Phil Foster

Phil Foster, born Fivel Feldman on March 29, 1913, in Brooklyn, New York City, was an American actor and comedian whose career spanned nightclubs, Broadway, film, and television. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia who had changed their family name from Vishnodosky. Foster took his professional name from Foster Avenue in Brooklyn, and at one point also went by the name Michael Feldman, as he disclosed during an appearance on To Tell the Truth that aired on April 9, 1957. He died of a heart attack in Rancho Mirage, California, on July 8, 1985, at the age of 72.

Foster's earliest performing experience came in childhood, when he and neighborhood friends sang and danced in front of movie theaters and competed in amateur shows for prizes. Among those who occasionally joined him in those early efforts was a fellow beginner named Jackie Gleason. During the Great Depression, Foster pursued dramatic work in halls, back rooms, and any available space, performing plays that included the early works of Clifford Odets for wages of $28 to $35 a week. His entry into nightclub comedy came in Chicago in the late 1930s, when he was called upon without preparation to fill in for a stand-up comic. The impromptu performance earned him a job at $125 a week, and he subsequently found himself in steady demand at nightclubs across the country.

Foster served in the United States Army during World War II. After his discharge, he returned to New York and built a variety-show act centered on stories drawn from his Brooklyn upbringing. During the 1950s, he made several comedy short subjects for Universal-International under the billing "Brooklyn's Ambassador to the World." He was also selected by producer George Pal to play one of the military space crewmen in the 1955 film Conquest of Space.

His Broadway career ran from 1951 to 1966. During that period he appeared in Borscht Capades and starred in The Odd Couple. The Odd Couple connection extended to film as well, as it was director and producer Garry Marshall — a friend Foster had helped launch as a comedy writer for Joey Bishop and other entertainers — who brought him to Hollywood to appear in the film version of The Odd Couple. Marshall subsequently cast Foster as Frank DeFazio in the television series Laverne & Shirley, which ran from 1976 to 1982 and became the role for which Foster was most widely recognized. At the time of that casting, he was living in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Foster's film credits included Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), in which he played Joe Jaros, as well as Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972), Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough (1975), and The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977). His final film role was in Texas Godfather (1985). On television, he made multiple appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and Toast of the Town, as well as on This Is Show Business, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Patty Duke Show, and The Jerry Lewis Show, where he exchanged comic exchanges with Cassius Clay shortly before the first Clay versus Liston fight. Later television appearances included The Love Boat in 1977 and Fantasy Island in 1978. He also appeared in the telefilm The Great American Traffic Jam and the NBC series $weepstake$ and Games People Play.

Foster appeared on an episode of Tattletales alongside his wife, Joan Featherston. The couple had two sons, Michael and Danny.