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Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian,
Leslie Townes Hope was born on May 29, 1903, in
vaudevillian
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 54 feature films with Hope as star, including a series of seven '' Road to ...'' musical comedy films with Bing Crosby as Hope's top-billed partner.
In addition to hosting the Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
show 19 times, more than any other host, Hope appeared in many stage productions and television roles and wrote 14 books. The song " Thanks for the Memory" was his signature tune.
Hope was born in the Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...
district of southeast London, he arrived in the United States with his family at the age of four, and grew up near Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Ohio. After a brief career as a boxer in the late 1910s, Hope began his career in show business in the early 1920s, initially as a comedian and dancer on the vaudeville circuit, before acting on Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
. Hope began appearing on radio and in films starting in 1934. He was praised for his comedic timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes that were often self-deprecating
Self-deprecation is the act of reprimanding oneself by belittling, undervaluing, disparaging oneself, or being excessively modest. It can be used as a way to make complaints, express modesty, invoke optimal reactions or add humour. It may also be u ...
. He helped establish modern American stand-up comedy.
Between 1941 and 1991, Hope made 57 tours for the United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
, entertaining active duty U.S. military personnel around the world. In 1997, the United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
passed a bill that made Hope an honorary veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces. He also appeared in numerous television specials for NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
during his career and was one of the first users of cue card
Cue cards, also known as note cards, are cards with words written on them that help actors and speakers remember what they have to say. They are typically used in television productions where they can be held off-camera and are unseen by the au ...
s.
Hope retired from public life in 1998 and died on July 27, 2003, at the age of 100, in his Toluca Lake
Toluca Lake is an affluent neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown. The name is also given to a private natural lake fed by wells and maintained by neighboring property owner ...
home.
Early years
Leslie Townes Hope was born on May 29, 1903, in Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...
, County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...
(now part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich
The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolitan Borough ...
), in a terraced house on Craigton Road in Well Hall
Well Hall is a place to the north of Eltham in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in southeast London, England, with no present formal boundaries and located east-southeast of Charing Cross.blue plaque in his memory. He was the fifth of seven sons of an English father, William Henry Hope, a stonemason from
Hope moved to Hollywood when Paramount Pictures signed him for the 1938 film ''
As a film star, Hope was best known for such comedies as '' My Favorite Brunette'' and the highly successful "
After the release of ''Road to Singapore'' (1940), Hope's screen career took off, and he had a long and successful run. After an 11-year hiatus from the "Road" genre, he and Crosby reteamed for ''The Road to Hong Kong'' (1962), starring the 28-year-old
Hope did many specials for the NBC television network in the following decades, beginning in April 1950. He was one of the first people to use 
Hope sometimes recruited his own family members for USO travel. His wife, Dolores, sang from atop an armored vehicle during the Desert Storm tour, and granddaughter Miranda appeared alongside him on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean. Of Hope's USO shows in World War II, novelist John Steinbeck, who then was working as a war correspondent, wrote in 1943:
Along with his best friend Bing Crosby, Hope was offered a commission in the United States Navy as lieutenant commander during World War II, but FDR intervened, believing it would be better for troop morale if they kept doing what they were doing by playing for ''all'' branches of military service.
For his service to his nation through the USO, he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the
Fred Levy Jr.
and oil tycoon Ed Pauley for $800,000 (adjusted to $6,951,567.57 in 2020).
Hope made a guest appearance on ''The Golden Girls'', season 4, episode 17 (aired February 25, 1989) called "You Gotta Have Hope" in which Rose is convinced Bob Hope is her father. In 1992, Hope made a guest appearance as himself on the animated Fox series ''
Hope was widely praised for his comedic timing and his specialization in the use of one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes. He was known for his style of self-deprecating jokes, first building himself up and then tearing himself down. He performed hundreds of times per year. Such early films as '' The Cat and the Canary'' (1939) and '' The Paleface'' (1948) were financially successful and praised by critics, and by the mid-1940s, with his radio program getting good ratings as well, he was one of the most popular entertainers in the United States. When Paramount threatened to stop production of the "Road" pictures in 1945, they received 75,000 letters of protest.
