Joe Besser

Acting

Joe Besser

Born 1907-08-12 · Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Joe Besser (born Jessel Besser, August 12, 1907 – March 1, 1988) was an American actor, comedian, and musician, known for his impish humor and wimpy characters. He is best known for his brief stint as a member of The Three Stooges in movie short subjects of 1957–59. He is also remembered for his television roles: Stinky, the bratty man-child in The Abbott and Costello Show, and Jillson, the maintenance man in The Joey Bishop The zany comedy team of Olsen and Johnson, whose Broadway revues were fast-paced collections of songs and blackouts, hired Joe Besser. His noisy intrusions were perfect for their anything-can-happen format. Besser's work caught the attention of the Shubert brothers, who signed him to a theatrical contract. Columbia Pictures hired Besser away from the Shuberts, and Besser relocated to Hollywood in 1944, where he brought his unique comic character to feature-length musical comedies. Besser also starred in short-subject comedies for Columbia from 1949 to 1956. Besser had substituted for Lou Costello on radio, opposite Bud Abbott, and by the 1950s he was firmly established as one of the Abbott and Costello regulars. When the duo filmed The Abbott and Costello Show for television, they hired Joe Besser to play Oswald "Stinky" Davis, a bratty, loudmouthed child dressed in an oversized Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit, shorts, and a flat top hat with overhanging brim. He appeared during the first season of The Abbott and Costello Show. Besser was cast for the role of Yonkel, a chariot man in the low-budget biblical film Sins of Jezebel, which starred Paulette Goddard as the titular wicked queen. After Shemp Howard died of a heart attack, Moe suggested he and teammate Larry Fine continue working as "The Two Stooges". Studio chief Harry Cohen rejected the proposal. Although Moe had legal approval to allow new members into the act, Columbia executives had the final say about any actor who would appear in the studio's films, and insisted on a performer already under contract to Columbia, Joe Besser. At the time, Besser was one of a few comedians still making comedy shorts at the studio. Besser refrained from imitating Curly or Shemp. He continued to play the same whiny character he had developed over his long career. He had a clause in his contract prohibiting being hit excessively. Besser recalled, "I usually played the kind of character who would hit others back". The Stooges shorts with Besser were filmed from the spring of 1956 to the end of 1957. His Stooge tenure ended when Columbia shut down the two-reel-comedy department on December 20, 1957. Producer-director Jules White had shot enough film for 16 comedies, which were released a few months apart until June 1959, with Sappy Bull Fighters being the final release. Joe Besser was found dead in his home, aged 80, and determined to have died of heart failure.

Acting credits

Which Way to the Front? poster
4.7

Brendan Byers III, one of the richest men in America, has been pronounced 4-F and can't serve his country in its war against Hitler. Byers does not take "No" for an answer and recruits other 4-F's to fight against Hitler.

Which Way to the Front?

1970

Let's Make Love poster
6.4

When billionaire Jean-Marc Clement learns that he is to be satirized in an off-Broadway revue, he passes himself off as an actor playing him in order to get closer to the beautiful star of the show, Amanda Dell.

Let's Make Love

1960

Woman in Hiding poster
6.3

As far as the rest of the world is concerned, mill heiress Deborah Chandler Clark is dead, killed in a freak auto accident. But Deborah is alive, if not too well. Having discovered a horrible truth about her new husband, Deborah is now a “woman in hiding,” living in mortal fear that someday her husband will catch up with her again. When a returning GI recognizes Deborah, however, she must decide whether or not she can trust him.

Woman in Hiding

1950

The Errand Boy poster
6.2

Paramutual Pictures wants to know where all the money is going so they hire Morty to be their spy. Morty works for Mr. Sneak and gets a job in the mail room so that he can have access to the lot. But all that Morty ever finds is that he can cause havoc no matter what he does.

The Errand Boy

1961

Mad at the World poster
5.9

A neighborhood is terrorized by group of young juvenile delinquents called The WolfPack. When a young father's infant child is seriously injured because of the WolfPack, he decides that the police aren't working fast enough to catch the ones who hurt his baby and sets out to infiltrate the gang himself and mete out the punishment they deserve.

Mad at the World

1955

Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld poster
8.5

Jerry Seinfeld celebrates the lives and careers of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Featured are clips from their movies and TV shows, plus home movies, newsreel footage and their trademark "Who's on First?" routine, shown in its entirety.

Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld

1994

Africa Screams poster
5.8

When bookseller Buzz cons Diana into thinking that his friend Stanley knows all there is to know about Africa, they are abducted and ordered to lead Diana and her henchmen to an African tribe in search of a fortune in jewels.

