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Edward Byrne Breitenberger (July 30, 1932 – January 8, 2020), known professionally as Edd Byrnes, was an American actor, best known for his starring role in the television series 77 Sunset Strip. He also was featured in the 1978 film Grease as television teen-dance show host Vince Fontaine, and was a charting recording artist with "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" (with Connie Stevens). Early life Byrnes was born in New York City, the son of Mary (Byrne) and Augustus "Gus" Breitenberger. He had two siblings, Vincent and Jo-Ann. After his abusive alcoholic father died when Edd was 13, he dropped his last name in favor of Byrnes, based on the name of his maternal grandfather Edward Byrne. Byrnes developed the urge to act in high school but did not seriously consider pursuing it until after he had tried a number of other jobs, such as driving an ambulance, roofing and selling flowers. At age 17, he found work as a photographer's model. Career Early acting career In 1956, Byrnes got an unpaid job in a summer stock theatre company in Connecticut, the Litchfield Community Playhouse. He soon began appearing in the company's plays as an actor; he also tried to get roles in Broadway theatre productions, but had no luck. Also that year, he was cast in an episode of the Crossroads TV program. Byrnes also appeared in episodes of the late-1950s series Wire Service and Navy Log. After a year, Byrnes moved to Hollywood. He appeared in a stage production of Tea and Sympathy. Byrnes also appeared in episodes of The Adventures of Jim Bowie, and Telephone Time and in the film Fear Strikes Out (1957). Byrnes was third-billed in the low budget exploitation film Reform School Girl (1957) for American International Pictures, co-starring Sally Kellerman; the same year, he had a supporting role in the Warner Bros. film Johnny Trouble. In 1957, Byrnes signed a three-year contract with John Carroll of Clarion Pictures. He tested for roles in the films Bernardine and Until They Sail but was unsuccessful. He did, however, guest star on an episode of Cheyenne made by Warner Bros., and a contemporary report described him as "a Tab Hunter type.". The studio liked Byrnes' work and signed him to a long-term contract in May 1957. Warner Bros. Warners started off Byrnes' contract by assigning him to a comic role in the war drama The Deep Six (1958). He also appeared in episodes of Cheyenne, The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna and Colt .45. In 1958 he appeared (credited as Edward Byrnes) as Benji Danton on Cheyenne in the episode titled "The Last Comanchero." When Tab Hunter refused a role in the war film Darby's Rangers (1958), Byrnes stepped in instead. He was wanted for Baby Face Nelson (1957), but Warners would not loan him out. Byrnes also appeared in the romantic drama Marjorie Morningstar (1958) and Life Begins at 17 (1958). He appeared as a guest star in Maverick, The Deputy, and Sugarfoot, in the latter with John Russell, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., and Will Wright in the 1958 season-premiere episode "Ring of Sand." He was in another war film titled Up Periscope (1959). 77 Sunset Strip Byrnes was cast in Girl on the Run, a pilot for a detective show starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Byrnes played contract killer Kenneth ("Kookie") Smiley, who continually combed his hair – Byrnes said this was an idea of his which the director liked and kept in. Around this time Byrnes decided to change his acting name from "Edward" to "Edd". "I just dreamed it up one day", he said. "Edward is too formal and there are lots of Eddies." The show aired in October 1958 and was so popular Warners decided to turn it into a TV series: 77 Sunset Strip. Byrnes' character became an immediate national teen sensation, prompting the producers to make Byrnes a regular cast member. They transformed Kookie from a hitman into a parking valet at Dino's Lodge who helped as a private investigator. Zimbalist Jr. explained the situation to the audience: We previewed this show, and because Edd Byrnes was such a hit, we decided that Kookie and his comb had to be in our series. So this week, we'll just forget that in the pilot he went off to prison to be executed. Kookie's recurring character—a different, exciting look that teens of the day related to—was the valet-parking attendant who constantly combed his piled-high, greasy-styled teen hair, often in a windbreaker jacket, and who worked part-time at the so-called Dean Martin's Dino's Lodge restaurant, next door to a private-investigator agency at 77 Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. Kookie frequently acted as an unlicensed, protégé detective who helped the private eyes (Zimbalist and Roger Smith) on their cases, based upon "the word" heard from Kookie's street informants. Kookie called everybody "Dad" (as in "Sure thing . . . Dad") and was television's homage to the "Jack Kerouac" style of cult-hipster of the late 1950s. The show became the most popular one in the country. To the thrill of teen viewers, Kookie spoke a jive-talk "code" to everyone, whether you understood him or not, and Kookie knew, better than others, "the word on the street." Although the Kookie character was at least several years older than Jim Stark, James Dean's character in the film Rebel Without a Cause, Byrnes exuded a similar sense of cool. Kookie was also the progenitor of Henry Winkler's The Fonz character of the Happy Days series (switch hot rod for motorcycle; same hair and comb). By April 1959, Byrnes was among the most popular young actors in the country. "I was a nobody", said Byrnes. "Now I'm dragging in over 400 letters a week and I'm a name." Kookie's constant onscreen tending of his ducktail haircut led to many jokes among comedians of the time, and it resulted in the 1959-charted (13 weeks) 'rap' style recording, "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)", recorded with actress and recording artist Connie Stevens, and which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. The song also appeared on the Edd Byrnes album, entitled Kookie. He and Stevens appeared together on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. During the run of 77 Sunset Strip, Byrnes, as the "Kookie" character, was a popular celebrity, and Byrnes received fan-mail that reached 15,000 letters a week, according to Picture Magazine in 1961; this rivalled most early rock recording-stars of the day. Clashes with Warners Warners put him in the second lead of a Western, Yellowstone Kelly (1959), supporting Clint Walker, star of another Warners show, Cheyenne; it was a minor success at the box office. "I'm not studying", said Byrnes at the time. "Why should I? I get all my experience in front of the camera. You get in front of the camera every day and you've got to learn." Byrnes walked off the show in the second season, demanding a bigger part and higher pay. In November 1959, Warners put him on suspension. They eventually offered $750 a week but he refused. In April 1960, they came to terms .... Discover the Logan Byrne popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Logan Byrne books.