Edd Byrnes - wikipedia Edd Byrnes Not to be confused with the American actor and director Edward Burns or people named Edward Byrne or Ed Byrne. This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( May 2014 ) Edd Byrnes Byrnes in 1973 in a guest appearance on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour Edward Byrne Breitenberger ( 1933 - 07 - 30 ) July 30, 1933 ( age 84 ) New York City, New York, United States Occupation Actor Years active 1956 -- 1999 Spouse ( s ) Asa Maynor ( m. 1962 -- 71 ) ( divorced ) one child Children Logan Byrnes Edd Byrnes ( born July 30, 1933 ) is 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 ). Contents 1 Early life 2 Screen career 3 Post-Warner Bros. 4 Filmography 5 References 6 External links Early life He was born Edward Byrne Breitenberger. He had two siblings, Vincent and Jo - Ann. When he was 13, his father died. He then dropped his last name in favor of `` Byrnes '' based on the name of his maternal grandfather, Edward Byrne, a fireman. Screen career Byrnes 's most famous role was as Gerald Lloyd `` Kookie '' Kookson III, on the ABC / Warner Brothers detective series 77 Sunset Strip. In the pilot for the series, Girl on the Run, Byrnes played a continually hair - combing contract killer. The 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 a nearby restaurant who helped as a private investigator. Efrem 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. -- From the pre-credit sequence for the episode `` Lovely Lady, Pity Me '' 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, 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. Byrnes as `` Kookie '' with Sue Randall ( c. 1963 ) 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 ). 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 ( what else ) 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 ( Elvis Presley -- level national attention ), and Byrnes received fan - mail volume that reached 15,000 letters a week, according to Picture Magazine in 1961, rivaling most early rock - recording stars of the day. Byrnes walked off the show in the second season, demanding a bigger part and higher pay ; the producers eventually agreed. He appeared as a guest star in other WB series, including Lawman and Sugarfoot, in the latter with John Russell, Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., and Will Wright in the 1958 season - premiere episode `` Ring of Sand. '' Owing to restrictions in his Warner Brothers television contract, Byrnes was forced to turn down film roles in Ocean 's Eleven ( 1960 ), Rio Bravo ( 1959 ), North to Alaska ( 1960 ), and The Longest Day ( 1962 ). However, he appeared in the Warner Brothers films Darby 's Rangers ( 1957 ; replacing Tab Hunter ), Marjorie Morningstar ( 1958 ), and Up Periscope and Yellowstone Kelly ( both 1959 ). He tested for the role of John F. Kennedy in PT 109, but President Kennedy preferred Cliff Robertson. Although Byrnes was a popular celebrity, the years of unfortunate `` Kookie '' typecasting led him to ultimately buy out his television contract with Warner Brothers to clear his way for films -- though it was accomplished too late to allow Byrnes to capitalize on feature - length - cinema projects based upon his established television - series fame. Post-warner Bros. This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. ( December 2015 ) Byrnes travelled to Europe where he made several films. He was featured as one of the convict commandos in 1964 in Roger Corman 's The Secret Invasion. In 1965 he played Dick Martin in Beach Ball, then returned to Europe for several spaghetti westerns, including the 1967 films Renegade Riders, Any Gun Can Play and Red Blood, Yellow Gold. Since then, Byrnes appeared in many television programs and movies, including the `` Duo - Vision '' horror film Wicked, Wicked in 1973, and as a TV interviewer in the David Essex film Stardust ( 1974 ). He played the role of the Dick Clark - like dance - show host Vince Fontaine, host of National Bandstand, in the 1978 movie Grease. Byrnes also appeared in Mankillers ( 1987 ), Back to the Beach ( 1987 ) and Troop Beverly Hills ( 1989 ). In 1974, Byrnes hosted the pilots of Wheel of Fortune. As a tribute to his enduring celebrity and his iconic `` Kookie '' character, Byrnes has ranked # 5 in TV Guide 's list of `` TV 's 25 Greatest Teen Idols '' ( 23 January 2005 issue ). He wrote an autobiography in 1996 entitled Kookie No More. Byrnes ' son by Asa Maynor is Logan Byrnes, a television news anchor for Fox - 11 News in Los Angeles, California. Previous to 2016, he was at Fox Connecticut since 2008. Byrnes appeared during the Memphis Film Festival in June 2014, in which he was reunited with his former Yellowstone Kelly co-star Clint Walker. Prior to the launching of 77 Sunset Strip, he appeared in several episodes of Cheyenne. Filmography Reform School Girl ( 1957 ) Johnny Trouble ( 1957 ) Darby 's Rangers ( 1958 ) Maverick ( 1958 ) Marjorie Morningstar ( 1958 ) Life Begins at 17 ( 1958 ) Girl on the Run ( 1958 ) Up Periscope ( 1959 ) Yellowstone Kelly ( 1959 ) The Secret Invasion ( 1964 ) Beach Ball ( 1965 ) Renegade Riders ( 1967 ) Any Gun Can Play ( 1967 ) Red Blood, Yellow Gold ( 1967 ) The Silent Gun ( 1969 ) Wicked, Wicked ( 1973 ) Stardust ( 1974 ) Grease ( 1978 ) Erotic Images ( 1983 ) Back to the Beach ( 1987 ) Mankillers ( 1987 ) Party Line ( 1988 ) Troop Beverly Hills ( 1989 ) Shake, Rattle and Roll : An American Love Story ( 1999 ) References Jump up ^ Biodata, imdb.com ; accessed December 12, 2015. Jump up ^ Murrells, Joseph ( 1978 ). The Book of Golden Discs ( 2nd ed. ). London : Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 111. ISBN 0 - 214 - 20512 - 6. Jump up ^ 77 Sunset Strip. Tvparty.com. Retrieved on 2012 - 05 - 05. Jump up ^ Television game show hosts : biographies of 32 stars - David Baber - Google Books. Books.google.com ; retrieved 2013 - 02 - 15. Jump up ^ Logan Byrnes official website ; retrieved December 12, 2015. Jump up ^ `` Home security and locksmith blog, tips & info ''. Memphis Film Festival website. Archived from the original on 2015 - 08 - 28. Retrieved 2015 - 08 - 17. External links Edd Byrnes on IMDb Edd Byrnes at AllMovie Roy Huggins ' Archive of American Television Interview VIAF : 34666486 LCCN : no89012840 ISNI : 0000 0001 1441 4819 GND : 11952161X SUDOC : 170296873 BNF : cb14160662b ( data ) MusicBrainz : 41789b2d - 5633 - 4a72 - be88 - fc89b3fdd57d IATH : w6s59rf1 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edd_Byrnes&oldid=801016047 '' Categories : 1933 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Los Angeles Male actors from New York City Male Spaghetti Western actors 20th - century American male actors Warner Bros. contract players Hidden categories : Articles lacking in - text citations from May 2014 All articles lacking in - text citations Articles with hCards All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from May 2014 Articles with unsourced statements from December 2015 BLP articles lacking sources from December 2015 All BLP articles lacking sources Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Français Italiano Polski Simple English Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Edit links This page was last edited on 17 September 2017, at 04 : 29. 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Question: who played vince fontaine in the movie grease
Answer: Edd Byrnes