personal appearance tour, but Besser declined. His wife had suffered a heart attack in November 1957, and he was unwilling to leave without her. In later life, Besser praised Moe and Larry in a 1985 radio interview, from which a quote was aired on A&E Network's Biography. Besser said: After the Stooges Besser returned to films and television, most notably as the superintendent Jillson for four seasons (1961–1965) of The Joey Bishop Show. He also made occasional appearances on the ABC late-night series, also called The Joey Bishop Show, between 1967 and 1969. Besser also had roles on The Mothers-in-Law, Batman, The Good Guys, That Girl, and Love, American Style. He provided the voice of the dragon on The Alvin Show (1961), and he played Chubby Stone in the episode "Cry Love, Cry Murder" (S3 E25) of the private-eye series Peter Gunn (1961). Besser also provided voices for several Saturday Morning cartoon series in the 1970s. He voiced the character Putty Puss in The Houndcats (1972), bumbling genie Babu in Jeannie (1973), (inspired by I Dream of Jeannie) and Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, and as Scare Bear in Yogi's Space Race (1978). Besser's career slowed somewhat after he suffered a minor stroke in 1979, resulting in considerable weight loss. Later in life, Besser expressed some dismay that people only recognized him for his brief tenure with the Stooges. However, he eventually softened, realizing that the Stooges continued to bring him his greatest exposure. In 1984, Besser co-wrote with authors Jeff and Greg Lenburg his autobiography, Not Just a Stooge, for Excelsior Books. The book would be later retitled and republished as Once a Stooge, Always a Stooge following his death in 1988. Joe Besser recalled his friendship with the Stooges in an emotional speech, referring to "the four boys [Moe, Larry, Curly, and Shemp] ... up in heaven" looking down at the dedication of a star to The Three Stooges on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 30, 1983. Stooges co-actor Emil Sitka, the only other Stooge attendee, also spoke; the only other surviving Stooge, Joe DeRita, was ill at the time, though he outlived Besser by five years. In the spring of 2000, ABC aired a made-for-television movie The Three Stooges, with actor Laurence Coy appearing briefly as Besser. This depiction of Besser has been criticized as being unfairly negative. Personal life In 1932, Besser married dancer Erna Kay