Gary Busey?

Not Gary, Interesting guess though. (had you ever met him?)

11. One of the things I had become known for in college were Pratfalls and physical comedy.

Lou Costello?

Not Lou, though I love his work.

12. Soon I fell in with a comedy troop and began doing live shows.

Ah! That’s got to be someone from Saturday Night Live. John Belushi?

P.S. I haven’t met Gary Busey. But I did meet John Belushi a couple of times. I was hanging out with John and Mackenzie Phillips when we heard about Belushi’s death. A very sad moment.

Not Belushi, my his soul rest in peace.

13. My big break came when I was hired to be a writer on a new comedy TV show.

Chevy Chase?

Beat me to it.

Very good Arthur, Cornelius "Chevy" Chase it is.

14. By a stroke of luck, with the show days from its opening, I was promoted from writer to cast member.
15. I became the show's break out star. This was a problem as it was supposed to be an ensemble cast.
16. Several factors caused me to leave this new and very successful show in the middle of the second season.
17. After leaving the show, my career really took off as I became a bankable leading man in several comedy movies.
18. Even though I am getting on in years, I still work pretty consistently.
19. People have always looked up to me as I am 6'4" tall.

1. I was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the child of an unwed teenage couple.

2. My mother moved to Philadelphia after she was evicted from her parents' home for becoming pregnant.

3. With no support from her parents, my mother made arrangements for me to stay with her older half-sister in Baltimore.

4. I frequently skipped school, and my truancy resulted in me being brought before the juvenile court when I was nine years old.

5. I was sent to the House of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic reform school, where I was baptized.

6. After nine months in care, I was "paroled" to my mother. By that time mom had opened a restaurant, and we both worked long hours there. I dropped out of school at age 11.

7. One day my mother came home to discover a neighbor attempting to rape me. Officials placed me in the House of the Good Shepherd under protective custody as a state witness in the rape case.

8. I was released when I was nearly 12, and found a job running errands in a brothel. In addition, I scrubbed marble steps and kitchen and bathroom floors of neighborhood homes.

9. Two years later my mother and I moved to Harlem, New York, where mom became a sex worker. Within a matter of days of arriving in New York, I became a victim of sexual trafficking.

Mae West?

10. When the brothel was raided, my mother and I were were sent to prison. After spending time in a workhouse, we were both released.

11. Following this turbulent childhood, as a young teenager, I began singing in nightclubs in Harlem.

Billie Holiday

Yup. Landmark does it again! It’s Eleanora Fagan, a.k.a. Billie Holiday

12. I was heard by producer John Hammond, who commended my voice. This led to me signing a recording contract.

13. For two decades, I had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia and Decca.

14. However, I was beset with legal troubles and drug abuse. After a short prison sentence, I performed at a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall, but my reputation deteriorated because of drug and alcohol problems.

15. After I died of cirrhosis, I won four posthumous Grammy Awards.

16. A film about my life, starring Diana Ross, was released in 1972.

1. We're a pair of siblings in the same business.

2. We're two years apart. The older one of us was born in Kentucky, the younger in Illinois, but we both went to high school in Tennessee.

3. We both owe a whole lot to Felice and Boudleaux Bryant

Jeff and Beau Bridges?

Peyton and Eli Manning?