Courtesy of Wikipedia
Morey Amsterdam (December 14, 1908 – October 28, 1996) was an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. Between 1948 and 1950, he hosted his own TV sitcom The Morey Amsterdam Show. He played Buddy Sorrell on CBS’s The Dick Van Dyke Show from 1961 to 1966.
Amsterdam was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of the three sons of Max and Jennie (née Finder) Amsterdam, Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary.
He began working in vaudeville in 1922 as the straight man for his older brother’s jokes. He was a cellist, a skill he used throughout his career. By 1924, he was working in a speakeasy operated by Al Capone.
After being caught in the middle of a gunfight, Amsterdam moved to California and worked writing jokes.
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