Edd Byrnes | |
|---|---|
 Byrnes in 1973 in a guest appearance onThe Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour | |
| Born | Edward Byrnes Breitenberger (1932-07-30)July 30, 1932 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | January 8, 2020(2020-01-08) (aged 87) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Occupations | Actor, singer |
| Years active | 1956–1999 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Edward Byrne Breitenberger (July 30, 1932 – January 8, 2020), known professionally asEdd Byrnes, was an American actor and singer best known for his starring role as Kookie in the television series77 Sunset Strip (1958–1964). He also charted aBillboard 100 recording, "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)", withConnie Stevens (1958). He was featured in the 1978 filmGrease as TV dance show host Vince Fontaine.
Byrnes was born in New York City, the son of Mary (née Byrne) and Augustus "Gus" Breitenberger.[1] He had two siblings, Vincent and Jo-Ann. After his abusive alcoholic father died[2] when Edd was 13, he dropped his last name in favor of Byrnes, based on the name of his maternal grandfather Edward Byrne.[3]
Byrnes developed the urge to act in high school but did not seriously consider pursuing it until after he had tried a number of other jobs, such as driving an ambulance, roofing and selling flowers.[4] At age 17, he found work as a photographer's model.[5]
In 1956, Byrnes got an unpaid job in asummer stock theatre company in Connecticut, the Litchfield Community Playhouse. He soon began appearing in the company's plays as an actor; he also tried to get roles inBroadway theatre productions, but had no luck. Also that year, he was cast in an episode of theCrossroads TV program. Byrnes also appeared in episodes of the late-1950s seriesWire Service andNavy Log.
After a year, Byrnes moved to Hollywood.[4] He appeared in a stage production ofTea and Sympathy.[6][7] Byrnes also appeared in episodes ofThe Adventures of Jim Bowie, andTelephone Time and in the filmFear Strikes Out (1957). Byrnes was third-billed in the low budget exploitation filmReform School Girl (1957) forAmerican International Pictures, co-starringSally Kellerman; the same year, he had a supporting role in the Warner Bros. filmJohnny Trouble.
In 1957, Byrnes signed a three-year contract with John Carroll of Clarion Pictures.[8] He tested for roles in the filmsBernardine andUntil They Sail but was unsuccessful. He did, however, guest star on an episode ofCheyenne made byWarner Bros.,[9] and a contemporary report described him as "aTab Hunter type.".[10] The studio liked Byrnes' work and signed him to a long-term contract in May 1957.[11]
Warners started off Byrnes' contract by assigning him to a comic role in the war dramaThe Deep Six (1958).[12][13] He also appeared in episodes ofCheyenne,The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna andColt .45. In 1958 he appeared (credited as Edward Byrnes) as Benji Danton onCheyenne in the episode titled "The Last Comanchero."
WhenTab Hunter refused a role in the war filmDarby's Rangers (1958), Byrnes stepped in instead. He was wanted forBaby Face Nelson (1957), but Warners would not loan him out.[14]
Byrnes also appeared in the romantic dramaMarjorie Morningstar (1958) andLife Begins at 17 (1958). He appeared in the pilot episode ofLawman and as a guest star inMaverick,The Deputy, andSugarfoot, in the latter withJohn Russell,Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., andWill Wright in the 1958 season-premiere episode "Ring of Sand." He was in another war film titledUp Periscope (1959).
Byrnes was cast inGirl on the Run, a pilot for a detective show starringEfrem Zimbalist Jr. Byrnes playedcontract killer Kenneth ("Kookie") Smiley, who continually combed his hair – Byrnes said this was an idea of his which the director liked and kept in.[15][16][17][18][19] Around this time Byrnes decided to change his acting name from "Edward" to "Edd". "I just dreamed it up one day", he said. "Edward is too formal and there are lots of Eddies."[4][16]
The show aired in October 1958[20] and was so popular Warners decided to turn it into a TV series:77 Sunset Strip.[4] Byrnes' character became an immediate national teen sensation, prompting the producers to make Byrnes a regular cast member. They transformed Kookie from a hitman into aparking valet at Dino's Lodge who helped as aprivate investigator. Zimbalist Jr. explained the situation to the audience:
We previewed this show, and because Edd Byrnes was such a hit, we decided that Kookie and his comb had to be in our series. So this week, we'll just forget that in the pilot he went off to prison to be executed.
