Abbott Vaughn Meader (March 20, 1936 – October 29, 2004) was an American comedian, impersonator, musician, and film actor.
Meader began his career as a musician but later found fame in the early 1960s after the release of the 1962 comedy record The First Family, written and produced by Bob Booker and Earle Doud.
At the peak of his popularity, he performed his Kennedy impersonation on television variety shows and in nightclubs around the country and was profiled in several magazines and newspapers.
Producer Bob Booker quickly pulled The First Family records from stores so as not to appear to be profiting from the deceased President.
A sometimes unruly and troubled child, Meader was sent to live with his mother in Boston at the age of five but she suffered from alcoholism, and placed him in a children's home.
He formed a country music band – the Rhine Rangers – with fellow soldiers, later adding impressions of popular singers to his repertoire.
On October 22, 1962, Meader joined writers Bob Booker and Earle Doud and a small cast of entertainers to record The First Family.
[1] Kennedy himself was said to have given copies of the album as Christmas gifts, and once greeted a Democratic National Committee group by saying, "Vaughn Meader was busy tonight, so I came myself.
Meader also made a couple of game show appearances, first as a mystery guest on What's My Line on December 30, 1962, The following week, Meader and Naomi Brossart (who played Jackie Kennedy on the "First Family" albums) appeared on To Tell The Truth in which the panel had to guess who the real Naomi Brossart was amongst the three lady contestants.
Though a series of tour dates in early 1963 were notably unsuccessful (Billboard reported that he "bombed" in Pittsburgh, and only 742 people showed up in Philadelphia),[6] he still played to packed houses in Las Vegas.
An episode of The Joey Bishop Show, which Meader filmed one week before the assassination and was set to air in February 1964, was pulled from the lineup.
Just hours after Kennedy's death, Bruce walked onstage, stood silently for several moments, then said, "Boy, is Vaughn Meader fucked.
He appeared briefly in the 1975 movie Linda Lovelace for President, portrayed Walter Winchell in the 1975 film Lepke starring Tony Curtis, and had a very brief cameo on the 1981 Rich Little comedy album The First Family Rides Again, which both parodied Ronald Reagan and paid homage to the original First Family album.
Eventually, Meader resumed a career in bluegrass and country music, becoming a popular local performer in his native Maine.
[1] Meader has been posthumously credited for having broken new ground in the area of political humor, particularly in impersonations of the President of the United States.
[13] The film chronicled Meader's life and death, his rise to fame and equally famous fall from it, and his influence on today's political impersonators.