I'm curious to know what happened to Foster Brooks, the "drunken" sidekick of Dean Martin on his TV show.
—John Cummings, Huntley, Ill.
Known as the lovable lush on the popular Dean Martin variety show in the 1970s, Brooks died of heart failure at age 89 in 2001 at his home in Encino, Calif. The native of Louisville, Ky., got his big break playing a hiccupping, slurry drunk when Perry Como discovered the comedian's routine and hired him. Brooks appeared on many of Dean Martin's televised roasts (he would prod the crooner to join his group, Alcoholics Unanimous) and mastered the act of inebriation, despite the fact that he rarely imbibed in real life.
