1. Irwin Corey was an American stand-up comic, film actor and activist, often billed as "The World's Foremost Authority".
22 Facts About Irwin Corey
1. 2.
Poverty-stricken after his father deserted the family, his mother was forced to place him and his five siblings in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, where Corey remained until his early teens.
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Irwin Corey then rode in boxcars out to California, and enrolled himself at Belmont High School in Los Angeles.
4.
Irwin Corey appeared in support of Cuban children, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the American Communist Party, and was blacklisted in the 1950s, the effects of which he stated lingered throughout his life.
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Irwin Corey was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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In 1938, Irwin Corey returned to New York, where he got a job writing and performing in Pins and Needles, a musical comedy revue about a union organizer in the "garment district".
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Irwin Corey claimed that he was fired from this job for his union organizing activities.
8.
Irwin Corey was drafted during World War II, but was discharged after six months, after he claimed he convinced an Army psychiatrist that he was a homosexual.
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Irwin Corey's quick wit allowed him to hold his own against the most stubborn straight man, heckler or interviewer.
10.
Irwin Corey frequently appeared at the hungry i nightclub in the 1950s and '60s, and remained the favorite comedian of club owner Enrico Banducci.
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In 1980, Irwin Corey appeared with Banducci, Mort Sahl, Jonathan Winters, Bill Cosby, Jackie Vernon, and Maya Angelou in a tribute to the hungry i entitled hungry i Reunion, televised in 1981 on PBS.
12.
In 1975, Irwin Corey gave a typically long-winded, nonsensical performance in New York City for journalists waiting for The Rolling Stones to announce the band's 1975 tour of the Americas.
13.
In 1951, Irwin Corey appeared as "Abou Ben Atom", the Genie, in the cult flop Broadway musical Flahooley along with Yma Sumac, the Bil and Cora Baird Marionettes, and Barbara Cook.
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Irwin Corey appeared in the Broadway play, "Mrs McThing," in 1952, with Helen Hayes, Jules Munshin and Brandon deWilde.
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Irwin Corey appeared occasionally in 1950s television as a character actor.
16.
Irwin Corey appeared in an episode of The Phil Silvers Show titled "Bilko's Grand Hotel", in which Corey plays an unkempt Bowery bum being passed off as a hotelier by Sgt.
17.
Irwin Corey became so synonymous with comic erudition that in June 1977, when a Providence, Rhode Island television station, WJAR, wanted a spokesman to explain changes in network affiliations, Irwin Corey got the job.
18.
Irwin Corey would do the same promos for WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee that same year, when rival stations WITI and WISN-TV switched affiliations.
19.
Irwin Corey often appeared on The Steve Allen Show, whereupon he would end his rambling stand-up routine with Allen and stagehands literally chasing Irwin Corey with a giant butterfly net.
20.
Irwin Corey appeared in various Broadway productions, including as a gravedigger in a production of Hamlet.
21.
Irwin Corey was married for 70 years to Frances Berman Irwin Corey, who died in May 2011.
22.
Irwin Corey died at the age of 102 on February 6,2017, at his apartment in Manhattan with his son, Richard, at his side.