Pat McCormick (comic)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pat McCormick (born June 30, 1927 - died July 29, 2005)(1) was an American comic actor and writer known for playing Big Enos Burdette in Smokey and the Bandit and its two sequels. He wrote for a number of performers such as Red Skelton, Phyllis Diller and Johnny Carson as well as shows such as Get Smart.
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[edit] Career
McCormick was born in Rocky River, Ohio. He was a high school athlete and served in the Army. He dropped out of Harvard Law School for a career in advertising but abandoned that career as well when he started writing jokes for television and standup comedians. Eventually, he became a writer for Jack Paar on The Jack Paar Show. He also wrote for Get Smart, The Danny Kaye Show and wrote and appeared on Candid Camera.
McCormick was both the announcer and straight man for Don Rickles on The Don Rickles Show in 1968. He was a regular on The New Bill Cosby Show on 1972. Behind the scenes, he was one of the lead writers on The Tonight Show writing many of its most well-known lines. He wrote the line "Due to today's earthquake, the God is Dead rally has been canceled." McCormick had a distinctive appearance being six feet, eight inches tall, weighing 250 pounds and having a walrus moustache.
His first screen performance was in The Shaggy D.A in 1976. He played Grover Cleveland in Robert Altman's Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson in the same year. In 1977, he appeared in Smokey and the Bandit and appeared in both sequels in 1980 and 1983. He appeared as The Ghost of TV Christmas Past in Scrooged in 1988 with his final appearance being in Ted and Venus.
He also made frequent appearances as a panellist on innumerable television game shows including I've Got a Secret and The Gong Show.
McCormick retired in 1998 after being left partly paralysed by a stroke leading to his admission to the Motion Picture and Television Fund's hospital in Woodland Hills, California in that year. He died there 7 years later, aged 78.
He is survived by a son, Ben, and a grandson. He has a twin brother (who assumed a different surname), Sgt. James McKittrick, of Chicago.
[edit] Footnotes
(1) Although media reports of his death state he was 78, both the Internet Movie Database and Allmovie.com state that he was born on July 17, 1934 in Rocky River, Ohio.
(2) Cited in United Press International report published in the Washington Times on July 30, 2005.
[edit] References
[edit] Filmographies
- [1] New York Times filmography for Pat McCormick featuring material from Allmovie.com
- [2] Internet Movie Database
- [3] MTV movies article
[edit] Obituaries
- [4] UPI International report on McCormick's death published in the Washington Times July 30 2005
