The Morning Dish with Hank Garrett. From Sammy Davis Jr to fighting Elvis Presley! Listen as he talks about His new book (Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight).

Steven Phillips with The Morning Dish

Hank Garrett was raised in a multi-cultural neighborhood. In the 1950s where poverty was a way of life, Survival was the goal and violence was the means. By age 12, Hank was carrying a .25 caliber handgun. He would either end up dead or in prison. But a serendipitous meeting with Sammy Davis Jr. changed the trajectory of Hank’s life, and Hank stepped into the worlds of comedy, acting, martial arts, and wrestling. Lying about his age, at 17, Hank balanced a career as a pro wrestler with doing comedy acts at various clubs, all while still attending high school. By age 19 he had landed a role in a successful television series. With success also came challenges, however. Hank experienced love, loss, injury, and discrimination. Opportunities were lost or stolen from him. But Hank persevered. The fight inside the man, which could have proved disastrous, became his greatest asset. Up from the Streets is a true story of survival, redemption, and hope.
His book, “From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight,” will make you happy, sad and will make you laugh all the way through as he tells us all the stories of his life, the famous people he worked with and all he had to go through to make it from the streets of Harlem to his hard-earned stardom. He was going to survive the street life of Harlem where he learned to become a professional wrestler along with reaching the top as a martial arts expert inducted into the Hall of Fame in both sports. Hank was also an accomplished comedian and moved on to acting where he landed the part of officer Nicholson in the highly acclaimed Car 54 Where Are You. His story will surprise and entertain you as you read of all his accomplishments, his successes, the surprises in his life and the sometimes sad stories, told in his book, From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight. One thing guaranteed is that Hanks book will entertain and surprise you reading about all he accomplished in his life written with his unique style of comedy and truth. His book will leave you smiling at Hanks take on life….so far. Hank Garrett was born in Monticello, New York. His parents soon relocated to Harlem, New York. At age 15 Hank started performing in the Catskill Mountains, and turned professional wrestler at age 17 (by lying about his age). A small sample of his credits are: Officer Nicholson on the TV sit-com “Car 54, Where Are You,” Muscles Malone in “Serpico” (starring Al Pacino), and as the award-winning assassin in “Three Days of the Condor” (starring Robert Redford), and voices on “GI Joe” and “Garfield & Friends.”
Hank has had a long, successful career as a performer, comedian, wrestler, and speaker. His incredible life story is detailed in his book, available now from Amazon.
Here are some of Hank’s other notable accomplishments:
Opened as comedian for Tony Bennett for several years at Copa Cabana in New York, Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, London Paladium, etc.
First white comedian to perform at the world known Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NY.
Regular on English BBC TV Show starring David Frost – “That Was the Week That Was” (18 months)
Winner of New York Film Critics Award for “Three Days of the Condor” (played Killer Mailman)
Has appeared in countless movies / TV shows (as shown on IMDB and Wikipedia)

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