Benny Rubin

Benny Rubin (February 2, 1899 – July 15, 1986) was an American comedian and film actor.

Born Benjamin Rubin in Boston, Rubin made more than 200 radio, film, and television appearances over a span of 50 years. He is best known to today's audiences as a comic foil for Jack Benny on radio and television, and as a featured player in six Three Stooges comedies of the 1950s.

In 1929, Rubin went to Hollywood, where he began working as a supporting actor in films and began developing his ethnic characters. His film debut was in Naughty Baby.

Rubin was known for his ability to imitate many dialects. He performed in vaudeville with routines that included "English That's Different".

He was featured in both full-length films and short comedies in the 1930s, and although Tiffany Pictures mounted two star vehicles for him, they failed to advance his career. Hot Curves and Sunny Skies (both 1930) are his only starring features.

Rubin demonstrated his dialect talents as a panelist on the joke-telling radio series, Stop Me If You've Heard This One.

On radio, he played Professor Kropotkin (succeeding Hans Conried) on My Friend Irma, was a co-host of Only Yesterday, and was a member of the cast of The Bickersons.

He made frequent guest appearances on both the radio and television versions of The Jack Benny Program. A popular bit included Jack asking a series of questions that Rubin would answer with an increasingly irritated, "I don't know!" followed by the punchline.