Bob Elliott

Robert Brackett "Bob" Elliott (March 26, 1923 – February 2, 2016) was an American actor and comedian, one-half of the comedy duo of Bob and Ray. He was the father of comedian/actor Chris Elliott and grandfather of actress and comedian Abby Elliott.

Spouses:

• Jane Underwood (m. 1943–53)
• Lee Peppers (m. 1954; d. 2012)

Children: 5

Life and career

Elliott was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, the son of Gail Marguarite (née Brackett), a needleworker, and Fred Russell Elliott, who worked in insurance. On radio, he appeared in programs with his long-time partner Ray Goulding. These were in different series and time slots over decades, beginning in the late 1940s at Boston's WHDH radio when the two were first paired for Matinee with Bob and Ray.

On television, Elliott and Goulding hosted The Bob and Ray show from 1951 to 1953. Elliott appeared on a number of other television programs, including Happy Days; Newhart; and Bob & Ray, Jane, Laraine & Gilda in 1979 (with Goulding, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner). He appeared on radio with Garrison Keillor in The American Radio Company of the Air.

In 1990, Elliott portrayed "Fred Peterson" in the television series Get a Life, which starred Chris as his son. Four years later, the elder Elliott appeared in the Tim Burton production Cabin Boy, playing Chris' father again. In 2004, he appeared in a skit on the Air America radio program The O'Franken Factor.

Personal life

Elliott married Jane Underwood in 1943. They divorced in 1953 having no children. Bob and Ray writer Raymond Knight died in 1953. In 1954, he married Knight's widow, Lee Elliott (née Peppers) in 1954. They were married until her death in 2012. They had two sons together, Chris Elliott and Bob Elliott Jr., and one daughter, Amy Andersen. They adopted two children, Colony Elliott Santangelo and Shannon Elliott. In 1987, his oldest granddaughter, Abby Elliott, was born. Abby and her younger sister Bridget (nicknamed "Bridey") were raised in Wilton, Connecticut. They had 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. In 1989, Elliott co-authored son Chris's mock autobiography, Daddy's Boy: A Son's Shocking Account of Life with a Famous Father.

Death

Elliott died in Cundy's Harbor, Maine on February 2, 2016, from throat cancer at the age of 92.