"Grease" Star Edd Byrnes Passes Away At 87

Jan 10, 2020 by apost team

Edd Byrnes passed away on Wednesday, January 8 in his home in Santa Monica, California. He was 87-years-old. He is believed to have passed from natural causes. 

According to TMZ, Edd was well-known for roles like that of Vince Fontaine in "Grease" where he was the host of the famous National Bandstand dance-off. However, Edd really got his start on T.V. in the late 1950s.

According to the New York Times, Edd at first got little bits in shows like “Wire Service,” “Cheyenne” and “Maverick,” and, eventually, landed bigger parts in movies, including “Reform School Girl” (1957), “Life Begins at 17” (1958), “Darby’s Rangers” (1958) and “Marjorie Morningstar” (1958).

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Bynes was a completely self-taught actor and was only supposed to appear in one episode of the famous show “77 Sunset Strip.” His character Kookie was known for always running a comb through his hair. However, the times reports that Byrnes caused such a stir among the female audience members during pilot runs that his character became permanent. 

From his character, Kookie, Byrnes broke into music for a little bit where he and Connie Stevens got a gold hit from the song, "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb). It landed at #4 in 1959 and spent 13 weeks on the Billboard chart. His character Kookie was famous for combing his impressive locks with a comb.

Some other notable credits Byrnes was featured in include "Charlie's Angels," "Fantasy Island," "Married With Children," "Murder, She Wrote," "Maverick," and, "The Love Boat."

The actor is survived by his son Logan and partner Catherine Gross as well as a sister, Jo-Ann Breitenberger; and a brother, Vincent Breitenberger.

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