Foster Brooks

Foster Brooks (May 11, 1912 – December 20, 2001) was an American actor and comedian most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunken man in nightclub performances and television programs.

Biography

Foster Brooks was born in Louisville, Kentucky on May 11, 1912. He was one of eight sons. His career started in radio, most notably with station WHAS in Louisville. Brooks was a staff announcer, but his deep baritone voice was well-suited for singing as well. Brooks gained some measure of fame for his reporting of the Ohio River flood of 1937, where he was featured on emergency broadcasts by WHAS and also WSM out of Nashville, Tennessee. In 1952, Brooks appeared on local television 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 standup comic and character actor.

On the syndicated Steve Allen show of the 1960s, Allen introduced Brooks as an important movie producer. Brooks stumbled on stage doing his drunk act, fooling some of the other guests. Brooks claimed to be the executive in charge of editing movies for television. His biggest success, he said, was the famous movie The Three Commandments.

Singer Perry Como discovered Brooks at a golf tournament in North Carolina...
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