ACTOR
Buddy Hackett
- Known for
- It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), The Music Man (1962)
16 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Buddy Hackett is an actor best known for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Music Man.
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According to a comment about The Love Bug (1968), Hackett was offered $2,000 a week to replace Curly Howard in The Three Stooges. He declined. However, the story seems unlikely because when Curly died, he was immediately replaced by his brother Shemp Howard; Curly had previously replaced Shemp when Shemp left the act while they were still in vaudeville.
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In 1953, gossip columns reported that Universal Pictures wanted to pair Hackett with his friend, popular baritone Alan Dale, as a response to Paramount's box office sensation Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Nothing came of this idea because Dale preferred to work alone. However, Hackett appeared in Universal's Walking My Baby Back Home (1953) later that year. In 1954, when Lou Costello's health forced him to leave the film shortly after filming began in Universal's Save My Child (1954), Hackett took over Costello's role (Costello is still visible in some long takes). Hugh O'Brian replaced Bud Abbott, who could not work without Costello. Universal discussed pairing Hackett and O'Brian in another film, but it bombed at the box office, and no further team-ups with O'Brian ever materialized.
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