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Abbott Vaughn Meader (March 20, 1936 – October 29, 2004), known professionally as Vaughn Meader, 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''. The album spoofed President John F. Kennedy – who was played by Meader – and went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1963. At the peak of his popularity, he performed his Kennedy impersonation on variety shows and in nightclubs around the country and was profiled in several magazines. Meader's career came to an abrupt end after President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. He attempted to take his career in another direction by performing non-Kennedy related comedy, but had little success as he was typecast. He eventually returned to his native Maine where he resumed playing music and managed a pub. ==Early life== Meader was born in Waterville, Maine during one of the worst floods ever to hit New England: he often said he was born on "the night the West Bridge washed out". He was the only child of Charles Vaughn Meader, a millworker, and Mary Ellen Abbott. After his father broke his neck and drowned in a diving accident when Meader was only eighteen months old, his mother moved to Boston to work as a cocktail waitress, leaving Meader behind with relatives. A sometimes unruly and troubled child, Meader was sent to live with his mother in Boston at the age of five but she had become an alcoholic, and placed him in a children's home. After shuttling among several schools in Massachusetts and Maine, Meader eventually graduated from Brookline High School in 1953. He enlisted in the United States Army, and while stationed in Mannheim, West Germany as a laboratory technician formed a country music band – the Rhine Rangers – with fellow soldiers, later adding impressions of popular singers to his repertoire. Meader married the German-born Vera Heller in 1955.〔John A. Drobnicki, Meader, (Abbott) Vaughn," in ''The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Thematic Series: The 1960s'' (Scribner's, 2003), Vol. 2, p. 68.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vaughn Meader」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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