Hope had no faith in his skills as a dramatic actor, and his performances of that type were not as well received. He had been well known in radio until the late 1940s; however, as his ratings began to slip in the 1950s, he switched to television and became an early pioneer of that medium. He published several books, notably dictating to 
Hope was well known as an avid golfer, playing in as many as 150 charity tournaments a year. Introduced to the game in the 1930s while performing in
Hope was briefly married to vaudeville partner Grace Louise Troxell (1912–1992), a secretary from Chicago, Illinois, who was the daughter of Edward and Mary (McGinnes) Troxell. They were married on January 25, 1933, in Erie, Pennsylvania. They divorced in November 1934.
The couple had shared headliner status with Joe Howard at the Palace Theatre in April 1931, performing "Keep Smiling" and the "Antics of 1931". They worked together at the RKO Albee, performing the "Antics of 1933" along with Ann Gillens and Johnny Peters in June of that year. The following month, singer Dolores Reade joined Hope's vaudeville troupe and was performing with him at Loew's Metropolitan Theater. She was described as a "former Ziegfeld beauty and one of society's favorite nightclub entertainers, having appeared at many private social functions at New York, Palm Beach, and Southampton".
His long-alleged marriage to Reade was fraught with ambiguities. As Richard Zoglin wrote in his 2014 biography ''Hope: Entertainer of the Century'',
Dolores had been one of Hope's co-stars on Broadway in ''Roberta''. The couple adopted four children: Linda (in 1939), Tony (1940), Kelly (1946), and Eleanora, known as Nora (1946). Bob and Dolores were also the legal guardians of Tracey, the youngest daughter of famous New York City bar owner Bernard "Toots" Shor and his wife, Marion "Baby" Shor.
In 1935, the couple lived in Manhattan. In 1937, they moved to 10346 Moorpark Street in the
Hope had a reputation as a womanizer and continued to see other women throughout his marriage. Zoglin wrote, "Bob Hope had affairs with chorus girls, beauty queens, singers and showbiz wannabes through his 70s; he had a different girl on his arm every night. He was still having affairs into his 80s..."
As just one example among many, in 1949 while Hope was in
Hope, who suffered from vision problems for much of his adult life, served as an active honorary chairman on the board of Fight for Sight, a nonprofit organization in the United States which funds medical research in vision and ophthalmology. He hosted its ''Lights On'' telecast in 1960 and donated $100,000 to establish the Bob Hope Fight for Sight Fund. Hope recruited numerous top celebrities for the annual "Lights On" fundraiser. As an example, he hosted boxing champion Joe Frazier, actress Yvonne De Carlo, and singer-actor
Hope continued an active entertainment career past his 90th birthday, concentrating on his television specials and USO tours.
Although he had given up starring in feature films after ''Cancel My Reservation'', he made several cameos in various films and co-starred with Don Ameche in the 1986 
Hope celebrated his 100th birthday on May 29, 2003. He is among a small group of notable centenarians in the field of 
In 1998, five years before his death, a prepared obituary written by 
On the morning of July 27, 2003, Hope died of pneumonia at his home in
Hope was awarded more than 2,000 honors and awards, including 54 honorary university doctorates. In 1963 President
Video of Bob Hope 85th Birthday Special (3 hours long)
*
"Hope-ful Century of Wit and Laughter"
*
"100 Years of Hope: The Early Years"
*
"100 Years of Hope: Slapstick and the Great Divide"
Literature on Bob Hope
Law making Bob Hope an honorary veteran
* [http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/bob-hope-and-the-holocaust-no-laughing-matter/2003/07/26 article "Bob Hope And The Holocaust: No Laughing Matter (The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies) – praise "took real political courage"] {{DEFAULTSORT:Hope, Bob Bob Hope, 1903 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers 20th-century British male singers 20th-century English comedians 20th-century English male actors 20th-century English singers Academy Honorary Award recipients Actors awarded knighthoods American burlesque performers American centenarians American male boxers American male comedians American male comedy actors American male dancers American male film actors American male radio actors American male singers American male television actors American people of Welsh descent American radio personalities American Roman Catholics American stand-up comedians Beauty pageant hosts British centenarians British expatriate male actors in the United States Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery California Republicans Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners Comedians from California Comedians from London Comedians from Ohio Congressional Gold Medal recipients Converts to Roman Catholicism Deaths from pneumonia in California English emigrants to the United States English expatriates in the United States English male boxers English male comedians English male dancers English male film actors English male singers English male television actors English Roman Catholics English people of Welsh descent Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winners Kennedy Center honorees Knights Commander with Star of the Order of St. Gregory the Great Male actors from London Men centenarians Musicians from London Paramount Pictures contract players Peabody Award winners People from Eltham People from Toluca Lake, Los Angeles People with acquired American citizenship Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients RCA Victor artists Recipients of the Order of the Sword (United States) Recipients of the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award Singers from London Super-featherweight boxers United States National Medal of Arts recipients United Service Organizations entertainers Vaudeville performers World Golf Hall of Fame inductees
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...
