lou costello was born louis frances cristillo  on march 6 1906 in paterson new jersey he went  

to school in paterson and was a good athlete  he was good at basketball and boxing boxing  

under the name of lou king lou married anne  battler a burlesque dancer on january 30th  

1934. they had four children patricia carol lou  jr and christine in 1927 lou went to hollywood  

to become an actor but only found work as a  laborer extra and occasional work as a stuntman  

in 1930 after not having much success he returned  home to new jersey while performing in burlesque  

theaters he changed his stage name to  costello after actress helene costello  

during these years he met a straight man named  bud abbott abbott and costello formally teamed up  

in 1936 abbott and costello were very popular on  the radio with routines like who's on first and  

were signed to do hollywood pictures where they  enjoyed legendary success over the next 20 years  

in march 1943 costello was suffering  from rheumatic fever and wasn't able to  

work for six months on november 4th of that  year he returned to the team's radio show  

but a tragic event darkened his comeback after  arriving at the nbc studios lou received word  

that his baby son lou jr had  accidentally drowned in the family pool  

during an afternoon nap the baby managed to get  out of his crib and ended up in the pool unnoticed  

by the nanny the child was just two days short of  his first birthday lou had asked his wife to keep  

blue junior up that night so that boy could hear  his father on the radio for the first time rather  

than cancel the broadcast lou said wherever he is  tonight i want him to hear me and went on with the  

show no one in the audience knew of the death  until after the show when bud abbott explained  

the events of the day and how the phrase the show  must go on had been demonstrated by lou that night  

though they were very successful as a comedy duo  in films radio and tv there were hard feelings  

between bud and lou they argued constantly over  money and billing by the mid-1950s abbott and  

costello films were no longer doing so well at the  box office universal declined to renew their movie  

contract in 1955. abedin costello dissolved their  partnership in 1957 on good terms costello then  

pursued a solo career including performing in las  vegas he appeared several times on steve allen's  

the tonight show shortly after the completion of  the film the 30-foot bride of candy rock costello  

suffered a heart attack he died at doctors  hospital in beverly hills on march 3rd 1959 just  

three days before his 53rd birthday many times  it has been falsely reported that his final words  

were that the strawberry ice cream soda he had  just finished was quote the best i ever tasted  

by other accounts including  several newspaper obituaries  

he asked his nurse to adjust his position in  bed and said i think i'll be more comfortable  

but before the nurse could comply he suffered a  cardiac arrest and died after a funeral mass at  

his parish in sherman oaks costello was interred  at the calvary cemetery in east los angeles on  

march 8th his wife ann died only nine months  later from an apparent heart attack at age 47.