- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMartin Alan Feldman
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- "I am too old to die young, and too young to grow up," Marty Feldman told a reporter -- a week before he died.
This beloved comedian, who poked fun at himself, as well as others, was born Martin Alan Feldman on July 8, 1934, in London, England. His parents were of Ukrainian Jewish heritage (from Kiev). He was the son of Cecilia (née Crook) and Myer Feldman, a gown manufacturer. Marty spent his childhood in the poverty-stricken London East End and left school at the age of 15, hoping for a career as a jazz trumpeter (his appearance in a Variety show earned him the title "the worst trumpeter in the world"). He had just started his comedy career, as a writer for BBC radio programs and TV shows in the late 1950s, when he married Lauretta Sullivan in January 1959 (they would stay married until his death in 1982). There's a saying: "Your face is your fortune"; Marty had received a double-whammy. His nose was mangled in his youthful years in a boxing match; his walleyed orbs were the result of both a hyperactive thyroid and a botched operation after a car accident before his 30th birthday, in 1963. American audiences first saw Marty in Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers (1968), where he did comedy skits with Susie Ewing and the Golddiggers. He appeared in a number of movies, his most-remembered role being that of Igor (pronounced Eye-Gor) in Young Frankenstein (1974). Besides acting, he made his directorial debut in The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977). Beloved and popular, it seemed Marty was to enjoy a long career in the entertainment field. However, he died of a massive heart attack, caused by shellfish food poisoning, while filming Yellowbeard (1983) in Mexico City, on December 2, 1982... he was only 48.- IMDb mini biography by: kdhaisch@aol.com
- SpouseLauretta Feldman(January 14, 1959 - December 2, 1982) (his death)
- ParentsCecilia Feldman (Crook)Myer Feldman
- Huge, bulging eyes
- Died in Mexico City of shellfish poisoning on the last day of filming a scene from Yellowbeard (1983), in which he was supposed to die. A double completed the death scene. His illness was discovered by filmmaker friend Michael Mileham who had also suffered from the same poisoning but survived.
- Suffered from Graves' disease during his early childhood in which, after a botched surgical operation, his condition resulted in his eyes being more protruded and misaligned (strabismus).
- According to various sources, Feldman was known to get physically sick when having to watch screenings of his own work or performance.
- Befriended a young teen who crashed the Young Frankenstein (1974) set named Alan Spencer and offered encouragement to his writing career. The young scribe eventually created the TV show Sledge Hammer! (1986).
- His wife Lauretta asked him to marry her, when he supposedly made no move to do so, after nine months of daily dating.
- The pen is mightier than the sword, and is considerably easier to write with.
- I don't want to be a director. I want to direct. There's a difference.
- Comedy, like sodomy, is an unnatural act.
- I won't eat anything that has intelligent life, but I'd gladly eat a network executive or a politician.
- Money can't buy poverty.
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