Charlie Callas was born in Brooklyn, New York, as Charles Callias and served in the United States Army during World War II. He began his career as a drummer playing in groups with Bernie Cummins, Tommy Dorsey, Claude Thornhill, and Buddy Rich. He dropped a vowel from his legal name, Callias, when he took to the stage. Callas was known for his rubbery face, trademark nervous chattering, and dark comedy. His first television appearance was in 1963 on The Hollywood Palace, and he soon was opening for Frank Sinatra in nightclubs around the country. In 1965 he played Lefty in a gambling parlor/laundry in The Munsters, season 2, episode 16, “Herman Picks a Winner.” He made nearly 50 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Appearing on an episode of The Merv Griffin Show in 1965, one of the guests, Jerry Lewis, practically fell off his chair in hysterics as Callas performed his hunting routine. Lewis turned to Griffin and said he had to use Callas in his current project. That one appearance on the Griffin show landed Callas a role in the 1967 Lewis film The Big Mouth. Lewis recalled the story on his short-lived 1984 talk show, in which Callas served as his sidekick and performed the hunting routine.

Charlie Callas was a regular guest on the Dean Martin Show roasts where he as called on to poke fun at celebrities, including Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles,. He also appeared on The Andy Williams Show at various times as “Captain Weird”, a parody of superheroes. Callas’s only known dramatic role was that of a restaurant owner, Malcolm Argos, in the 1970s show, Switch. He was also a regular performer on The ABC Comedy Hour in 1972. He was a semiregular on The Flip Wilson Show and co-host of the The Joey Bishop Show. His last television appearances were on Larry The Cable Guy’s Christmas Spectacular (2007) and Larry The Cable Guy’s Star-Studded Christmas Extravaganza (2008). Charlie Callas died on January 27, 2011, from natural causes, aged 86, in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is survived by his sons, Mark and Larry. His wife, Evelyn, died six months earlier, aged 80.