Charles Lamont; Directed Abbott and Costello Films

Charles Lamont, who directed more than 100 movies including nearly all of the Abbott and Costello comedies and many Ma and Pa Kettle features, has died. He was 98.

Lamont died Saturday of pneumonia at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in suburban Woodland Hills, according to his daughter, Christina Robillard.

Born in 1895 in San Francisco, Lamont was a fourth-generation actor who appeared on stage in his teens and in films from 1919 on. He became a prop man, then an assistant director, and began directing comedy shorts for Mack Sennett and Albert Christie, among others, in 1922.

Lamont directed feature films from the 1930s to the 1950s, including many Abbott and Costello and Ma and Pa Kettle comedies.

His directing credits included “The Curtain Falls,” “Son of Steel,” “A Shot in the Dark,” “Circumstantial Evidence,” “The Dark Hour,” “Lady Luck,” “Salome, Where She Danced,” “Frontier Gal,” “San Antonio Rose,” “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” and “Bagdad.”

Lamont is survived by daughters Christina of Big Bear City and Charlene Brumleu of Villa Park, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held 1 p.m. Tuesday at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills.