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Stubby Kaye 1918 - 1997

Stubby Kaye of Rancho Mirage, Riverside County, CA was born on November 11, 1918 in New York, New York United States, and died at age 79 years old on December 14, 1997 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA.

Stubby Kaye

Stubby Kaye, Stubby, Bernard Sholom Kotzin

Rancho Mirage, Riverside County, CA 92270

November 11, 1918

New York, New York, United States

December 14, 1997

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States

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Stubby Kaye Stubby Kaye (1918 - 1997)

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Stubby Kaye's History: 1918 - 1997

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Introduction

Stubby Kaye Biography Born November 11, 1918 in New York City, New York, USA Died December 14, 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA (lung cancer) Birth Name Bernard Sholom Kotzin Sunny, lovable tenor Stubby Kaye with his butterball frame kept his real name a secret for his entire career. He was born Bernard Kotzin in New York and started off in the world of entertainment in 1939 after winning a radio contest. Touring as a comedian in vaudeville for over a decade, he also appeared regularly with the USO during the war years. He finally hit it big on Broadway in 1950 when he created the role of Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the smash musical hit "Guys and Dolls" singing his rousing show-stoppers "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" and "Fugue for Tinhorns". He solidified his status a few years later as Marryin' Sam in "Li'l Abner" in 1956. He preserved both of these signature roles on film. Other stage musicals sparked by his presence included "Fiddler on the Roof", "Good News" and "Grind". In the 60s Stubby had his own kiddie show and appeared to comical effect in other films as well, including The Cool Mikado (1963), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), Cat Ballou (1965), The Way West (1967) and Sweet Charity (1969). Nightclubs and TV were also an integral part of his career. He lived for a time in England, marrying Angela Bracewell, then a hostess on Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955), and established a growing list of fans there as well. His last featured role was in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). His final years were spent in ill health, dying in 1997 of lung cancer. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / [contact link] Spouse (2) Jeanne Watson (30 April 1961 - 1962) ( divorced) Angela Bracewell (? - 14 December 1997) ( his death) Wife Angela Bracewell was a former Broadway chorus girl whom he met while living in England. She was the hostess of the British version of the Beat the Clock (1950) game show, a segment of Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955). He once performed as Martin Wilson on the Major Bowes radio program, Original Amateur Hour, singing Comes Love, and impersonating celebrities such as Harry Richman, Jerry Colonna, Andy Devine, and Hugh Herbert. He stated that his current occupation was as a fruit sorter at a grocery store. Portrayed Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the original Broadway cast of Guys and Dolls and reprised his role in the movie Guys and Dolls (1955). Appeared as "Marvin Acme", the owner of Toontown, in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". Is the cousin of Bill Maher.
11/11

1918

Birthday

November 11, 1918

Birthdate

New York, New York United States

Birthplace

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Religious Beliefs

Jewish.
12/14

1997

Death

December 14, 1997

Death date

lung cancer

Cause of death

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California United States
Death location

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Obituary

Stubby Kaye, 79, Rotund Comic and Singer By Rick Lyman Dec. 16, 1997 Stubby Kaye, the cherubic comedian and singer who was Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the original ''Guys and Dolls'' and who joined Nat King Cole as an on-screen banjo chorus crooning the ballad of Cat Ballou, died Sunday in Rancho Mirage, Calif., where he lived. He was 79. Though Mr. Kaye had a long career that spanned vaudeville, television, Broadway and films, he was best known as the first man to belt out ''Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat,'' a show-stopper from ''Guys and Dolls'' that was always associated with him. Born in the Bronx, Mr. Kaye graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and then won a radio talent contest that included a job with Major Bowes's traveling vaudeville shows. The 280-pound performer was sometimes billed as ''Stubby Kaye: Extra Padded Attraction.'' Stubby was not his birth name, which he always declined to reveal. During World War II, he toured European battle fronts with the U.S.O. and performed with Bob Hope in London. After the war, he was an emcee and comic front-man for several swing orchestras. Mr. Kaye made his legitimate stage debut in Frank Loesser's 1950 musical fable ''Guys and Dolls,'' based on Damon Runyon's tales of gamblers and chorus girls. In his review for The New York Times, Brooks Atkinson praised ''the most flamboyant population of any show in town,'' and singled out Mr. Kaye ''as a rotund sidewalk emissary.'' Mr. Kaye later played the role in Las Vegas and in London, where he also sang his signature song in a command performance before the Queen at the London Coliseum. He also played Nicely-Nicely in the 1955 film version, with Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. In 1956, Mr. Kaye played the role of Marryin' Sam in the Broadway musical ''L'il Abner,'' for which he received an Outer Circle award. He also played Marryin' Sam in the 1959 film. In his review in The Times, Atkinson wrote that Mr. Kaye was ''in top form again'' in his second Broadway outing. ''Give him a musical fanfare like 'Jubilation T. Cornpone' and he can sing it with that vaudeville rhythm and those vaudeville blandishments that turn song numbers into triumphant occasions,'' he wrote. ''Mr. Kaye is a tower of strength whenever he is at the center of a scene.'' Mr. Kaye was also a regular performer in early television, appearing with Dinah Shore, Perry Como, Art Carney, Marge and Gower Champion and others, and on such series as ''Pantomime Quiz'' (1958), ''Love and Marriage'' (1959) and ''My Sister Eileen'' (1960). In ''Cat Ballou,'' the 1965 western spoof that starred Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda, Mr. Kaye and Nat King Cole, as banjo-playing music hall performers in striped jackets, acted as a kind of frontier Greek chorus. They would appear now and then during the film to sing the title character's ballad, a device that was copied in several other films of the period. His other films include ''40 Pounds of Trouble'' (1962) and ''Sweet Charity'' (1969). A list of survivors was not immediately available.

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