Lou Costello
American actor and comedian (1906–1959)
Louis Francis Cristillo (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959), better known as Lou Costello, was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known for his double act with Bud Abbott and their routine "Who's on First?".
Abbott and Costello, who teamed in burlesque in 1936, were among the most popular and highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. During a national tour in 1942, they sold $85 million in war bonds in 35 days. By 1955, their popularity waned from overexposure, and their film and television contracts lapsed. Their partnership ended in 1957, after which Costello made numerous solo appearances on TV and starred in one film.
Early life
Louis Francis Cristillo was born on March 6, 1906, in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Sebastiano Cristillo, an insurance sales agent, and Helen Rege, a silk weaver. His father was Italian, from Caserta, Campania, while his mother was an American of Italian, French and Irish ancestry, with her grandfather Francesco Rege being a native of Piedmont, Italy.
Costello attended Public School 15 in Paterson and was considered a gifted athlete. He excelled in basketball and reportedly was twice Paterson's free-throw champion. His basketball prowess can be seen in Here Come the Co-Eds (1945), in which he performs his own trick basketball shots.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lou Costello” as american actor and comedian (1906–1959). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american actor and comedian (1906–1959). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23884. VIAF identifies the subject as 51951204. The Library of Congress control number is n50018158. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1906, 1959, 1936 and 1942.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lou Costello” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.