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Lou Costello

Personal Profile

Lou Costello
  • Birth Name:
    Louis Francis Cristillo
  • Date of Birth:
    March 6, 1906
  • Zodiac Sign:
    Pisces
  • Place of Birth:
    Paterson, New Jersey
  • Place of Death:
    Sherman Oaks, California
  • Date of Death:
    March 3, 1959
  • Cause of Death:
    Heart Attack
  • Height:
    5' 5"
  • Sex:
    Male
  • Nationality:
    American

Family

Lou Costello
  • Brother:
    Pat Costello
  • Spouse:
    Anne Battler
  • Son:
    Carole Costello, Chris Costello, Paddy Costello-Humphreys, and Lou Costello Jr.

Career

Lou Costello

Trivia

Lou Costello
  • He and his professional partner, Bud Abbott, were elected into the 2008 New Jersey Hall of Fame for their services and contributions to arts and entertainment.
  • He was awarded 3 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6438 Hollywood Boulevard, for Radio at 6780 Hollywood Boulevard, and for Television at 6276 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
  • He and partner Bud Abbott made their debut as a comedy team in One Night in the Tropics (1940), although Costello had appeared in several silent films in the late 1920s as a stuntman and extra.
  • Along with partner Bud Abbott performed the "Who's on first" routine for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
  • September 2003: Montclair State University in New Jersey dedicated a building in its new residence hall complex as "Abbott and Costello Center", after Lou and his partner Bud Abbott.
  • Costello was a great admirer of Charles Chaplin. He claimed to have seen Shoulder Arms (1918) 30 times and The Gold Rush (1925) 16 times, and attempted - without luck - to buy the screen rights to The Kid (1921) from Chaplin.
  • Mentioned his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey, at least once in every one of his films.
  • After the death of his son, Lou Costello Jr., he performed "Who's On First" routine as normal, but with tears streaming down his face as he did so.
  • As an amateur boxer in Paterson, New Jersey, Costello won 32 straight fights before being knocked out. The loss ended his boxing career.
  • He and Bud Abbott are both nominees for the inaugural 2007 New Jersey Hall of Fame for their services to entertainment.

Biography

Lou Costello
Last Updated: Saturday, August 08, 2009
Born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey (a city he invariably mentioned in almost all his movies and TV shows), Lou Costello dropped out of high school and headed west to break into the movies. He got a job as a carpenter at MGM and Warners. He went from there to stuntman and then to vaudeville as a comic.

In 1931, while working in Brooklyn, his straight man became ill and the theater cashier, Bud Abbott, filled in for him. The two formed their famous comedy team and, through the 1930s, they worked burlesque, minstrel shows, vaudeville and movie houses.

In 1938 they got national exposure through the Kate Smith Hour radio show, and signed with Universal Pictures the next year. They debuted in One Night in the Tropics (1940). Their scene-stealing performances in that film landed them their own picture the next year, Buck Privates (1941), with The Andrews Sisters. It was a runaway hit, grossing what was then a company record $10 million on a $180,000 budget.

In 1942 they topped a poll of Hollywood stars. They had their own radio show (ABC, 1941-46, NBC, 1946-49) and TV show ("The Abbott and Costello Show" (1952)). After the war their movies shifted formula to one in which they met various monsters or found themselves in exotic locations.

The team split up in 1957, with both winding up completely out of money after troubles with the Internal Revenue Service. After that Lou appeared in a few television shows and the movie The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959), released a few months after he died.

Filmography

Lou Costello

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