, Somerset, and a Welsh mother, Avis (née Townes), a light opera
Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue.
Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...
singer from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan
Barry ( cy, Y Barri; ) is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, on the north coast of the Bristol Channel approximately south-southwest of Cardiff. Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the resurrected Bar ...
, who later worked as a cleaner. William and Avis married in April 1891 and lived at 12 Greenwood Street in Barry before moving to Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
, Bristol, and then to St George, Bristol. After a brief period living in Southend Road, Weston-Super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...
, in 1908, the family immigrated to the United States, sailing aboard the SS ''Philadelphia''. They passed through Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...
, New York on March 30, 1908, before moving on to Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Ohio.
From age 12, Hope earned pocket money by busking (frequently on the streetcar to Luna Park
Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Island parks. Luna parks are small-s ...
), singing, dancing, and performing comedy. He entered numerous dancing and amateur talent contests as Lester Hope, and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. For a time, he attended the Boys' Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio
Lancaster ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Ohio, in the south-central part of the state. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 40,552. The city is near the Hocking River, about southeast of Columbus and southwest of Zanesville. It is ...
, and as an adult donated sizable sums of money to the institution. Hope had a brief career as a boxer in 1919, fighting under the name Packy East. He had three wins and one loss, and he participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life.
Hope worked as a butcher's assistant and a lineman in his teens and early 20s. He also had a brief stint at Chandler Motor Car
The Chandler Motor Car Company produced automobiles in the United States of America during the 1910s and 1920s.
Corporate strategy
It was incorporated in 1913, with Frederick C. Chandler as President, headquartered and with its factory in C ...
Company. In 1921, while assisting his brother Jim in clearing trees for a power company, he was sitting atop a tree that crashed to the ground, crushing his face; the accident required Hope to undergo reconstructive surgery, which contributed to his later distinctive appearance.
After deciding on a show business career, Hope and his girlfriend signed up for dancing lessons. Encouraged after they performed in a three-day engagement at a club, Hope formed a partnership with Lloyd Durbin, a friend from the dancing school. Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle
Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...
saw them perform in 1925 and found them work with a touring troupe called Hurley's Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the "Dancemedians" with George Byrne and the Hilton Sisters, conjoined twins who performed a tap-dancing
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perfo ...
routine on the vaudeville circuit. Hope and Byrne also had an act as Siamese twins; they sang and danced while wearing blackface until friends advised Hope he was funnier as himself.
In 1929, Hope informally changed his first name to "Bob". In one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman
Robert R. Burman (April 23, 1884 – April 8, 1916) was an American race car driver, he was an open-wheel pioneer, setting numerous speed records in the early 1900s. He participated in many historic races and was one of the drivers to compe ...
. In another, he said he chose the name because he wanted a name with a "friendly 'Hiya, fellas!' sound" to it. In a 1942 legal document, his legal name appears as Lester Townes Hope; it is unknown if this reflects a legal name change from Leslie. After five years on the vaudeville circuit, Hope was "surprised and humbled" when he failed a 1930 screen test for the French film production company Pathé at Culver City, California.
Career
In the early days, Hope's career included appearances on stage in vaudeville shows and Broadway productions. He began performing on the radio in 1934 mostly with NBC radio, and switched to television when that medium became popular in the 1950s. He started hosting regular TV specials in 1954, and hosted theAcademy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nineteen times from 1939 through 1977. Overlapping with this was his movie career, spanning 1934 to 1972, and his USO tours, which he conducted from 1941 to 1991.
Film
Hope signed a contract withEducational Pictures
Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational pr ...
of New York for six short films. The first was a comedy, ''Going Spanish
''Going Spanish'' (1934) is an American short comedy film featuring the film debut of Bob Hope and directed by Al Christie. The short comedy co-stars Leah Ray and Jules Epailly. Released by Educational Pictures, the film premiered on March 2, ...
'' (1934). He was not happy with it, and told newspaper gossip columnist Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...
