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The comb-loving actor was 87. The most prominent early use of the term "hipster" was on 77 Sunset Strip, the cool detective series set in Los Angeles. Each week, viewers heard singers belt the following lyrics in the brassy theme tune: "You'll meet the highbrow and the hipster." The "hipster" of the theme song was Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III, the parking attendant with an obsession with combing his hair. Edd Byrnes portrayed Kookie, and built his fame upon the character, releasing hit pop songs — like "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" — and making appearances all over television....

Actor Roger Smith, who brought glamour to the TV detective genre as a hip private eye on "77 Sunset Strip," has died. He was 84. Jack Gilardi, who is the agent of Smith's widow, actress Ann-Margret, said the actor died Sunday morning at a Los Angeles hospital after battling a terminal illness. Smith had battled the nerve disease myasthenia gravis for many years. The actor launched his career in the 1950s when James Cagney spotted him and recommended him for films. He survived two serious illnesses to have a second career after "77 Sunset Strip" as manager of his second...

Roger Smith, the suave leading man of television who starred on the popular 1950s-'60s ABC private eye series 77 Sunset Strip before a neuromuscular disease ended his acting career in his 30s, has died. He was 84. Smith, who went on to manage the career of Ann-Margret, his wife of 50 years, died Sunday at Sherman Oaks Hospital, a representative for the actress told The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death was announced... In 1957, Columbia Pictures put Smith under contract. This led to a string of film appearances, including No Time to Be Young (1957), Operation Mad Ball (1957), Crash Landing (1958)...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr., star of the smash 60s and 70s TV drama “The FBI,” has died. Zimbalist was 95. The actor played unflappable Inspector Erskine in the series that ran on ABC from 1965-1974. The show dramatized real FBI cases. Zimbalist Sr. was a concert violinist, the actor’s mother was opera singer Alma Gluck. Zimbalist Jr.’s daughter, Stephanie, had her own successful acting career — most notably as the female lead in the hit “Remington Steele” (1982-87) opposite Pierce Brosnan. The actor was born in New York City on November 30, 1918. He died peacefully...

Handsome, debonair and blessed with a distinguished voice that reflected his real-life prep school upbringing, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. seemed born to play the television roles that made him famous, that of hip Hollywood detective and brilliant G-man. A prolific actor who also appeared in numerous films and stage productions, Zimbalist became a household name in 1958 as Stu Bailey, the wisecracking private investigator who was a co-partner in a swinging Hollywood detective agency located at the exclusive address of "77 Sunset Strip." When the show of the same name ended in 1964, Zimbalist became an even bigger star playing the...

Efrem Zimbalist Jr., who portrayed the indefatigable Inspector Lewis Erskine on the long-running U.S. television series "The F.B.I.", died on Friday at the age of 95, according to media reports. Zimbalist died of natural causes at his home in Solvang, California, his daughter, actress Stephanie Zimbalist, and his son Efrem Zimbalist III, said in a statement, Hollywood trade magazine Variety and other media reported. "A devout Christian, he actively enjoyed his life to the last day, showering love on his extended family, playing golf, and visiting with close friends," the statement said, according to Variety.

MORENO VALLEY, Calif. - Herbert L. Strock, a television producer and director who directed such B-movies as "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein," "How to Make a Monster" and "The Crawling Hand," has died. He was 87. Strock died Wednesday of heart failure at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley following a car accident, according to his daughter, Leslie Mitchner. In a television career that began in the 1940s, Strock worked on series including "Highway Patrol," "Sky King," "Sea Hunt," "Maverick" and "77 Sunset Strip." His creature features included "Blood of Dracula" and "Gog," shot in 3-D. "He was...