Bud Abbott's Real Name: William Alexander Abbott

Quick answer: Bud Abbott was born William Alexander Abbott on October 2, 1897, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. "Bud" was a lifelong nickname. He was the fast-talking straight man of Abbott and Costello and died on April 24, 1974, in Woodland Hills, California (Britannica).

A circus and burlesque childhood

Abbott's parents worked in the Barnum & Bailey Circus. His mother, Rae Fisher, was a bareback rider and his father, Harry Abbott, was an advance man. He grew up around Coney Island, Brooklyn, and left school young. He worked in burlesque as a box-office treasurer and theater manager before becoming a straight man on stage, the partner who sets up the jokes for a comic.

Abbott and Costello

Abbott worked with several comics before joining Lou Costello (born Louis Francis Cristillo). They became a permanent team in 1936. Abbott's impatient, rapid-fire questioning drove routines like "Who's on First?", which made them radio stars on The Kate Smith Hour in 1938 (Britannica).

Films and TV

After a featured spot in One Night in the Tropics (1940), Universal made them stars with Buck Privates (1941). Over the next 15 years they made more than 30 films together, including In the Navy, Hold That Ghost, Who Done It?, The Time of Their Lives and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), which started a run of "Meet" monster comedies. Their syndicated TV series, The Abbott and Costello Show (1952–54), kept their sketches in reruns for decades.

Later life

The team split in 1957. After Costello's death in 1959, Abbott tried a brief act with comedian Candy Candido. He voiced his own cartoon version in Hanna-Barbera's The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show (1967). Abbott had epilepsy, which he kept private during his career. He married Betty Smith in 1918, and they stayed together until his death more than 55 years later. He died of cancer in 1974.