— From the pre-credit sequence for the episode "Lovely Lady, Pity Me"
Kookie's recurring character—with a different, exciting look that teens of the day related to—was the valet-parking attendant who constantly combed his piled-high,Brylcreemed hair, often in awindbreaker jacket, and who worked part-time at the so-calledDean Martin's Dino's Lodge restaurant, next door to a private-investigator agency at 77Sunset Strip inWest Hollywood. Kookie frequently acted as an unlicensed, protégé detective who helped theprivate eyes (Zimbalist andRoger Smith) on their cases, based upon "the word" heard from Kookie's street informants. Kookie called everybody "Dad" (as in "Sure thing . . . Dad") and was television's homage to the "Jack Kerouac" style of cult-hipster of the late 1950s.[21]
The show became the most popular one in the country.[22] To the thrill of teen viewers, Kookie spoke ajive-talk "code" to everyone, whether you understood him or not, and Kookie knew, better than others, "the word on the street". Although the Kookie character was at least several years older than Jim Stark,James Dean's character in the filmRebel Without a Cause, Byrnes exuded a similar sense of cool. Kookie was also the progenitor ofHenry Winkler'sThe Fonz character of theHappy Days series (switch hot rod for motorcycle; same hair and comb). By April 1959, Byrnes was among the most popular young actors in the country.[23]
"I was a nobody", said Byrnes. "Now I'm dragging in over 400 letters a week and I'm a name."[24]
Kookie's constant onscreen tending of hisducktail haircut led to many jokes among comedians of the time, and it resulted in the 1959-charted (13 weeks) 'rap' style recording, "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)", recorded with actress and recording artistConnie Stevens, and which reached No. 4 on theBillboard Hot 100. It sold over one million copies and was awarded agold disc by theRIAA.[25][26] The song also appeared on the Edd Byrnes album, entitledKookie. He and Stevens appeared together on ABC'sThe Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. During the run of77 Sunset Strip, Byrnes, as the "Kookie" character, was a popular celebrity, and Byrnes received fan-mail that reached 15,000 letters a week, according toPicture Magazine in 1961; this rivalled most early rock recording-stars of the day.[citation needed]
Warners put him in the second lead of a Western,Yellowstone Kelly (1959), supportingClint Walker, star of another Warners show,Cheyenne; it was a minor success at the box office.[27]
"I'm not studying", said Byrnes at the time. "Why should I? I get all my experience in front of the camera. You get in front of the camera every day and you've got to learn."[4]
Byrnes walked off the show in the second season, demanding a bigger part and higher pay. In November 1959, Warners put him on suspension. They eventually offered $750 a week but he refused. In April 1960, they came to terms and Byrnes went back to work.[28][29]
Owing to restrictions in hisWarner Brothers television contract, Byrnes was forced to turn down film roles inOcean's Eleven (1960);Rio Bravo (1959);North to Alaska (1960) andThe Longest Day (1962). He tested for the role ofJohn F. Kennedy inPT 109, but President Kennedy preferredCliff Robertson.;[30] instead of making that movie, he guest starred onLawman.
Byrnes made a cameo as Kookie inSurfside Six andHawaiian Eye, a77 Sunset Stripspin-off. He bought a story for Warners,Make Mine Vanilla, but it was not made.[31] He threatened to punch a photographer who was trying to take a photo of him getting a marriage license.[32] He did some summer stock in 1962 with his wife.[33]
Although Byrnes was a popular celebrity, typecasting led him to ultimately buy out his television contract with Warner Brothers to clear his way for films—but it was too late for Byrnes to capitalize on feature-length cinema projects based upon his established television-series fame.
