Norm Crosby
| Norm Crosby | |
|---|---|
Crosby in 1965
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| Born | Norman Lawrence Crosby[1] September 15, 1927 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Comedian |
| Spouse(s) | Joan Crane Foley (m. 1966) |
| Children | 2 |
Norman Lawrence Crosby (September 15, 1927 – November 7, 2020) was an American comedian born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was often referred to as "The Master of Malaprop".
Career
Crosby went solo as a stand-up comedian, adopting a friendly, blue collar, guy-next-door persona in the 1950s. Crosby refined his standup monologues by interpolating malapropisms. He first appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in December 1964. In late-1968, he co-starred on The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show, an NBC twelve-week series.[2]
In 1974, he co-hosted a Canadian variety television series, Everything Goes.[3] From 1974 through 1984 he was on over half a dozen Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts including one of George Burns and two separate ones of Redd Foxx. From 1978 through 1981, he hosted a nationally syndicated series, The Comedy Shop, in which a mix of up-and-coming stand-up comics and vaudeville legends presented their material.[4]
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Crosby became a commercial pitchman for Anheuser-Busch Natural Light beer. During this time, he also appeared as a celebrity guest on a number of game shows, including Celebrity Bowling, Liar's Club, Tattletales, and Hollywood Squares.
From 1983 until the program's dissociation with Jerry Lewis, Crosby co-hosted and contributed to the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6560 Hollywood Boulevard.[citation needed].
He voiced the Judge in the animated film Eight Crazy Nights (2002).
Personal life
Crosby was born to a Jewish family[5] and was raised in Dorchester, Boston,[6] the son of Ann (née Lansky) and John Crosby.[1] In 1966, Crosby married Joan Crane Foley. They had two children. He became a Freemason in 1956, and served as Master of at least one lodge and participated in many charitable activities. He was a member of Ionic Composite Lodge #520 in Los Angeles, California.[7][8]
On November 7, 2020, Crosby died of heart failure at his home in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 93.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Profile, filmreference.com; accessed April 3, 2017.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The Comedy Shop videos at MeTV
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Profile, MSANA.com (October 2007); accessed April 3, 2017.
- ↑ Ionic Composite Lodge #520 Trestle Board Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, calodges.org; accessed April 3, 2017.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Norm Crosby at the Internet Movie Database
- Norm Crosby discography at Discogs
- Interview (November 2010), classicshowbiz.blogspot.com; accessed April 3, 2017.
- Interview, accessed April 27, 2017.
- Webarchive template wayback links
- Articles with short description
- Use mdy dates from September 2020
- Articles with hCards
- Articles with unsourced statements from April 2017
- Articles with invalid date parameter in template
- 1927 births
- 2020 deaths
- American Freemasons
- Jewish American male comedians
- American male comedians
- American male voice actors
- Male actors from Boston
- Comedians from Massachusetts
- 20th-century American comedians
- 21st-century American comedians
