28 Facts About Buddy Hackett

Buddy Hackett's best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in The Music Man, Benjy Benjamin in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Tennessee Steinmetz in The Love Bug, and the voice of Scuttle in The Little Mermaid.

Buddy Hackett's mother Anna worked in the garment trades while his father Philip Hacker was a furniture upholsterer and part-time inventor.

Buddy Hackett grew up across from Public School 103 on 54th Street and 14th Avenue in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and was active in varsity football and drama club at New Utrecht High School.

Buddy Hackett suffered from Bell's palsy as a child, the lingering effects of which contributed to his distinctive slurred speech and facial expression.

Buddy Hackett appeared first at the Golden Hotel in Hurleyville, New York, claiming later he did not get one single laugh.

Buddy Hackett made appearances in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and continued to perform in the Catskills.

Buddy Hackett acted on Broadway, in Lunatics and Lovers, where Max Liebman saw him and put him in two television specials.

The film demonstrated championship bowling techniques, with expert Joe Wilman demonstrating the right way and Buddy Hackett exemplifying the wrong way.

Buddy Hackett was an emergency replacement for the similarly built Lou Costello in 1954.

Universal-International salvaged the project by hiring Hugh O'Brian and Buddy Hackett to take over the Abbott and Costello roles with Jones and his band becoming the main attraction.

Buddy Hackett became known to a wider audience when he appeared on television in the 1950s and '60s as a frequent guest on variety talk shows hosted by Jack Paar and Arthur Godfrey, telling brash, often off-color jokes, and mugging at the camera.

Buddy Hackett was a frequent guest on both the Jack Paar and the Johnny Carson versions of The Tonight Show.

Buddy Hackett made fifteen guest appearances on NBC-TV's The Perry Como Show between 1955 and 1961.

Buddy Hackett appeared with his roommate Lenny Bruce on the Patrice Munsel Show, calling their comedy duo the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players," 20 years before the cast of Saturday Night Live used the same name.

Buddy Hackett appeared twice on ABC's The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford.

Buddy Hackett was cast as Daniel Malakie in "Bloodlines", the father of three boisterous brothers headed to trouble, and then as Clarence Bibs in the episode of that same name.

Buddy Hackett appeared opposite Robert Preston in the film adaptation of The Music Man.

Buddy Hackett appeared many times on the game show Hollywood Squares in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Buddy Hackett has appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show until Carson left the series in 1992.

In 1978, Buddy Hackett delivered a dramatic performance as Lou Costello in the television movie Bud and Lou opposite Harvey Korman as Bud Abbott.

Buddy Hackett appeared regularly in TV ads for Tuscan Dairy popsicles and yogurt throughout the 1970s, but his most famous television campaign was for Lay's potato chips which ran from 1968 to 1971; Buddy Hackett had succeeded Bert Lahr as Lay's spokesman.

Buddy Hackett guest-starred in the Space Rangers episode, "To Be Or Not To Be", as has-been comedian Lenny Hacker, a parody of his stage persona.

Buddy Hackett appeared on the television series The Love Boat in 1979, playing the part of a cab driver, Mickey, who accepted an offer to join his jilted passenger on a three-day cruise.

In 1987, Buddy Hackett appeared on Murder, She Wrote.

Buddy Hackett appeared in LA Law as a friend of Secretary Roxanne helping her by doing free TV infomercials.

The episode focused on a news broadcast paying tribute to Buddy Hackett following his death, only to discover that the report of his death was a mistake.

In 2021, Buddy Hackett was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Buddy Hackett was an avid firearms collector and owned a large collection that he sold off in his later years.