Joe Besser

'Joe Besser' (qv) was born on August 12, 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri. Short, chubby, balding, childish character actor who began his career on the vaudeville circuit before breaking into films in the early 1930s. He was a frequent foil of 'Bud Abbott' (qv) and 'Lou Costello' (qv) in their films and played Stinky on their 1950s situation comedy. Joe joined 'The Three Stooges' (qv) in 1956, but quit the team to be with his ailing wife in 1958. He spent the 1960s appearing in numerous films and television series, including 88 performances on _The Joey Bishop Show (1961)_ (qv) and a regular role as the voice of Babu on the animated series _Jeannie (1973)_ (qv). 'Joe Besser' (qv) died at age 80 of heart failure on March 1, 1988 in North Hollywood, California.::Michael J. Bauman <mbauman@acsu.buffalo.edu>