LOU COSTELLO
Lou Costello
- © Universal Pictures
- (Lou Costello in Buck Privates, 1941)
Biography
BIO
Lou Costello was born Louis Frances Cristillo in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1906.
After performing as a basketball trick-shot artist and professional boxer, he unsuccessfully tried to break into Hollywood as an actor in the late 1920s. Undeterred, Costello began working in vaudeville and burlesque and teamed up in 1936 with fellow burlesque entertainer Bud Abbott. The pair became popular on the radio and after appearing on Broadway in 1939 where signed by Universal Pictures.
Costello appeared with Abbott in 36 motion pictures between 1940 and 1956, including Keep ‘Em Flying (1941).
The pair also had their own radio show (1942-1949) and television program (1952-1954).
Abbott and Costello separated ways in 1957 and Costello continued as a stand-up comic as well as performing on stage.
He married Anne Battler, a former burlesque dancer, in 1934 and the couple raised three children. A fourth child died as an infant in a pool accident.
Once one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, Costello died almost penniless after being dunned by the I.R.S. for a substantial amount of unpaid taxes.
Costello died of a heart attack in East Los Angeles, California, in 1959, at the age of 52.
Additional Broadway stage history is available at: 
Additional biographical information is available at: 