, "When they catch ank robber Dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dill ...
, they're going to make him sit through it twice." Although Educational Pictures dropped his contract, he soon signed with Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
, making movies during the day and performing in Broadway shows in the evenings.
Hope moved to Hollywood when Paramount Pictures signed him for the 1938 film ''The Big Broadcast of 1938
''The Big Broadcast of 1938'' is a Paramount Pictures musical comedy film starring W. C. Fields and featuring Bob Hope. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, the film is the last in a series of ''Big Broadcast'' movies that were variety show anthologies. ...
'', also starring W. C. Fields. The song " Thanks for the Memory", which later became his trademark, was introduced in the film as a duet with Shirley Ross
Shirley Ross (born Bernice Maude Gaunt, January 7, 1913 – March 9, 1975) was an American actress and singer, notable for her duet with Bob Hope, " Thanks for the Memory" from ''The Big Broadcast of 1938''. She appeared in 25 feature films be ...
, accompanied by Shep Fields and his orchestra. The sentimental, fluid nature of the music allowed Hope's writers—he depended heavily upon joke writers throughout his career—to later create variations of the song to fit specific circumstances, such as bidding farewell to troops while on tour or mentioning the names of towns in which he was performing.
As a film star, Hope was best known for such comedies as '' My Favorite Brunette'' and the highly successful "Road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
" movies in which he starred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the '' Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing ...
. The series consists of seven films made between 1940 and 1962: '' Road to Singapore'' (1940), '' Road to Zanzibar'' (1941), ''Road to Morocco
''Road to Morocco'' is a 1942 American comedy film starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, and featuring Anthony Quinn and Dona Drake. The film, which was written by Frank Butler and Don Hartman and directed by David Butler for Para ...
'' (1942), ''Road to Utopia
''Road to Utopia'' is a 1946 American semi-musical comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946, ''Road to Utopia'' is the fourth film of the "'' Road to ...
'' (1946), ''Road to Rio
''Road to Rio'' is a 1947 American semimusical comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Written by Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose, the film is about two inept vaudevillians who stow away on ...
'' (1947), ''Road to Bali
''Road to Bali'' is a 1952 American comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Released by Paramount Pictures on November 19, 1952, the film is the sixth of the seven ''Road to …'' movies. It w ...
'' (1952), and ''The Road to Hong Kong
''The Road to Hong Kong'' is a 1962 British semi-musical comedy film directed by Norman Panama and starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, as well as Joan Collins, with an extended cameo featuring Dorothy Lamour in the setting of Hong Kong under Br ...
'' (1962). Hope had seen Lamour performing as a nightclub singer in New York, and invited her to work on his United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
(USO) tours of military facilities. Lamour sometimes arrived for filming prepared with her lines, only to be baffled by completely rewritten scripts or ad lib dialogue between Hope and Crosby. Hope and Lamour were lifelong friends, and she remains the actress most associated with his film career although he made movies with dozens of leading ladies, including Katharine Hepburn, Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career ...
, Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr (; born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; November 9, 1914 January 19, 2000) was an Austrian-born American film actress and inventor. A film star during Hollywood's golden age, Lamarr has been described as one of the greatest movie actress ...
, Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
, Rosemary Clooney, Jane Russell
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model. She was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in more than 20 films.
Russell moved from th ...
, and Elke Sommer.
From their first meeting in 1932, Hope and Crosby teamed not only for the "Road" pictures, but for many stage, radio, and television appearances and many brief movie appearances together over the decades until Crosby died in 1977. Although the two invested together in oil leases and other business ventures, worked together frequently, and lived near each other, they rarely saw each other socially.
After the release of ''Road to Singapore'' (1940), Hope's screen career took off, and he had a long and successful run. After an 11-year hiatus from the "Road" genre, he and Crosby reteamed for ''The Road to Hong Kong'' (1962), starring the 28-year-old Joan Collins
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primeti ...
in place of Lamour, whom Crosby thought was too old for the part. They had planned one more movie together in 1977, ''The Road to the Fountain of Youth'', but filming was postponed when Crosby was injured in a fall, and the production was cancelled when he suddenly died of heart failure that October.
