavily, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan on May 9,2004, from lung cancer.
33.
Alan King was buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens.
34.
Alan King is recognized in the end credits of Rush Hour 3.