Phil Foster

Active - 1955 - 1985  |   Born - Mar 29, 1914 in New York, New York, United States  |   Died - Jul 8, 1985   |   Genres - Comedy, Drama, Romance

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Biography by AllMovie

American actor Phil Foster started out as a stand-up comedian when he was quite young. Most of his early routines were slapstick, and the material was drawn from his life growing up in a Brooklyn neighborhood. After working the nightclub circuit through the 1940s, Foster began appearing on television variety shows such as Ed Sullivan. In the 1970s, he became a regular on Laverne and Shirley. Beginning in 1954, he made infrequent journeys into feature films. Foster made his final feature film, Sno-Line in 1985.

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Factsheet

  • Adopted his stage surname from Foster Avenue in Brooklyn. His Russian-immigrant parents had previously changed their name from Vishnodosky to Feldman.
  • Fervently supported the Brooklyn Dodgers, but never forgave the team for moving to Los Angeles. 
  • Honored with a plaque on the Celebrity Path at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 
  • Joked that the only two steady jobs in his career were "Laverne & Shirley and World War II."