![]() It was here that he changed his name from Leonard Hacker to Buddy Hackett. Hackett's first job after the war was at the Pink Elephant, a Brooklyn club. Following his graduation from high school in 1942, Hackett enlisted in the United States Army and served during World War II for three years in an anti-aircraft battery. He appeared first at the Golden Hotel in Hurleyville, New York, claiming later he did not get one single laugh. While there, he began performing stand-up comedy in the resort nightclubs as "Butch Hacker". ![]() While still a student, Hackett worked as a "tummler" ( Yiddish for "tumult maker") entertaining guests in the Catskills Borscht Belt resorts. Hackett suffered from Bell's palsy as a child, the lingering effects of which contributed to his distinctive slurred speech and facial expression. Hackett grew up across from Public School 103 on 54th Street and 14th Avenue in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and was active in varsity football and drama club at New Utrecht High School. ![]() His mother Anna (née Geller) worked in the garment trades while his father Philip Hacker was a furniture upholsterer and part-time inventor. Hackett was one of two children born into a Jewish family living in Brooklyn, New York. His best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in The Music Man (1962), Benjy Benjamin in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Tennessee Steinmetz in The Love Bug (1968), and the voice of Scuttle in The Little Mermaid (1989). Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker Aug– June 30, 2003) was an American actor, comedian and singer. ![]()
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