In August 1963 Byrnes bought up the remaining ten months of his contract with Warner Bros. and leftSunset Strip. "No more hipster image for me", said Byrnes. "From now on I'd like to establish myself as a movie star."[34]
Byrnes appeared in episodes ofThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour;Burke's Law andKraft Suspense Theatre. He travelled to Yugoslavia where he was one of several names inRoger Corman's ensemble war filmThe Secret Invasion (1964). While in Europe he signed to do a TV show in Munich.[35]
Back in the United States, he made apilot for a TV series,Kissin' Cousins, based on theElvis Presley filmKissin' Cousins (1964), with Byrnes taking the part of the lieutenant played by Presley in the film;[36][37] it did not go to series. Byrnes starred in a beach party movie financed by Corman,Beach Ball (1965).[38] While working onBeach Ball with Byrnes,Chris Noel complained about his behavior.[39] He was in episodes ofMister Roberts;Honey West andTheatre of Stars, and didPicnic;Bus Stop;Sunday in New York;Sweet Bird of Youth andCat on a Hot Tin Roof on stage in stock.[40][41]
The shadow of Kookie hung over him. "People think that's the only role you can play", he said in 1966. "Producers and directors still think of me as the kid I played on the Strip. I've been offered other series but they've still wanted to cast me as the same kid."[42]
Byrnes returned to Europe for severalSpaghetti Westerns, which included the 1967 filmsRenegade Riders;Any Gun Can Play andRed Blood, Yellow Gold.[43] In 1969 he said he made more money in the preceding year than in his entire time at Warner Bros.[44]
Back in the US he worked mostly in TV; this included episodes ofMannix;Love, American Style;The Virginian;Adam-12 andPathfinders. He was also in the TV moviesThe Silent Gun (1969), starringLloyd Bridges, andThe Gift of Terror (1973), starringDenise Alexander andWill Geer.Byrnes had a supporting role in theDuo-Vision horror filmWicked, Wicked in 1973, starringTiffany Bolling, and played a TV interviewer in theDavid Essex filmStardust (1974).
In 1974, Byrnes hosted thepilot ofWheel of Fortune, butNBC choseChuck Woolery instead.[45] In his autobiography, Byrnes acknowledged being intoxicated during the pilot's taping.[46]
He was a guest star inMarcus Welby, MD;Thriller;Police Story;Police Woman andSword of Justice; and was also in the TV moviesMobile Two (1975) andTelethon (1977).
Byrnes played a small but memorable role of theDick Clark-like dance-show host Vince Fontaine, host ofNational Bandstand, in the 1978 movieGrease.
The box office success of the film led to Byrnes becoming the only regular cast member of theNBC comedy-dramaanthology series$weepstake$ in early 1979,[47] but it only lasted nine episodes. He went back to guest starring in shows likeCHiPs,B.J. and the Bear,House Calls,Charlie's Angels,Vega$,The Love Boat,Fantasy Island,Quincy M.E.,The Master,Simon & Simon, andCrazy Like a Fox.
Byrnes had a small role in theErin Moran TV filmTwirl (1981) and the lead inErotic Images (1983) withBritt Ekland. Byrnes also appeared inMankillers (1987);Back to the Beach (1987);Party Line (1988) andTroop Beverly Hills (1989).
Later appearances included parts in:Unhappily Ever After;Rags to Riches;Mr. Belvedere;Empty Nest;Burke's Law (the revival);Adam-12,Kung Fu: The Legend Continues andMurder, She Wrote. In 1987 he appeared on the sitcomThrob in the role of Bobby Catalina, a washed-up singer, and performed his trademark "Kookie" song. In 1992, he played a fictionalized version of himself onMarried... with Children, being a celebrity endorser for atime share and singing a revamped version of "Kookie" with the thrash metal bandAnthrax. The episode and his appearance were well-received.
One of his final TV roles was a small role in the mini-seriesShake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story (1999).
Byrnes died of natural causes on January 8, 2020, at hisSanta Monica home. He was 87 years old. His body was cremated.[48][49][5]
Byrnes's son, Logan, from his relationship with Asa Maynor, is a television news anchor forKUSI-TV News inSan Diego,California.[50]
As a tribute to his enduring celebrity and his iconic "Kookie" character, Byrnes has ranked No. 5 inTV Guide's list of "TV's 25 Greatest Teen Idols" (23 January 2005). In 1996, he wrote an autobiography withMarshall Terrill titledKookie No More.[5]
Byrnes appeared during the Memphis Film Festival in June 2014; he was reunited with his formerYellowstone Kelly co-starClint Walker.[51]
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