CHAT Edd Byrnes, 'Grease' and '77 Sunset Strip' star, dead at 87

[auxman]

Edd Byrnes, 'Grease' and '77 Sunset Strip' star, dead at 87

Edd Byrnes has died. He was 87.

www.foxnews.com

Edd Byrnes, 'Grease' and '77 Sunset Strip' star, dead at 87
By Mariah Haas | Fox News


Edd Byrnes has died. He was 87.

The "Grease" and "77 Sunset Strip" star died unexpectedly of natural causes on Wednesday at his Santa Monica, Calif., home, a press release, shared by his son, Logan Byrnes, said.

"His is the story of an ambitious young kid who, in his 20s drove out to Hollywood from New York City with a few hundred dollars and a dream of making it big in the entertainment business," read the release.

BUCK HENRY, A SCREENWRITER OF 'THE GRADUATE,' CO-CREATOR OF 'GET SMART,' DIES AT 89

It continued: "He soon landed a staring role on the wildly popular TV series '77 Sunset Strip' as the cool-talking 'Kookie.' He went on to star in dozens of motion pictures and television series popular around the world, including playing the suave and debonaire 'Vince Fontaine' in 'Grease.'"

The late actor's career includes a handful of movie and television credits such as: "The Secret Invasion," "Stardust," "Yellowstone Kelly," "Troop Beverly Hills," "Charlies Angels," "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," "Maverick," "Cheyenne," "Surfside 6," "Murder She Wrote," and "Married With Children."

Edd also hosted a pilot episode of "Wheel of Fortune" in the early to mid-1970s. He earned a gold record for the song “Kookie Kookie Lend Me Your Comb."

As a tribute to his enduring celebrity and his iconic “Kookie” character, he ranked No. 5 in the "TV Guide" list of “TV’s 25 Greatest Teen Idols.”

Edd Byrnes as National Bandstand host Vince Fontaine in the Paramount musical 'Grease', 1978. (Photo by Paramount Pictures/Getty Images)

Edd leaves behind his son, Logan, a KUSI and former FOX LA anchor; his former wife, Asa Maynor; longtime partner Catherine Gross and their beloved maltipoo, Marlowe.

Fox News' Julius Young contributed to this report

 

[Loretta Van Riet]

Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb. An actual song made from 77 Sunset Strip.

 

[mzkitty]

They were playing all the old 77 Sunset Strips very late at night on Me-TV recently. I remember as a teen sitting on a friend's couch and all the boys would come in and plunk down and watch this show and Dobie Gillis. And The Flintstones.

And look, the article says Buck Henry is dead too.

Loretta, here's that song. It was popular, IIRC.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT9QZBGyXjU


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT9QZBGyXjU

 

[Blacknarwhal]

He also made an appearance on an episode of Married With Children, along with metal group Anthrax.

The video quality is less than stellar, but it's enough to make things out. 40 seconds.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpLpmt7LydI

 

[PghPanther]

When he was the "hipster cat" jive talkin on TV back in the early 60's he was renting a house for a while in my neighborhood and lived next to my best friend......at that time the song "Cookie Cookie lend me your comb" as an AM radio hit was out on the charts.........which I think he did with Connie Stevens...….

They had a promo with him signing autographs and such at this house and I remember I was at my friends house next door (we were around 2nd grade at the time) and there were hundreds if not thousands of teens around screaming and making a big fuss....and we couldn't figure out why it was such a big deal...…...