Buddy Hackett Dead at 79

[Boomhauer]

Tuesday, July 01, 2003

LOS ANGELES — Buddy Hackett (search), the squat, round, rubbery-faced funnyman who appeared for more than 50 years as a top act in nightclubs, Broadway shows, on television and in such movies as The Music Man, The Love Bug and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, has died, his son confirmed Monday night. He was 79.

 

[FL000]

What's the deal? Famous people are dropping like flies lately. Some death pool participants are making some big bucks this month.

Anyone else hate all those salute to ____ shows after a celebrity's death?

Meanwhile in Atlanta, the news is reporting that Maynard Jackson's funeral is about halfway over.

 

[I.P. Freley]

Best reference to this deceased great:

Simpsons episode of some years past, where Lisa has a vision of herself all grown up, or at least as grown up as a college student can be... Somewhere in the episode there is a shot of the talking head on the local news, Kent Brockman, reporting "The following people have been arrested!"

A list of names scrolls by quickly enough that you had to have taped it to read all the names... Among the "arrested" people are such luminaries as "The Baldwin Brothers Gang" and, my personal favorite in the years since I first saw this,

"The Artist Formerly Known as Buddy Hackett".

He'll be missed, to be sure.

 

[Dash8]

Strom Thurmond,
Katherine Hepburn,
and now Buddy hacket

that's 3, guess were done for a short time now....

any guess' on the next three?

 

[inline]

In the movie"it's a mad, mad,mad,mad world," Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney, flew a Beech 18 through a Burma Shave billboard(I believe the real pilot was Paul Mantz). That was a classic.

 

[bigr]

thats right, in its a mad mad world you will see stunt flying that will never be duplicated today (computer generation etc.). if you haven't seen the movie, rent it or buy it, the flying sequence is well worth it, particularly the scenes with carl reiner in the control tower trying to talk micky rooney and buddy hackett down.

paul mantz did do the stunt flying, a year later he was killed filming "the flight of the phoenix".