Edd Byrnes

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Edd Byrnes (1973)

Edd Byrnes (* 30 July 1932 as Edward Byrne Breitenberger in New York City , † 8. January 2020 in Santa Monica ) was an American actor and singer . The role of Gerald "Kookie" Kookson in the series 77 Sunset Strip made him one of the first teenage idols in television history from 1958.

Life

Edward Byrne Breitenberger had German and Irish ancestors and grew up in modest circumstances in New York. When he was 13 years old, his father died of cirrhosis of the liver . He changed his last name to Byrnes, the last name of his maternal grandfather, and was featured in the Gene Kelly film Marjorie Morningstar as Edward Byrnes in the opening credits. His film appearances were initially small.

Byrnes celebrated his breakthrough in the late 1950s as Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III in the detective series 77 Sunset Strip . Edward Byrnes became a teenage idol. In 1959, accompanied by Connie Stevens , he landed a chart hit with Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb . The song made ironic reference to the fact that Kookie kept combing his hair with a pocket comb on the show. The character of Kookie was just a simple car parker at the beginning of the series, but when Byrnes threatened to leave the series, they promoted the character to junior detective from the second season and increased the actor's fee. The figure, reminiscent of a beatnik , met the zeitgeist of the youthful audience of the time. The popularity of Byrnes spilled over to Germany: He was awarded four Bravo Otto's between 1963 and 1966 and in November 1963 was the Spiegel magazine's “currently most popular television actor” in the country.

After Byrnes bought himself out of his contract with Warner Brothers in 1963 and left the Sunset Strip at 77 , the now 30-year-old actor wanted to break away from his youthful image. In Germany, at the end of 1963, he shot a big Saturday evening show with him as the focus, but the show title Kookie & Co. didn’t get him away from his star role . After he was completely committed to the character of Kookie in the USA and was unable to establish himself as a film star, he temporarily went to Europe and was also seen in three spaghetti westerns. In later years he occasionally played self-deprecating roles in Hollywood: in the 1978 film Grease , the plot of which is set in the wedding of Byrnes' popularity, he took on the supporting role of the lustful television presenter Vince Fontaine . He also had guest appearances in the television series Married with Children , Quincy , Charlie's Angels and several appearances in the series Murder, She Wrote . Byrnes played his last television role in 1999 in the television movie Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story .

In 1962 Byrnes married the actress Asa Maynor (* 1936), their son is the current TV presenter Logan Byrnes. The marriage failed and the actor struggled with alcohol and pill addiction for some time, but overcame the addiction in the early 1980s and later publicly advocated education about alcoholism. In 1996 he published the autobiography Kookie No More: Televisions 1st Teen Idol with Barricade Books. He died unexpectedly of natural causes in his Santa Monica home in January 2020 at the age of 87, leaving behind Catherine Gross.

Filmography (selection)

Movie

watch TV

  • 1956: Crossroads (an episode)
  • 1958–1963: 77 Sunset Strip (142 episodes)
  • 1964: Cookie & Co.
  • 1969: The Silent Gun (TV movie)
  • 1969: Mannix (an episode)
  • 1975: Mobile Two (TV movie)
  • 1977: The Killer Must Wait (Telethon, TV movie)
  • 1978–1981: Vegas ( Vega $ , two episodes)
  • 1979: $ weepstake $ (nine episodes)
  • 1981: Charlie's Angels ( Charlie's Angels , a series)
  • 1981: Twirl (TV movie)
  • 1982: Love Boat ( The Love Boat , an episode)
  • 1983: Quincy ( Quincy, ME , an episode)
  • 1987: Throb (an episode)
  • 1990–1995: Murder is her hobby ( Murder, She Wrote , three episodes)
  • 1992: A Terribly Nice Family ( Married ... with Children , an episode)
  • 1999: Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story (TV movie)

Awards in Germany

  • 1963 Golden Bravo Otto
  • 1964 Silver Bravo Otto
  • 1965 Silver Bravo Otto
  • 1966 Bronze Bravo Otto

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the course of his career, 1933 was often given as the year of birth. However, according to Ancestry.com, the census lists 1932 and Byrne's son also mentions in his press release on the death of his father that he died at the age of 87.
  2. ↑ Jo-Ann Armao: SMART KOOKIE KNEW HE HAD A PROBLEM . In: Washington Post . October 6, 1988, ISSN  0190-8286 ( washingtonpost.com [accessed December 2, 2019]).
  3. ^ Edward Byrnes | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved December 2, 2019 (American English).
  4. ↑ [1] Billboard Hot 100 Chart from April 20, 1959. The song stayed in the charts for 13 weeks and reached its highest ranking on May 11 and 18, 1959 with number 4.
  5. ^ Edward Byrnes | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved December 2, 2019 (American English).
  6. ↑ Thomas Düllo: Culture as Transformation: A Cultural Studies of Performative and Crossover . transcript Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-8394-1279-4 ( google.de [accessed on December 2, 2019]).
  7. ↑ KOOKIE: With a double kick . In: Spiegel Online . tape 47 , November 20, 1963 ( spiegel.de [accessed December 2, 2019]).
  8. ↑ KOOKIE: With a double kick . In: Spiegel Online . tape 47 , November 20, 1963 ( spiegel.de [accessed December 2, 2019]).
  9. ↑ Jo-Ann Armao: SMART KOOKIE KNEW HE HAD A PROBLEM . In: Washington Post . October 6, 1988, ISSN  0190-8286 ( washingtonpost.com [accessed December 2, 2019]).
  10. ^ Byrnes, Edd, First Edition - AbeBooks. Accessed December 2, 2019 .
  11. ^ Margalit Fox: Edd Byrnes, Who Combed His Way to TV Stardom, Dies at 86 . In: The New York Times . January 9, 2020, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed January 10, 2020]).
  12. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Teen Idol Kookie: Edd Byrnes is dead, he also played in "Grease" - DER SPIEGEL - Kultur. Retrieved January 10, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Byrnes, Edd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Breitenberger, Edward Byrne (real name); Byrnes, Ed; Byrnes, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 2020
Place of death Santa Monica