Joby Baker, a nightclub artist and painter who played drums in a band with Elvis Presley Happy girl and starred as a radio DJ on the short-lived CBS sitcom Good morning, worldHe died. He was 92 years old.
Baker died on June 22 at a hospital in Yonkers, New York, his granddaughter, Sophia Silverman, said. Hollywood Reporter.
Baker was managed early in his career by famous comedian Lou Costello, and appeared in The last angry man (1959) alongside Paul Muni in the legendary actor’s final film and co-starred with USS Echo with Jack Lemmon and Ricky Nelson in The strangest ship in the army (1960).
The Columbia Pictures contract player appeared in Tool (1959), The tool becomes Hawaiian (1961) and Gidget goes to Rome (1963), starring Sandra Dee, Deborah Whalley and Cindy Carroll, respectively.
Baker also worked opposite actress and singer Connie Francis in I’m looking for love (1964) and When boys meet girls (1965) and starred as director of musicians in another song-packed film of the time, Hot Nanny Hot (1963).
in Happy girl (1965), filmed during spring break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Baker portrayed drummer Wilbur in a band with Presley’s Rusty Wells, Andy Crosby’s Gary, and doc Jimmy Hawkins.
When the legendary CBS sitcom Dick Van Dyke displays The network ended its five-season run in June 1966, and the network “needed to find a replacement [for Dick Van Dyke]“CBS decided it was me,” he said in a 2020 interview.
So The Dick Van Dyke Show Directors Bill Persky, Sam Deneuve, Carl Reiner, and Sheldon Leonard were created Good morning world, which premiered in September 1967 and featured Baker as Dave Lewis and Ronnie Shell as Larry Clark, hosts of a morning radio show (the Lewis and Clark Show) in Los Angeles. (Scheel died three weeks ago.)
“They were going to call him Joby Baker Show“I went to these guys and begged them to please, please, don’t contact him,” he said [that]. And I convinced them not to do it. It’s a very big responsibility for an animator who might be on a terrible TV show. “I was shy and nervous about stardom.”
The comedy ran for one season, and was canceled after 26 episodes.
Joseph Baker was born in Montreal on March 26, 1934. After his mother died when he was a young child, his father – who affectionately called him “Jubila” – took him to live on Oahu, Hawaii.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, Baker escaped injury in the immediate aftermath when the house he was living in was hit by friendly fire. He and his stepmother soon left the islands, taking the RMS Aquitania with thousands of other evacuees to San Francisco, he recalls in 2022.
After attending school in New York City, he came to Los Angeles and launched a nightclub act that made him laugh as a Jerry Lewis impersonator.
While in the US Army, where he enjoyed entertaining the troops, he served with Costello’s first daughter’s husband, Buddy. He convinced the comedian to come to his camp to perform, and he would become his friend and then his manager. Baker said he often stayed at Costello’s home in the San Fernando Valley on weekends.
Baker was working as a page for NBC in Hollywood when he took office Red Skelton watch In 1952, he made his film debut as an army man in 1952 Zero target (1955), starring Richard Conte and Charles Bronson.
Then he appeared in several series West Point, Dragnet, Father Bachelor, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Dr. Kildare, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Perry Mason Young hood is photographed in The main witness (1960) Directed by Phil Carlson. She also recurs the role of the soldier. Kelly on Fight!
Meanwhile, he sang and told jokes as opener for singer Johnny Mathis and “used to swing on the curtains” in the desert in Las Vegas before Costello and Bud Abbott showed up.
Baker said he was displaying his paintings outside an art gallery on La Cienega Boulevard when author Ray Bradbury walked in and mentioned that he had written a play that would be performed across the street at the Coronet Theater.
Baker was then cast as a Mexican named Vamanos in Bradbury’s film Great ice cream suitHis often troubled performance impressed the creators Good morning, world. (It also helped that Baker appeared in two episodes of the final season of The Dick Van Dyke Show.)
Good morning, worlddelayed the season because Persky and Deneuve were the starters That girl For Marlo Thomas, Julie Parrish also appeared as Baker’s on-screen wife; Goldie Hawn – in her first professional role – as her strange friend; and Billy DeWolf in Station Manager. (After the series was cancelled, Hawn was quickly hired Rowan and Martin laughed.)
Baker has also appeared in Disney films The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1966), Blackbeard’s ghost (1968) and Superdad (1974); He was a regular on two other short-lived shows, to forbid and Six o’clock follies; and guest starred Alfred Hitchcock Presents, F forces, Manix, Medical Center and Quincy Mayamong many other series.
Survivors include his fourth wife, Meghan. His daughters, Rika and Michelle. His son Scott. his daughters Emma and Eliza; and his grandchildren, Sophia, Amelia, Finn, Avery, Zach and Monty.
Baker was also married to actress Joan Blackman from 1959 until their divorce in 1961, to Joyce Harriet Winter from 1961 until their divorce in 1975, and to lyricist, singer, songwriter and poet Dorie Previn (Andre Previn’s ex-wife) from 1984 until her death in 2012. He explained Dorie Previn Songbookpublished in 1995, and some of her other books.
See some of his paintings here.
Ultimately, Becker considered himself a painter above all else. He said: “I was not interested in stardom. In fact, I was embarrassed by it.” “I was the wrong kind of person to be an actor.”
