Foster Brooks

At 89 years old, Foster Brooks has this physical status:

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.

Early life

Brooks was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 11, 1912, to Edna (née Megowan) and Pleasant M. Brooks. He had seven brothers. His radio career began with station WHAS (AM) in Louisville, notably. He was a staff announcer, and his deep baritone voice was also suitable for singing. Brooks gained fame for his reporting of the 1937 Ohio River flood, where he appeared on emergency broadcasts from WHAS and also WSM (AM) from Nashville, Tennessee. Brooks appeared on local television in a short-lived recreation of Gene Autry and his "Singing Cowboys" in 1952.

He began working in local radio and television at WHAM (AM) in Rochester, New York, and WGR & WKBW in Buffalo, where he hosted "The Musical Clock" and "Million Dollar Ballroom" later in the day. Brooks also performed with the Hi-Hatters, a country and western vocal group. Brooks was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 1997. He began his career as a stand-up comedian and character actor on the West Coast.

Brooks and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1960 to pursue greater career opportunities. He appeared on television comedies like The Munsters, The Monkees, and Bewitched during this period. Brooks has also produced Christmas mail and phone books as well as managed an apartment building in North Hollywood. In addition, he served as a security guard for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.

Allen introduced Brooks as a key film performer on the syndicated Steve Allen Show of the 1960s. Brooks was stumbled on stage performing his inebriated act, deceived some of the other guests. Brooks was supposed to be the one in charge of editing television programs. The Three Commandments, which he cited as his best achievement, was his success. His character also invented the technique of stripping clips from the films and inserting advertisements.

Dennis James, a game show legend and television personality, joined Brooks to a North Carolina charity golf tournament to share some parodies, and then introduced Brooks to his new friend, singer Perry Como, who in turn gave the comedian his first break. At a Las Vegas hotel, Como selected Brooks to open for him. Como resisted and the hotel's owners accepted Como's pick despite Brooks' age and lack of fame. Brooks was a smash hit on the first couple of days. He made his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson shortly after.

Personal life

Brooks was first married to Loretta Brooks, with whom he had a son, F. Richard, and three children: JoAnn, Patricia, and Diane, who died in infancy. In 1950, Foster and Loretta divorced. He married Teri Brooks, with whom he had two children, Scotti and Teri, in the same year. Tom, Brooks' brother, was a well-known entertainer in Louisville for many years. On T-Bar-V Ranch and Hayloft Hoedown, Tom Brooks played "Cactus," a hayseed character and sidekick, and was an off-screen announcer on WHAS-TV for many years in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Career

Brooks appeared on The Dean Martin Show television show in the 1970s (for which he received an Emmy Award nomination in 1974), many situation comedies, talk shows (including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson), and a few films.

Foster Brooks, The Lovable Lush, a hit comedy collection that was released in the early 1970s, was the inspiration for his signature routine. Brooks portrayed a conventioneer who had had a few too many drinks, not down-down inebriated, but inebriated enough to mix up his words and burp to comedic delight. Brooks is best known for his appearances on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast in the 1970s, where he roasted others, such as Don Rickles, Johnny Carson, and Lucille Ball, as well as senior public figures like writer Truman Capote, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, and former vice president Hubert Humphrey.

Brooks rarely drank during his time of greatest fame. Brooks told me, "A neighbor bet I couldn't quit because I didn't drink," and I hadn't had a glass since. I needed the $10 at the time.

He would occasionally appear in a cameo appearance in which his character was absolutely sober, such as his appearance in a 1968 episode of Adam-12 as a strait-laced citizen who tries to get out of a parking ticket by reducing the name of an officer senior to the main characters. In a 1969 episode of Adam-12, he appeared as a heavily intoxicated man waving his suit jacket at approaching traffic as if he were a bullfighter. He plays a stoned man in a later Adam-12 episode, who is caught on tapestry trying to conceal the burning marijuana "joint" in his suit's front pocket. He portrayed a alcoholic driver who killed another driver in a Christmas Eve accident in a more serious Adam-12 appearance.

In the 1969 episode "Economy Flight to Washington," Brooks' boozy, bobble-headed pig Arnold Ziffel befriends the pig in a hotel bar. Brooks mistakenly mistaking the anthropomorphic pig for a US Air Force lieutenant, since the animal is sitting on a bar stool and wearing a white leather aviator's cap, goggles, and a red scarf. In the episode "The Milk Maker," Brooks appeared on Green Acres for the second time, this time as Charlie Williams, a chemist. On the television western The High Chaparral's following year, he returned to his whiskey-soaked persona. Dean Martin was asked to join his group "Alcoholics Unanimous," a play on Alcoholics Anonymous. He and Martin were charter members of the DUI (Driving Under Influence) Hall of Fame, according to the founder.

Brooks appeared as a celebrity panelist on the game show Hollywood Squares and Match Game in the 1970s, and in 1979, he appeared in the film The Villain as a bank clerk.

By the 1980s, public opinion had changed regarding alcoholics and public drunkendom, so Brooks moved away from his drunken stereotype. Brooks appeared in the film Cannonball Run II with comedians Louis Nye and Sid Caesar as fishermen in a rowboat in 1983. On Mork & Mindy, he played Mr. Sternhagen, Mindy's boss. His name was a moniker on a Louisville celebrity golf tournament promoting Kosair Charities. Brooks, a Shriner and a founder of the Al Malaikah Shriners in Los Angeles, was a founder and member of the Al Malaikah Shriners. He also appeared on television shows in which he would perform his singing voice.

Brooks' last appearance at a celebrity roast in Las Vegas for Zsa Zsa Gabor was at a celebrity roast.

Later career and legacy

Brooks appeared on Cartoon Network's television show Space Ghost Coast to Coast years ago (episode 45, "Switcheroo II")). He was shot in a scene that was cut before being broadcast, but the scene was later included on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast dvd release. He has also been mentioned on an episode of "Get a Life" named "Paperboy 2000." On the 2010 episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart referred to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's mispronunciation of a constituent's name by saying, "It's not supposed to end on a Foster Brooks hiccup." In the lyrics of a Loudon Wainwright song "Drinks Before Dinner," he was mentioned.

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