Los Angeles (Reuters) -- Veteran comedian Buddy Hackett, a talk-show staple whose career stretched from the early days of television to such features as "The Love Bug" and "The Little Mermaid," has died, his family said Monday.
Hackett, who was 79, was found earlier in the day at his Malibu beach house, his son, Sandy, told local Los Angeles media outlets. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Buddy Hackett's feature credits also included the 1963 ensemble comedy "It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World," and he recently co-starred in "Action," a critically acclaimed but short-lived TV series that satirized Hollywood.
Hackett, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., got his start by working as a stand-up comic at resorts in New York's Catskill mountains. After guest-starring on an early TV show, 1945's "Laff Time," he made his feature film debut two years later as the voice of a talking camel in "Slave Girl."
Following a two-year stint on Broadway in the comedy "Lunatics and Lovers," he landed the title role in the 1956 sitcom "Stanley," which co-starred Carol Burnett. He eventually became a favorite on TV talk and variety shows, and maintained a parallel career as a racy nightclub comic.
His feature career was dominated by work in family films, such as 1961's "Everything's Ducky," 1962's "The Music Man" and 1969's "The Love Bug." The hit Disney cartoon "The Little Mermaid," in which Hackett played the voice of Scuttle the seagull, introduced him to a new generation of fans in 1989. He reprised his role 11 years later in a direct-to-video sequel.
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