Hope starred in 54 theatrical features between 1938 and 1972, as well as cameos and short films. Most of his later movies failed to match the success of his 1940s efforts. He was disappointed with his appearance in ''Cancel My Reservation
''Cancel My Reservation'' is a 1972 American comedy film starring Bob Hope and Eva Marie Saint, and directed by Paul Bogart. The movie was Bob Hope's last of over 50 theatrical features as leading man, a screen run begun in 1938. It was also Eva ...
'' (1972), his last starring film; critics and filmgoers panned the movie. Though his career as a film star effectively ended in 1972, he did make a few cameo film appearances into the 1980s.
Hope was host of the Academy Awards ceremony 19 times between 1939 and 1977. His supposedly-feigned desire for an Oscar became part of his act. While introducing the 1968 telecast, he quipped, "Welcome to the Academy Awards, or, as it's known at my house, Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...
." Although he was never nominated for an Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
honored him with four honorary awards, and in 1960 presented him with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is awarded periodically by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) at the Governors Awards ceremonies for an individual's "outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes". Prior to 2009 and ...
, given each year as part of the Oscars ceremony.
Broadcasting
Hope's career in broadcasting began on radio in 1934. His first regular series for NBC Radio was the ''Woodbury Soap Hour'' in 1937, on a 26-week contract. Serving as the master of ceremonies for these ''Rippling Rhythm Revue'' radio broadcasts, Hope collaborated with the big band leader Shep Fields during this period of transition from vaudeville to radio. A year later, '' The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope'' began, and Hope signed a ten-year contract with the show's sponsor,Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making p ...
. He hired eight writers and paid them out of his salary of $2,500 a week. The original staff included Mel Shavelson, Norman Panama, Jack Rose, Sherwood Schwartz
Sherwood Charles Schwartz (; November 14, 1916 – July 12, 2011) was an American television screenwriter and producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, but he now is best known for creating the 1960s television series '' Gilligan's Isla ...
, and Schwartz's brother Al. The writing staff eventually grew to fifteen. The show became the top radio program in the country. Regulars on the series included Jerry Colonna and Barbara Jo Allen
Barbara Jo Allen (born Marian Barbara Henshall; September 2, 1906 – September 14, 1974) was an American actress. She was also known as Vera Vague, the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 19 ...
as spinster Vera Vague. Hope continued his lucrative career in radio into the 1950s, when radio's popularity began being overshadowed by the upstart television medium.
Television specials
Hope did many specials for the NBC television network in the following decades, beginning in April 1950. He was one of the first people to use cue card
Cue cards, also known as note cards, are cards with words written on them that help actors and speakers remember what they have to say. They are typically used in television productions where they can be held off-camera and are unseen by the au ...
s. The shows often were sponsored by Frigidaire
Frigidaire Appliance Company is the American consumer and commercial home appliances brand subsidiary of multinational company Electrolux.
Frigidaire was founded as the Guardian Frigerator Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and developed the first s ...
(early 1950s), General Motors (1955–61), Chrysler (1963–73), and Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...
(1975–85). Hope's Christmas specials were popular favorites and often featured a performance of " Silver Bells"—from his 1951 film '' The Lemon Drop Kid''—done as a duet with an often much younger female guest star such as Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful music artist ...
, Olivia Newton-John
Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...
, Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead; August 23, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and producer best known for her starring role as Jeannie in the sitcom '' I Dream of Jeannie'' (1965-1970). Other notable roles include Roslyn Pierce opp ...
, and Brooke Shields, or with his wife Dolores, a former singer with whom he dueted on two specials.
On April 26, 1970, CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
released the Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Welch ( Tejada; September 5, 1940) is an American actress.
She first won attention for her role in '' Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hamm ...
television special ''Raquel!
''Raquel!'' was an April 26, 1970 CBS television special starring Raquel Welch, Tom Jones, Bob Hope and John Wayne executive produced, directed and choreographed by David Winters produced by Winters' company Winters-Rosen for CBS-TV, originally ...
'', in it Hope appears as a guest.
Hope's 1970 and 1971 Christmas specials for NBC—filmed in Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
in front of military audiences at the height of the war—are on the list of the Top 46 U.S. network prime-time telecasts. Both were seen by more than 60 percent of the U.S. households watching television.
''The Adventures of Bob Hope''
Beginning in early 1950, Hope licensed rights to publish acelebrity
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
comic book titled ''The Adventures of Bob Hope'' to National Periodical Publications, alias DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
. The comic, originally featuring publicity stills of Hope on the cover, was entirely made up of fictional stories, eventually including fictitious relatives, a high school taught by movie monsters, and a superhero called Super-Hip. It was published intermittently, and continued publication through issue #109 in 1969. Illustrators included Bob Oksner and (for the last four issues) Neal Adams
Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Sup ...
