Born: June 28, 1938

Short-statured, pokerfaced nightclub comic John Byner rose to fame during the 1966 edition of TV's The Garry Moore Show. Byner went on to join the supporting ensemble on the 1967 summer-replacement weekly The Steve Allen Comedy Hour, and five years later headlined his own five-week summer series. He has appeared as a regular on the TV sitcoms The Practice (1976) and Soap (1977), and can be spotted in such lampoonish theatrical films as Transylvania_6-5000 (1985). An accomplished impressionist -- he provided the voice for the Jackie_Mason-ish aardvark in DePatie-Freleng's Ant and the Aardvark cartoon shorts -- one of Byner's most enduring routines concerns a bad impressionist, whose concept of Walter_Brennan consists of kicking the left leg in the air and screeching "Luke, the barn! Luke, the barn!" A Las Vegas headliner into the 1990s, John Byner's TV contributions have included a stint as host of a series of Bowery Boys films on the A&E cable network. Hal Erickson, Rovi


Great Film Moments:

• In Theaters
• This Week
• Coming Soon
• New on DVD

Browse More Celebrity:
# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z