In the 1960's and 70's there was no more recognizable face on television than that of Foster Brooks. He was that drunk guy who would stumble into a scene and confuse his words in a drunken stupor.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1912. Foster Brooks started his career as a radio announcer and singer. In the 1950's Brooks moved to Los Angeles to start a stand up career. It was then he came up with his signature character the drunken guy. He was the lovable lush usually attending a convention. He wasn't so drunk he couldn't stand up but drunk enough to confuse the situations he found himself in. It was on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast that Brooks really made his name. He was famous for inviting Dean Martin to join his organization "Alcoholics Unanimous".
Brooks also appeared on several TV shows as a sober person. In real life Brooks rarely drank. He once claimed he gave up drinking as part of a $10. "At the time I needed the $10."
Foster Brooks died in Los Angeles in 2001.
Our Planet is a lot less funny today. Jonathan Harshman Winters III died today at the age of 87 at his home in Montecito, California. Winters was a wildly inventive comic with a laser sharp wit and uncanny abitility to improvise. Give him a prop any prop and he could make an audience cry with laughter. Thank You Jonathan Winters!
Kaye Ballard is no shrinking violet. Ms Ballard was born with the name Catherine Gloria Balotta. She is the ultimate Italian American and proud of it. Kaye started out in the 1940's as a musical comedienne touring with Spike Jones. She proved herself to be very capable of playing broad physical comedy. She is a broad. In 1957 Ballard and Alice Ghostly played the ugly step sisters in Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella on Broadway. In 1962 she was playing Lucille Van Pelt in Peanuts and recorded an album of the comic strip's funniest stories. Ballard then went on to star in a sitcom with Eve Arden called "The Mother-in-Laws" for two seasons. Then the Doris Day show where she played Doris' land lady and volatile restaurant owner Angie Pallucci for another two seasons. In the 70's she did a lot of guest star roles on sitcoms and appeared on games hows like "Match Game".
Ballard now primarily appears on stage in musicals in various cities around the country. She is often on stage in Palm Springs where she lives in a home that was once owned by Desi Arnez.
