Farewell to comic actor Joey Faye, who died April 26 at age 87. As reported in the New York Times, Faye was recognizable across America for dressing up as a bunch of grapes in a "Fruit Of The Loom" TV commercial, but his theatre career stretched back 65 years. Born in 1909, Faye started out doing comic schtick in amateur nights, then gravitated to the Catskills hotel circuit and Minsky's legendary burlesque house. In 1937 he appeared in a national tour of Room Service and began on Broadway in 1942's Strip For Action. Among his 34 other Broadway shows were Little Me (1962), and the Phil Silvers vehicles High Button Shoes and Top Banana. He also played a stint Sancho Panza in Man Of La Mancha and opposite Jack Albertson in a West Coast staging of Beckett's Waiting For Godot.
His films included That Touch Of Mink and The Front.
--By David Lefkowitz
