Edward Byrnes was born Edward Byrne Breitenberger in 1933 in New York City. Edd had an unhappy childhood and found escape from family problems at the movies and at the gym. At age 17 he was approached by a man who offered to take free “physique” photos of him, which led to a few years of hustling older, well-to-do men. One of these men acted as Edd’s mentor, introducing him to fashion and culture, as well as his trademark pompadour. He also encouraged Edd to pursue an acting career,
After doing some summer-stock work and a few bit parts on TV, Edd drove to California, arriving in Los Angeles on September 30, 1955, the same day that James Dean was killed in his silver Porsche Spyder 550. He managed to get a few minor acting parts in movies and in 1958 was cast as a hipster parking lot attendant, in the TV series “77 Sunset Strip.” Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith starred as private eyes but Edd, playing Gerald Lloyd “Kookie” Kookson III, got the most attention. The Kookie character was a hipster sidekick who talked jive and knew what was “the word on the street.” He skyrocketed to teen idol status via the simple act of combing his hair at least once per episode, and suddenly the nation’s teens all wanted to be like Kookie. His constant tending of his ducktail haircut led to a hit song, “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb“, which he recorded with Connie Stevens. “77 Sunset Strip” was the epitome of the late-fifties detective shows, launching the young, cool private detective series craze. It wasn’t long before Edd Byrnes became a fixture in the teen magazines of the day. In 1960, Edd Byrnes was recieving more fan mail each week than any actor in the history of the Warner Brothers studio - around 15,000 letters a week.
Jack Warner refused to raise his pay while keeping him locked in to the television show and turning down Byrnes’ requests to do more movies. Edd despised at the low pay ($500 a week) and the restrictions in his Warner Brothers contract which forced him to turn down roles in “Ocean’s Eleven,” “North to Alaska” and “Rio Bravo.” He walked off the set of “77 Sunset Strip” in 1958, and began to drink heavily and to visit a psychiatrist who prescribed drugs, which he quickly began abusing. He was replaced on the show by Troy Donahue as a long-haired intellectual-type that parked the cars for Dino’s. Edd’s contract dispute was eventually settled, though not much to his advantage, and Donahue was cut from the show. When he returned to “77 Sunset Strip” his role was upgraded from “side-kick” to “partner” and he wore a suit and tie. Replacing Kookie in the parking lot was J.R. Hale (played by Robert Logan) who had his own quirky language - he spoke in abbreviations. The re-tooling was a last-ditch attempt to revive a dying franchise. Audience reaction was not good, ratings dropped, and “77 Sunset Strip” was cancelled in early 1964.
The hip-talking, hair-combing image clung to him, and Edd claims he lost the lead in the movie “PT 109” because John F. Kennedy didn’t want to be portrayed by “Kookie.” A few more movies and TV appearances followed, but his career had passed its peak before he turned 30. Hoping to follow in the footsteps of Clint Eastwood, he appeared in three spaghetti westerns, but they failed to revive his career as he had hoped. He also made numerous cameo appearances on T.V. shows such as ‘ChiPs‘, ‘Charlie’s Angels‘, ‘Quincy’, ‘Fantasy Island‘ and ‘Murder She Wrote‘. Here is Edd doing a 1970s commercial for the Remington Mist-Air hot comb:
Edd also played the role of Dick Clark clone Vince Fontaine in the 1978 movie “Grease,” but missed out on a chance to host the game show Wheel of Fortune, possibly due to his alcoholism and drugs (he finally managed to kick those habits in 1982). His last screen role to date was as a washed-up former movie star in the lackluster comedy “Troop Beverly Hills” (1989), starring Shelley Long.
After the success of “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb,” Edd Byrnes followed up with a Christmas release in 1959, with “Lonely Christmas” and “Yulesville,” which retells the story of “The Night Before Christmas” in cool Beatnik-speak.
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I’m sure you meant 1959, not 1969.
oops- yep. Fixed- thanks.