Trying to remember a 60s song writer

I wish I could name a song of his but I can't. If I could, I wouldn't need to start a thread, I could google him.

This was a short, perhaps blonde, definitely pudgey fellow. He played piano and sang. He was definitely a pop and not a rock or folk performer.

He was the costar of a short-lived television program in which he played a (possibly) a detective (although he might have been a piano player who dabbled in crime solving). He was paired with a tall and heavy actor. I never saw the show but read a review of it in which the critic groaned about the dialog because the tall actor called the short actor/songwriter, "bitty buddy."