Eddie Mayehoff

Baltimore-born Eddie Mayehoff started out as a salesman before finding out that comedy was his real forte. A jack of all trades, he went on to become a bandleader (he attended the Yale School of Music), a radio comedy writer and a television emcee at various stages of his longstanding career. As an actor, the husky-voiced entertainer with the elastic face is probably best remembered for his film That's My Boy (1951), in which he played an ex-football star who aggressively prods his awkward, goofball son Junior (played by--who else?--Jerry Lewis) to follow in his athletic shoes. Dean Martin played Jerry's roommate in the popular film. In 1954 Eddie was able to transfer the role of "Jarring" Jack Jackson to a short-lived TV series. Gil Stratton played Junior this time, the miserable egghead whose young life is turned hellish by his pushy, obstinate dad. Eddie made two other films with Martin and Lewis -- Stooge, The (1953)_ and _Artists and Models (1955). A few of his other comedy films include Off Limits (1952), How to Murder Your Wife (1965) and Luv (1967). On Broadway he appeared in both musicals and legit plays such as "Rhapsody" (1944), "Concert Varieties" (1947), "Season in the Sun" (1951), "A Visit to a Small Planet" (1957) (Tony nomination), and the farcical "A Rainy Day in Newark." He could be seen on TV and in commercials as the years rolled by. Eddie passed away in 1992.