Costello was born on February 2, 1898, in
Rhode Island to William E. and Susan B. (née Steere) Costello. In addition to voice acting, he worked as a
vaudeville performer under the name "Red Pepper Sam". In the early 1930s, he also played drums with the
Fred Waring Orchestra. Costello had worked with the
Fleischer Studios as the voice of Gus the Gorilla on the
Betty Boop radio show, and they felt that the raspy voice he had used for that character would work for a series of cartoons based on
Popeye (created by
E.C. Segar) they were planning. He was cast to provide the voice for the first Popeye cartoon, 1933's
Popeye the Sailor. Costello then appeared in the next 24 Popeye shorts before he was fired by the Fleischers, allegedly over "bad behavior". Although he never received onscreen credit, Costello knew of Popeye's international popularity and reputedly became difficult to work with, demanding more money and days off in the middle of a recording session. He was replaced with
Jack Mercer, who was working in the studio. Costello's final appearance as Popeye was in
You Gotta Be a Football Hero (1935). However, Costello was not prepared to give up the fame associated with voicing Popeye and, billed as "The Original Voice of Popeye", he voiced the character on a European stage tour and made several recordings for the Columbia, Decca, and Rex labels, including "
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" (1935), "
Blow the Man Down" (1935), "
Tiger Rag" (1936), and "
The Merry Go Round Broke Down" (1937), which, to avoid copyright problems in the US, were only marketed overseas. For nearly a decade, he was based in London. ==Billy "Uke" Carpenter==