Hyman Jack Averback (October 21, 1920 – October 14, 1997) was an American radio, television, and film actor who eventually became a producer and director.

Early years

Born in Minneapolis, Averback moved to California with his family when he was 9. Averback graduated from the Edward Clark Academy Theater in 1938 and eventually got a job announcing at KMPC Beverly Hills before World War II.

Career

Radio

During World War II, as part of the Armed Forces Radio Service, he entertained troops in the Pacific with his program of comedy and music, where he created the character of Tokyo Mose, a lampoon of Japan's

Tokyo Rose Tokyo Rose (alternative spelling Tokio Rose) was a name given by Allied troops in the South Pacific during World War II to all female English-speaking radio broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The programs were broadcast in the South Pacific ...

. After his discharge, his big break came when he was hired to announce the

Jack Paar Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, author, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of '' The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time'' magazine's obituary of Paar rep ...

radio show, which replaced

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century wit ...

for the summer beginning June 1, 1947. He became the announcer for

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with ...

on NBC in September 1948 and announced for other NBC radio shows, ''The Sealtest Village Store'' and ''Let's Talk Hollywood'', as well as on the ''Sweeney and March'' show on CBS in 1948 and appeared as the voice of ''Newsweek'' magazine on a weekly radio show on ABC West Coast stations the same year. Averback was also an actor, appearing a number of times on the

radio show, beginning in January 1948. In 1952, Averback starred in ''Secret Mission'', a transcribed program "dealing with factual stories of escape from behind the Iron Curtain" on AFRS. In 1955 he joined the ensemble cast of '' Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'', playing multiple character roles in support of leading actor Bob Bailey.

Television

Doing comedy on early television, he appeared on ''The Saturday Night Revue'' (1953–54), ''Tonight'' (1955) and ''NBC Comedy Hour'' (1956). He was a series regular as Mr. Romero on the

Eve Arden Eve Arden (born Eunice Mary Quedens, April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990) was an American film, radio, stage and television actress. She performed in leading and supporting roles for nearly six decades. Beginning her film career in 1929 ...

sitcom '' Our Miss Brooks'' and appeared on '' I Love Lucy'' and other 1950s comedies, then moved into directing at the end of the decade. He directed ''

The Real McCoys ''The Real McCoys'' is an American situation comedy starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan. Co-produced by Danny Thomas's Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's Westgate Compan ...

'' with

Richard Crenna Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003) was an American film, television and radio actor. Crenna starred in such motion pictures as '' The Sand Pebbles'', ''Wait Until Dark'', ''Un Flic'', '' Body Heat'', the first three ...

. Crenna had been a cast member with Averback on ''Our Miss Brooks''. Averback also directed for '' The Dick Powell Show'' (1961–1963), '' Burke's Law'' (1963-1964), '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' (1964–1968), '' The Flying Nun'' (1967–1970), '' Columbo: Suitable for Framing'' (1971), '' McCloud'' (1971), ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. T ...

'' (1972), ''Needles and Pins'' (1973), ''

Quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly ...

'' (1977-1978), ''

Matt Houston ''Matt Houston'' was an American crime drama television series starring Lee Horsley as the title character, a wealthy oilman who decides to hold a side job as a private investigator. Created by Lawrence Gordon and produced by Aaron Spelling, ...

'' (1982–1983), ''The Four Seasons'' (1984), '' The Last Precinct'' (1986), and the miniseries ''Pearl'' (1978). For CBS, he produced '' Mrs. G. Goes to College'' (aka ''The Gertrude Berg Show'') in the 1961–1962 season. He co-produced the popular 1960s sitcom '' F Troop'' and supplied the voice over the loudspeaker heard on the television series ''

''. His actual recording from a Bob Hope show was used in ''M*A*S*H'' episode 63, "Bombed," from season 3 where he announces himself as Hope's announcer.

Film

Averback co-narrated ''The Story of Life'', a 62-minute sex educational film, released by Crusader Productions in June 1948. It featured live action as well as animation by former

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

artists Lester Novros and Robert Moore. Film credits include his acting as Willard Alexander in '' The Benny Goodman Story'' (1956) and directing '' Chamber of Horrors'' (1966), '' Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?'' (1968), ''

I Love You, Alice B. Toklas ''I Love You, Alice B. Toklas'' is a 1968 American romantic comedy film directed by Hy Averback and starring Peter Sellers. The film is set in the counterculture of the 1960s. The cast includes Joyce Van Patten, David Arkin, Jo Van Fleet, Leig ...

'' (1968), '' The Great Bank Robbery'' (1969), and '' Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came'' (1970) as well as the TV movie ''

The New Maverick ''The New Maverick'' is a 1978 American Western television film based on the 1957–1962 series ''Maverick'' starring James Garner as Bret Maverick. ''The New Maverick'' stars Garner as Bret Maverick, Charles Frank as newcomer cousin Ben Mave ...

'' (1978) with James Garner and Jack Kelly.

Personal life

In 1969, Averback bought a home in the Racquet Club Estates neighborhood of

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by lan ...

, He died on October 14, 1997 and was buried in Westwood Memorial Park.''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries''
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Averback, Hy 1920 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male film actors American male radio actors American male television actors American television directors Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Directors Guild of America Award winners Film directors from California Film directors from Minnesota Male actors from Los Angeles Male actors from Minneapolis Male actors from Palm Springs, California Radio and television announcers Television producers from California