Monday, May 10, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.
SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
NEW YORK -- For comedian Alan King, nobody was out of bounds when it came to humor. Not even a sitting queen.
Once, after performing for Queen Elizabeth II in London, the comedian was introduced to Britain's monarch. "How do you do, Mr. King?" she asked him. "How do you do, Mrs. Queen?" he replied.
"She stared at me, and then Prince Philip laughed," King recalled. "Thank God Prince Philip laughed."
King, whose cutting wisecracks about suburbia, marriage and modern life struck a chord both with the blue bloods and those with blue collars, died Sunday. He was 76.
King, who first appeared on a Las Vegas stage in 1949, was a longtime Las Vegas regular, headlining at such major resorts as Caesars Palace and the Flamingo, among other places.
In the 1970s and '80s he was host of the Alan King Tennis Classic at Caesars Palace, which featured the game's biggest names, including Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg.
King appeared in documentaries and films about Las Vegas including the 1995 box office hit "Casino," directed by Martin Scorsese, and the 1996 television documentary "The Real Las Vegas," co-written by Susan Berman, the daughter of a Las Vegas mobster. She was found shot to death in her Los Angeles home in 2001.
Although his appearances in Las Vegas in recent years were far less frequent than in the 1960s through the '80s, King remained a popular local attraction. His later Las Vegas performances included a gig at Texas Station in late September 2002.
Several years ago King purchased a luxury condominium at the 30-story Turnberry Place tower on Paradise Road and Riviera Boulevard, where he and family members would stay during visits to Las Vegas.
Comedian Jerry Stiller, who knew King for more than 50 years, said King was "in touch with what was happening with the world, which is what made him so funny."
"He always talked about the annoyances of life," Stiller said. "He was like a Jewish Will Rogers."
King, who also was host of the New York Friars Club's celebrity roasts, died at a Manhattan hospital, said a son, Robert King. He died of lung cancer, his assistant Miriam Rothstein said.
King appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" dozens of times and he played supporting roles in more than 20 films including "Bye Bye Braverman," "I, the Jury," "The Anderson Tapes," "Lovesick," "Bonfire of the Vanities," "Casino" and "Rush Hour 2."
He also produced several films, including "Memories of Me," "Wolfen" and "Cattle Annie and Little Britches," and the 1997 television series "The College of Comedy With Alan King."
He said he was working strip joints and seedy nightclubs in the early 1950s when he had a revelation while watching a performance by another young comedian, Danny Thomas.
"Danny actually talked to his audience," he recalled in a 1991 interview. "And I realized I never talked to my audience. I talked at 'em, around 'em and over 'em, but not to 'em. I felt the response they had for him. I said to myself, 'This guy is doing something, and I better start doing it."'
King, who until then had been using worn out one-liners, found his new material at home, after his wife persuaded him to forsake his native Manhattan, believing the suburban atmosphere of the Forest Hills sections of Queens would provide a better environment for their children.
Soon he was joking of seeing people moving from the city to the suburbs "in covered wagons, with mink stoles hanging out the back."
His rantings about suburbia, just as America was embracing it, struck a chord with the public and soon he was appearing regularly on the Sullivan show, Garry Moore's variety show and "The Tonight Show."
Bookings poured in, and he toured with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, played New York's showcase Paramount theater and performed at top nightclubs around the country.
King appeared in a handful of films in the late 1950s, including "The Girl He Left Behind," "Miracle in the Rain" and "Hit the Deck," although he didn't care for his roles. "I was always the sergeant from Brooklyn named Kowalski," he once complained.
He also appeared on Broadway in "Guys and Dolls" and "The Impossible Years," and produced the Broadway plays "The Lion in Winter" and "Something Different."
He wrote the humor books "Anyone Who Owns His Own Home Deserves One" (1962) and "Help! I'm a Prisoner in a Chinese Bakery" (1964).
Born Irwin Alan Kniberg, he grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side and in Brooklyn.
"Both of them were tough neighborhoods, but I was a pretty tough kid," he recalled in 1964. "I had an answer for everything. ... I fought back with humor."
He married Jeanette Sprung in 1947 -- ""Marriage is nature's way of keeping us from fighting with strangers," he once cracked -- and they had three children, Robert, Andrew and Elaine Ray. When King was at the height of his career, he faced one son's drug addiction and said he realized he had neglected his family.
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