Buck Henry, actor and screenwriter noted for his creation of the sixties sitcom Get Smart and his work on the movie The Graduate, has died.
He was 89 years old.
Henry died Wednesday in Los Angeles following a heart attack. Reports of his death were confirmed to NPR by a longtime friend.
The son of a silent film star, Henry also co-created the TV show Get Smart with Mel Brooks. Henry appeared on dozens of television shows, including Saturday Night Live during the show's early days. Henry and Calder Willingham co-wrote the screenplay for the 1967 film The Graduate. The movie is based on the novel by Charles Webb and stars Anne Bancroft as a bored housewife who seduces a much younger paramour, Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman.
His mother was the silent film actress Ruth Taylor, known for her performance in the 1928 version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Unfortunately, that film is lost.
"Buck Henry" was his first and middle names. His original surname was Zimmerman.
_____
Actor Edd Byrnes, famous for his role as "Kookie" in the hit series 77 Sunset Strip, has died at the age of 87. He was a major heartthrob in a television era full of them. Byrnes was known for always combing his hair, which inspired a hit song, "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb."
His real name was Edward Byrne Breitenberger and was born in NYC.
More:
Edward Byrne Breitenberger was born in New York City. After his alcoholic father died when Byrnes was 13, he took the surname of his maternal grandfather, a New York City fireman. He developed an interest in performing and after high school landed summer-stock work. At age 22, he set out for Los Angeles, arriving in September 1955, one day after James Dean died in a car crash.
Byrnes landed a number of minor parts, then was cast as a killer who compulsively combed his hair in Girl on the Run (1958), which effectively served as the pilot for 77 Sunset Strip. The actor was such a hit, producers decided to keep him around as another character, Gerald Lloyd Kookson III. His pre-Fonzie, cool-guy persona soon caught on like wildfire.
He also appeared in such films as Reform School Girl (1957), Darby's Rangers (1958), Marjorie Morningstar (1958), Life Begins at 17 (1958), Up Periscope (1959), Yellowstone Kelly (1959), Beach Ball (1965), Michael Apted's Stardust (1974) and Troop Beverly Hills (1989) and on TV shows including Cheyenne, Maverick, Honey West, Mannix, Police Woman, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island and Murder, She Wrote.
His son said he died of natural causes.
Vintage vid, with Connie Stevens:
As you can see from the clip, he was a very good-looking guy.
_____
No comments:
Post a Comment