- Graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School and joined joined the Air Corps during WWII, and was stationed in Italy where he attained the rank of sergeant and earned a Soldier's Medal for his bravery.
- Zany, plump, pop-eyed, troll-haired funny man of the comedy team of Allen & Rossi with handsome singing straight man Steve Rossi.
- The duo were brought together by singer Nat 'King' Cole in 1957, and went on to make more than 700 appearances on TV (44 of them on "The Ed Sullivan Show"), made 16 comedy albums and appeared in a failed movie spy spoof before splitting up in 1969. Allen & Rossi went on to reunite briefly on two occasions.
- The son of Louis and Elsie Alpern, he attended USC and took up journalism following military service, but then moved into standup comedy.
- A one-time door-to-door dance salesman during the early lean years.
- Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith; pg. 8-9. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
- He is buried at Eden Memorial Park in Mission Hills, California.
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