.
USO involvement
While aboard the RMS ''Queen Mary'' when World War II began in September 1939, Hope volunteered to perform a special show for the passengers, during which he sang "Thanks for the Memory" with rewritten lyrics. He performed his first USO show on May 6, 1941, atMarch Field
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Ma ...
in California, and continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II, later during the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, the Vietnam War, the third phase of the Lebanon Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
, the latter years of the Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
, and the 1990–91 Persian Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
. His USO career lasted a half-century during which he headlined 57 times.
He had a deep respect for the men and women who served in the armed forces, and this was reflected in his willingness to go anywhere to entertain them. However, during the highly controversial Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, Hope had trouble convincing some performers to join him on tour, but he was accompanied on at least one USO tour by Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish–American actress, singer, and dancer. As an actress and singer, she is credited as Ann-Margret.
She is known for her roles in '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' ...
. Anti-war sentiment was high, and his pro-troop stance made him a target of criticism from some quarters. Some shows were drowned out by boos, others were listened to in silence.
The tours were funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, Hope's television sponsors, and by NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, the network that broadcast the television specials created after each tour from footage shot on location. However, the footage and shows were owned by Hope's own production company, which made them very lucrative ventures for him, as outlined by writer Richard Zoglin in his 2014 biography ''Hope: Entertainer of the Century''.
Hope sometimes recruited his own family members for USO travel. His wife, Dolores, sang from atop an armored vehicle during the Desert Storm tour, and granddaughter Miranda appeared alongside him on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean. Of Hope's USO shows in World War II, novelist John Steinbeck, who then was working as a war correspondent, wrote in 1943:
Along with his best friend Bing Crosby, Hope was offered a commission in the United States Navy as lieutenant commander during World War II, but FDR intervened, believing it would be better for troop morale if they kept doing what they were doing by playing for ''all'' branches of military service.
For his service to his nation through the USO, he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
at West Point in 1968, the first entertainer to receive the award. A 1997 act of Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
signed by President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
named Hope an "Honorary Veteran". He remarked, "I've been given many awards in my lifetime, but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most is the greatest honor I have ever received." In an homage to Hope, comedian/TV host Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...
carried a golf club on stage during the week of USO performances he taped for his TV show ''The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show fo ...
'' during the 2009 season.
''Dear Bob... Bob Hope's Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of WW2,'' written by Martha Bolton (first woman staff writer for Bob Hope) and Linda Hope (eldest daughter of Bob Hope), reveals the heart of the entertainer who became a best friend to the troops.
Theater
Hope's first Broadway appearances, in 1927's ''The Sidewalks of New York'' and 1928's ''Ups-a-Daisy'', were minor walk-on parts. He returned to Broadway in 1933 to star as Huckleberry Haines in theJerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...
/ Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1904 – March 28, 1974) was an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films. Her best-known pieces include "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936), "A Fine Romance" (1936), " On t ...
musical ''Roberta
''Roberta'' is a musical from 1933 with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach. The musical is based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller. It features the songs " Yesterdays", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Let ...
''. Stints in the musicals '' Say When'', the 1936 Ziegfeld Follies
The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Ai ...
with Fanny Brice, and ''Red, Hot and Blue
''Red, Hot and Blue'' is a stage musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It premiered on Broadway in 1936 and introduced the popular song " It's De-Lovely," sung by Ethel Merman and Bob Hope.
...
'' with Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American actress and singer, known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and for leading roles in musical theatre.Obituary '' Variety'', February 22, 1984. ...
and Jimmy Durante followed. Hope reprised his role as Huck Haines in a 1958 production of ''Roberta'' at The Muny
The St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (commonly known as The Muny) is an amphitheatre, amphitheater located in St. Louis, Missouri. The theatre seats 11,000 people with about 1,500 free seats in the last nine rows that are available on a first ...
Theater in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri.
Additionally, Hope rescued the Eltham Little Theatre in England from closure by providing funds to buy the property. He continued his interest and support, and regularly visited the facility when in London. The theater was renamed in his honor in 1982.
