The Life and Sad ending of Lou Costello

new Costello was born newest Francis crystal Oh on March 6 1906 in Paterson New Jersey he went to school in Paterson and was a good athlete he was good at basketball and boxing boxing under the name of Lou King Lou married and battler a burlesque dancer on January 30th 1934 they had four children Patricia Carol Liu jr. and Christine in 1927 Lou went to Hollywood to become an actor but only found work as a laborer extra and occasional work as a stuntman in 1930 after not having much success he returned home to New Jersey while performing in burlesque theaters he changed his stage name to Costello after actress Helene Castella during these years he made a straight man named Bud Abbott Abbott and Costello formally teamed up in 1936 Abbott and Costello were very popular on the radio with routines like who's on first and we're signed to do Hollywood pictures where they enjoyed legendary success over the next 20 years in March 1943 Costello was suffering from rheumatic fever and wasn't able to work for six months on November fourth of that year he returned to the teams radio show but a tragic event darkened his comeback after arriving at the NBC studios Lew received word that his baby son Lou jr. had accidentally drowned in the family pool during an afternoon nap the baby managed to get out of his crib and ended up in the pool unnoticed by the nanny the child was just 2 days short of his first birthday Lille had asked his wife to keep Lu jr. up that night so that boy to fear his father on the radio for the first time rather than cancel the broadcast Lu said wherever he is tonight I want him to hear me and went on with the show no one in the audience knew of the DEF CON so after the show when Bud Abbott explained the events of the day and how the phrase the show must go on have been demonstrated if I knew that night so they were very successful as a comedy duo in films radio and TV there were hard feelings between bud and Lou they argued constantly over money and going by the mid-1950s Abbott and Costello films were no longer doing so well at the box office Universal declined to renew their movie contract in 1955 avid and Costello dissolved their partnership in 1957 on good terms Costello then pursued a solo career including performing in Las Vegas he appeared several times on Steve Allen The Tonight Show shortly after the completion of the film the 30-foot ride of candy Rock Costello suffered a heart attack he died at doctor's hospital in Beverly Hills on March 3rd 1959 just three days before his 53rd birthday many times it has been falsely reported that his final words were that the strawberry ice-cream soda he had just finished was quote the best I ever tasted by other accounts including several newspaper obituaries he asked his nurse to adjust his position in bed and said I think I'll be more comfortable but before the nurse could comply he suffered a cardiac arrest and died after a funeral Mass at his parish in Sherman Oaks Costello was in word at the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles on March 8 his wife can died only nine months later from an apparent heart attack at age 47

Channel: The Life and Sad Ending

Views: 4,332,706

Rating: 4.6811423 out of 5

Keywords: lou costello, abbott and costello, bud abbott, biography, abbott and costello meet frankenstein, bio, what happened to, whatever happened to, life and sad ending of, hollywood, graveyard

Id: FC8YnET4S30

Length: 4min 42sec (282 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 17 2017