Rubber-faced comedian Buddy Hackett dead at 78

MALIBU, Calif. — Buddy Hackett, a comedian who achieved iconic status as a raunchy nightclub performer and rubber-faced clown in movies including "The Music Man" and "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," died yesterday at his home in Malibu. He was 78.

The cause of death was not immediately clear. Mr. Hackett had been suffering from a chest cold, although he had been in "robust good health" until a few days ago, a family spokesman said.

Mr. Hackett stopped performing in 1996, after experiencing dizziness and shortness of breath onstage, and became increasingly reclusive.

He was born Leonard Hacker in 1924 in Brooklyn, N.Y. As a teenager, he worked as a waiter and bellhop in the Catskills, the resort breeding ground for countless "borscht belt" comedians.

After three years in the Army, Mr. Hackett spent the late '40s and 1950s coming up as a comedian in cabarets and clubs in New York.

The 1960s broadened the comedian's appeal, as Mr. Hackett increasingly indulged his own voice. He was soon on his way to becoming a beloved, if antic, raconteur — his stories increasingly woven into the fabric of his look and personality. The late New York Times theater critic Brooks Atkinson once characterized Mr. Hackett onstage as "a large, soft, messy comic with a glib tongue and a pair of inquiring eyes."

In 1962 Mr. Hackett co-starred as Marcellus Washburn in "The Music Man," helping out Robert Preston's confidence man Harold Hill. A year later he appeared among other entertainment legends in Stanley Kramer's Cinerama romp "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."

But those who saw him perform live remember Mr. Hackett most vividly. His wacky, tour de force delivery and no-holds-barred routines (as a surly Chinese waiter misunderstanding his table's order, for instance) made him a beloved live act.

Mr. Hackett is survived by his wife, Sherry; his son, Sandy; two daughters, Lisa and Ivy; and two grandchildren.