Sports car racing
During a short stint in 1960, Hope became a part owner of theRiverside International Raceway
Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Rivers ...
in Moreno Valley, California, along with Los Angeles Rams co-owneFred Levy Jr.
and oil tycoon Ed Pauley for $800,000 (adjusted to $6,951,567.57 in 2020).
Les Richter
Leslie Alan Richter (October 6, 1930 – June 12, 2010) was an American football linebacker who played for the Los Angeles Rams of National Football League (NFL). He also served as the head of operations for NASCAR and president of the River ...
was made president of the raceway.
Later appearances
Hope made a guest appearance on ''The Golden Girls'', season 4, episode 17 (aired February 25, 1989) called "You Gotta Have Hope" in which Rose is convinced Bob Hope is her father. In 1992, Hope made a guest appearance as himself on the animated Fox series ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' in the episode "Lisa the Beauty Queen
"Lisa the Beauty Queen" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 15, 1992. In the episode, Homer enters Lisa into a be ...
" (season 4, episode 4). His 90th birthday television celebration in May 1993, ''Bob Hope: The First 90 Years'', won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special. Toward the end of his career, worsening vision problems rendered him unable to read his cue cards. In October 1996, he announced he was ending his 60-year contract with NBC, joking that he "decided to become a free agent". His final television special, ''Laughing with the Presidents'', was broadcast in November 1996, with host Tony Danza helping him present a personal retrospective of presidents of the United States
The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and ...
known to Hope, a frequent White House visitor over the years. The special, though different from his usual specials, received high praise from ''Variety'', as well as other reviews. Following a brief appearance at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1997, Hope made his last TV appearance in a 1997 commercial about the introduction of Big Kmart, directed by Penny Marshall
Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director and producer. She is known for her role as ...
.
Legacy
Hope was widely praised for his comedic timing and his specialization in the use of one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes. He was known for his style of self-deprecating jokes, first building himself up and then tearing himself down. He performed hundreds of times per year. Such early films as '' The Cat and the Canary'' (1939) and '' The Paleface'' (1948) were financially successful and praised by critics, and by the mid-1940s, with his radio program getting good ratings as well, he was one of the most popular entertainers in the United States. When Paramount threatened to stop production of the "Road" pictures in 1945, they received 75,000 letters of protest.
Hope had no faith in his skills as a dramatic actor, and his performances of that type were not as well received. He had been well known in radio until the late 1940s; however, as his ratings began to slip in the 1950s, he switched to television and became an early pioneer of that medium. He published several books, notably dictating to ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often ...
s about his wartime experiences.
Although Hope made an effort to keep his material up to date, he never adapted his comic persona or his routines to any great degree. As Hollywood began to transition to the "New Hollywood
The New Hollywood, also known as American New Wave or Hollywood Renaissance, was a movement in American film history from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence.
They influenced the types o ...
" era in the 1960s, he reacted negatively, such as when he hosted the 40th Academy Awards in 1968 and voiced his contempt by mocking the show's delay because of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
and condescendingly greeted attending younger actors on stage—such as Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is ...
, who was 30 at the time—as children. By the 1970s, his popularity was beginning to wane with military personnel and with the movie-going public in general. However, he continued doing USO tours into the 1980s, and continued to appear on television into the 1990s. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, a close friend and frequent host to him at the White House, called Hope "America's most honored citizen and our favorite clown".
Hope was well known as an avid golfer, playing in as many as 150 charity tournaments a year. Introduced to the game in the 1930s while performing in Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
, Canada, he eventually played to a four handicap. His love for the game—and the humor he could find in it—made him a sought-after foursome member. He once remarked that President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
gave up golf for painting: "Fewer strokes, you know." He also was quoted as saying, "It's wonderful how you can start out with three strangers in the morning, play 18 holes, and by the time the day is over you have three solid enemies."
A golf club became an integral prop for Hope during the standup segments of his television specials and USO shows. In 1978 he putted against the then-two-year-old Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records.
*
*
* Woods is widely regarded as ...
in a television appearance with the actor Jimmy Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...
on ''The Mike Douglas Show
''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into natio ...
''.
The Bob Hope Classic
The Desert Classic (currently known as The American Express for sponsorship reasons; previously known as the CareerBuilder Challenge, Palm Springs Golf Classic, the Bob Hope Desert Classic, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, and the Humana Challen ...
