Leonard Hacker, better known by his stage name Buddy Hackett, was an American actor, voice actor, and comedian who, for Disney, played Tennessee Steinmetz in the 1968 film The Love Bug, voiced Scuttle in the 1989 Disney animated feature film The Little Mermaid and its 2000 sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, and played Grandpa Louie in the TV series Dinosaurs. He also made a guest appearance in The Grand Opening of Walt Disney World, in which he drives Herbie around the Tomorrowland Speedway.
Hackett was born in Brooklyn, New York and was active in varsity football and drama club at New Utrecht High School. He also began performing in nightclubs and hotels before graduating in 1942 and enlisting in the United States Army. After being discharged, Hackett in a variety of stages and club in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and his native New York where also acted in the Broadway play Lunatics and Lovers.
His film career took off in 1953 with the musical Walking My Baby Back Home, also starring Donald O'Connor and Janet Leigh. From there, he would appear in films, such as The Music Man, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Muscle Beach Party, Scrooged, and Paulie. On television, Hackett became a staple as frequent guest performer on both Jack Paar and the Johnny Carson versions of The Tonight Show, as well as The Perry Como Show and The Patrice Munsel Show.
Hackett also acted on television shows, such as Stanley, The Riflemen, The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, and LA Law. He also provided to narration for the Rankin/Bass special Jack Frost and delivered a rare dramatic performance in Bud and Lou, based on the career and lives of comedy duo Abbot and Costello.
On June 30, 2003, Hackett died in his Malibu home from complications of diabetes at the age of 78.
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- He had stated he regretted turning down the sequels for The Love Bug.
