Stu Gilliam

Stu Gilliam was an American actor and stand-up and television comedian who began as a teenage ventriloquist, leaving his Detroit home at 14 to perform with a circus at state fairs before moving into Chicago clubs. In the Korean War he entertained troops with his ventriloquist act, and during the 1950s and 1960s he played clubs across the country for Black audiences, among them the Apollo Theater in New York City. The Playboy Club circuit later booked him before largely White audiences. He mixed stand-up with film and TV roles, appearing on national programs such as The Dean Martin Show, The Ed Sullivan Show and Playboy After Dark, and in 1968 he played Agent Samuels in Get Smart. He voiced Freddie Curly Neal on the Harlem Globetrotters cartoon series. For Match Game '73, he served as a panelist during its first season. He had a co-starring role in the CBS sitcom Roll Out from 1973 to 1974.