Profile of Lou Costello on Famous Like Me

Louis Francis Cristillo aka Lou Costello (born March 6, 1906; died March 3, 1959) was an American actor, producer and comedian from Paterson, New Jersey of Italian and French descent. He is best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott.

Birth

Costello was born in Paterson, New Jersey. In 1927 he went to Hollywood to become an actor, but found work as a laborer at MGM and Warner Brothers. He worked temporarily as a stuntman, and then eventually became a burlesque comedian.

Bud Abbott

In the early 1930s, Costello crossed paths with a talented straight man named Bud Abbott. They fornally teamed up in 1936, and performed together in burlesque shows, minstrel shows, vaudeville and movie houses.

Hollywood

In 1938 they received national exposure for the first time by performing on the Kate Smith radio show, which led to the duo signing with Universal the following year. Abbott and Costello appeared in their first film in 1940, a movie entitled One Night in the Tropics. Although Abbott and Costello were only filling supporting roles, they stole the film with their classic routine Who's On First?. (Abbott and Costello are the only two non-baseball players honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame museum in Cooperstown, New York, because of their legendary Who's On First? routine.)

The team's breakout picture, however, was "Buck Privates" which was released early in 1941. They immediately became the top ranking comedy stars in Hollywood and fans looked upon each of their pictures as a major event. Many of their films showed them as bumbling servicemen such as In The Navy and Keep 'Em Flying. An amusing footnote to this is that the Japanese military showed these films to Japanese soldiers to demonstrate how inept American soldiers were.

Death of son

In 1943, Costello had an attack of rheumatic fever and was unable to work for a year. A tragic event shadowed his comeback. On the day Costello returned to do the team's popular radio show, his infant son, 'Butch', drowned in an accident. He did the show as a tribute to his memory. People who knew Lou Costello said that he never recovered from the loss of his child.

Split up

Abbott and Costello split up in 1957, after troubles with the Internal Revenue Service that forced both men to sell off their large homes and the rights to some of their films.

Death

After making one unsuccessful solo film The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock), Costello died from a heart attack 3 days before his 53rd birthday in 1959. He was interred in the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.

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