Foster Brooks (May 11, 1912 – December 20, 2001) was an American actor and comedian best known for his portrayal of a lovable drunk in nightclub performances and television programs.. Through Season 3 of Mork & Mindy he played Miles Sternhagen, Mindy McConnell's boss at KTNS-TV in Boulder.
Biography[]
Brooks was born in Louisville, Kentucky on May 11, 1912 to Edna (née Megowan) and Pleasant M. Brooks. He had seven brothers.[1] His career started in radio, notably with station WHAS (AM) in Louisville. He was a staff announcer, and his deep baritone voice was also well-suited for singing. Brooks gained fame for his reporting of the Ohio River flood of 1937, where he was featured on emergency broadcasts by WHAS and also WSM (AM) from Nashville, Tennessee. In 1952, Brooks appeared on local TV in a short-lived spoof of Gene Autry and his "Singing Cowboys".
He later worked in local broadcasting as a radio and TV personality in Buffalo and Rochester, New York, before moving to the West Coast to launch a career as a stand-up comic and character actor. In Buffalo, Brooks performed with a country and western vocal group known as the Hi-Hatters.[2]
In 1960, Brooks moved with his family to Los Angeles to seek more professional opportunities. During this time, he appeared on the television comedies The Munsters, The Monkees and Bewitched.
Career[]
In 1969, game show icon and television personality Dennis James took his friend Brooks to a North Carolina charity golf tournament to tell some jokes, and then introduced Brooks to good friend, singer Perry Como, who in turn gave the comedian his major break. Como chose Brooks to open for him at a Las Vegas hotel. When the hotel's owners balked at Como's choice due to Brooks' age and lack of fame, Como insisted and the owners acquiesced. Brooks was an instant hit. He made his first appearance soon thereafter on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Brooks regularly appeared on The Dean Martin Show television program in the 1970s (for which he garnered an Emmy Award nomination in 1974)
His signature routine was the basis of a hit comedy album titled Foster Brooks, The Lovable Lush (later retitled Los Angeles Earthquake), released in the early 1970s. As his "Lovable Lush" character, Brooks usually portrayed a conventioneer who had had a few too many drinks — not falling-down drunk, but inebriated enough to mix up his words and burp to comedic delight. Brooks is best remembered for his appearances on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast during the 1970s, where he roasted other comedians, such as Don Rickles, Johnny Carson and Lucille Ball, and serious public figures such as writer Truman Capote, consumer activist Ralph Nader, and former vice-president Hubert Humphrey.
Brooks drew upon his own battles with alcohol for his act. During his period of greatest fame, Brooks rarely drank. Of giving up drinking to win a bet in 1964, Brooks said, "A fellow made me a $10 bet I couldn't quit, and I haven't had a drink since. At the time I needed the $10." [1]
Through the 60s, 70s and 80s, apart from Mork and Mindy, he appeared in shows as diverse as Adam 12, Here's Lucy, Green Acres, Starsky & Hutch, Police Woman, Fantasy Island, B.J and The Bear, and Quincy, M.E.
Brooks' last performance was at a celebrity roast in Las Vegas for Zsa Zsa Gabor.
References[]
1 - Foster Brooks - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster_Brooks