Joseph Abraham Gottlieb, better known as Joey Bishop, was a standup comedian born on February 3, 1918, in the Bronx, New York. He was the youngest of five children to Chana "Anna" (Siegel) and Jacob Gottlieb, an Austrian Jewish immigrant and a Romanian Jew, respectively.
Raised in Philadelphia, Bishop learned various skills, including tap dancing, impersonations, and playing the mandolin and banjo. He dropped out of high school at 18 and began his career in vaudeville, initially performing with his brother as "Joey Gottlieb." Later, he joined a comedy group called "The Bishop Trio" and retained the name after the group disbanded.
Bishop's career was interrupted by his service in the Army during World War II, but he quickly resumed his career after his discharge in 1945. He began appearing on television in 1948, but it took time for him to gain popularity. He became a master ad-libber and a regular at nightclubs, such as the Latin Quarter, and served as an opening act for stars like Frank Sinatra in the mid-1950s.
As his reputation grew, Bishop became a staple on talk shows, sitcoms, and game shows. He was a frequent guest panelist on "What's My Line?" and guest-hosted "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" a record 177 times. He also appeared on shows hosted by Steve Allen and Jack Paar.
In the early 1960s, Bishop entered the sitcom scene, starring in "The Joey Bishop Show" as the host of a TV talk show in New York. The show lasted four seasons, and he later competed against Johnny Carson with his own talk show, "The Joey Bishop Show," which aired on ABC from 1967 to 1969.
Despite his work on film, Bishop is often overlooked. He did show promise early in his career with straight roles in "The Deep Six," "The Naked and the Dead," and "Onionhead." He was also a member of the "Rat Pack," a group of entertainers that included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peter Lawford. Bishop wrote material and served as the emcee for many of the group's Las Vegas shows in the 1960s.
Bishop appeared in several films, including "Ocean's Eleven," "Sergeants 3," "Robin and the 7 Hoods," "Johnny Cool," "Texas Across the River," "Who's Minding the Mint?," and "Valley of the Dolls." He retired from the entertainment industry in the 1970s and only appeared in a few films after that point.
Bishop was married to Sylvia Ruzga since 1941, and their son, Larry Bishop, is an actor-turned-director and producer. Long retired, Bishop was the last surviving member of the "Rat Pack" after Sinatra's death in 1998. His wife, Sylvia, passed away in 1999 after 58 years of marriage. Joey Bishop died of multiple organ failure on October 17, 2007, at his home in Newport Beach, California.