Africa Screams

1949

Horsing Around poster
4.0

A sequel (sort of) to "Hoofs and Goofs", The stooges are taking care of their sister Birdie who has been reincarnated as a horse. When they learn that her mate "Schnapps", a famous circus horse, is about to be destroyed, they got to the circus grounds to rescue him. The stooges are successful, and Birdie and Schnapps are reunited.

Horsing Around

1957

The Desert Hawk poster
5.4

A desert guerilla, with flashing scimitar, opposes a tyrannical prince and marries the caliph's daughter.

The Desert Hawk

1950

Rusty Romeos poster
5.2

The stooges don't know it, but they are all engaged to the same girl, a gold-digger who plans to get an engagement ring from each of them and then abandon them. When all three show up at her house at the same time, a wild fight ensues, as each stooge accuses the others of making time with "his" girl. The gold-digger gets it in the end (literally) with tacks shot from a repeating rifle.

Rusty Romeos

1957

Army Daze poster
10.0

Joe is drafted into the army of Starvania, and falls in love with Olga, a beautiful Starvanian WAC, but Joe's sergeant also has his eyes on Olga. But Joe wins her hand when he captures two spies in the Colonel's office.

Army Daze

1956

Dizzy Yardbird poster
7.0

Joe is in the army, and his sergeant is determined to make a soldier out of Joe if he has to kill him to do it.

Dizzy Yardbird

1950

Savage Intruder poster
5.3

An enigmatic young man manipulates his way into working at the decaying mansion of a once prolific, but now reclusive and alcoholic, movie star named Katharine Packard. While the rest of the house staff become suspicious of Vic's intentions, the aging movie queen is smitten. But as Vic begins behaving in more and more erratic ways, it becomes clear that he's far more sinister than his demeanor implies.

Savage Intruder

1970

The Helen Morgan Story poster
5.3

Torch singer Helen Morgan rises from sordid beginnings to fame and fortune only to lose it all to alcohol and poor personal choices.

The Helen Morgan Story

1957

Talk About a Lady poster
5.0

A country girl, wanting to break into show-business, comes to New York City and, by her actions, manages to restore the optimism of a jaded and disillusioned nightclub owner. Eventually, she marries the manager of one of the man's nightclubs.

Talk About a Lady

1946

Guns a Poppin! poster
5.5

Told in flashback, Moe is on trial for assaulting Larry and Joe. It seems that Moe was in debt and suffering a nervous breakdown so Larry and Joe took him to the country for rest and relaxation. After a marauding bear ruined the peace and quiet, their cabin became the scene of a shoot-out between the sheriff and an escaped outlaw. The boys captured the bad guy, and the reward would have paid Moe's debts, but the crook escaped and Moe went after Larry and Joe with an ax.

Guns a Poppin!

1957

The Monk poster
8.0

Underworld attorney Leo Barnes hires Gus Monk to safeguard a valuable envelope containing information on a mobster. Monk refuses — until he meets Mrs. Barnes and jumps on a merry-go-round of viciousness and murder.

The Monk

1969

I, the Jury poster
5.9

After his best friend and war buddy is mysteriously gunned down, Mike Hammer will stop at nothing to settle the score for the man who sacrificed a limb to save his own life during combat. Along the way, Hammer rides a fine line between gumshoe and a one-man jury, staying two-steps ahead of the law—and trying not to get bumped off in the process.

I, the Jury

1953

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops poster
6.2

Harry and Willie are scammed into buying the Thomas Edison studio lot by a man named Gorman. They decide to follow Gorman's trail to Hollywood where, unbeknownst to them, he has taken the identity of a foreign film director. The lads wind up as stunt doubles in film the which Gorman is now shooting, while the conman tries to have the bungling pair done away with before they realize who he really is.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops

1955

Two-Gun Lady poster
5.4

A young woman teaches herself to become a sharpshooter so she can hunt down the three men who murdered her parents. She finds a sheriff who is willing to help her track them down.

Two-Gun Lady

1955

Fraidy Cat poster
10.0

Hired as guards to protect an antique shop, Joe and Jim run into a gorilla who has been trained by a gang of thieves to rob the store.

Fraidy Cat

1951

No artwork available
NR

Marx Brothers animated short

A Day at the Horse Opera

1962

Sweet and Hot poster
5.5

Nightclub performer Larry wants Joe and his sister Tiny to join the act. The only problem is that Tiny is afraid to sing in front of people. They take her to a psychiatrist (Moe) who cures her, and the act is a success.

Sweet and Hot

1958

The Story on Page One poster
5.1

An adulterous couple is accused of murder after the woman's husband is shot and killed during a scuffle. A high-profile court case tells the story.

The Story on Page One

1959