, founded in 1960, made history in 1995 when Hope teed up for the opening round in a foursome that included Presidents Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, the only time three U.S. presidents played in the same golf foursome. The event, now known as the CareerBuilder Challenge, was one of the few PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...
tournaments that took place over five rounds, until the 2012 tournament when it was cut back to the conventional four.
Hope had a heavy interest in sports beyond golf and his brief fling as a professional boxer in his youth. In 1946, he bought a small stake in the Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
professional baseball team and held it for most of the rest of his life. He appeared on the June 3, 1963, cover of ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...
'' magazine wearing an Indians uniform, and sang a special version of "Thanks for the Memory" after the Indians' last game at Cleveland Stadium
Cleveland Stadium, commonly known as Municipal Stadium, Lakefront Stadium or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball a ...
on October 3, 1993. He also bought a share with Bing Crosby of the Los Angeles Rams football team in 1947, but sold it in 1962. He frequently used his television specials to promote the annual AP College Football All-America Team
The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term '' All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Footbal ...
. The players would come onstage one by one and introduce themselves, then Hope, often dressed in a football uniform, would give a one-liner about the player or his school.
Personal life
Marriage
Hope was briefly married to vaudeville partner Grace Louise Troxell (1912–1992), a secretary from Chicago, Illinois, who was the daughter of Edward and Mary (McGinnes) Troxell. They were married on January 25, 1933, in Erie, Pennsylvania. They divorced in November 1934.
The couple had shared headliner status with Joe Howard at the Palace Theatre in April 1931, performing "Keep Smiling" and the "Antics of 1931". They worked together at the RKO Albee, performing the "Antics of 1933" along with Ann Gillens and Johnny Peters in June of that year. The following month, singer Dolores Reade joined Hope's vaudeville troupe and was performing with him at Loew's Metropolitan Theater. She was described as a "former Ziegfeld beauty and one of society's favorite nightclub entertainers, having appeared at many private social functions at New York, Palm Beach, and Southampton".
His long-alleged marriage to Reade was fraught with ambiguities. As Richard Zoglin wrote in his 2014 biography ''Hope: Entertainer of the Century'',
Dolores had been one of Hope's co-stars on Broadway in ''Roberta''. The couple adopted four children: Linda (in 1939), Tony (1940), Kelly (1946), and Eleanora, known as Nora (1946). Bob and Dolores were also the legal guardians of Tracey, the youngest daughter of famous New York City bar owner Bernard "Toots" Shor and his wife, Marion "Baby" Shor.
In 1935, the couple lived in Manhattan. In 1937, they moved to 10346 Moorpark Street in the Toluca Lake
Toluca Lake is an affluent neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown. The name is also given to a private natural lake fed by wells and maintained by neighboring property owner ...
neighborhood of Los Angeles, where they would reside until their respective deaths.
Extramarital affairs
Hope had a reputation as a womanizer and continued to see other women throughout his marriage. Zoglin wrote, "Bob Hope had affairs with chorus girls, beauty queens, singers and showbiz wannabes through his 70s; he had a different girl on his arm every night. He was still having affairs into his 80s..."
As just one example among many, in 1949 while Hope was in Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
on a publicity tour for his radio show, he met Barbara Payton, a contract player at Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
, who at the time was on her own public relations jaunt. Shortly thereafter, Hope set up Payton in an apartment in Hollywood. The arrangement soured as Hope was not able to satisfy Payton's definition of generosity and her need for attention. Hope paid her off to end the affair quietly. Payton later revealed the affair in an article printed in July 1956 in the tell-all magazine ''Confidential
Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access or places restrictions on certain types of information.
Legal confidentiality
By law, lawyers are often required ...
''. "Hope was ... at times a mean-spirited individual with the ability to respond with a ruthless vengeance when sufficiently provoked." His advisors counseled him to avoid further publicity by ignoring the ''Confidential'' exposé. "Barbara's ... revelations caused a minor ripple ... and then quickly sank without causing any appreciable damage to Bob Hope's legendary career."
According to Arthur Marx
Arthur Julius Marx (July 21, 1921April 14, 2011) was an American writer, the son of entertainer Groucho Marx and his first wife, Ruth Johnson.
Marx spent his early years accompanying his father around vaudeville circuits in the United States a ...
's 1993 Hope biography, ''The Secret Life of Bob Hope'', Hope's subsequent long-term affair with actress Marilyn Maxwell
Marvel Marilyn Maxwell (August 3, 1921 – March 20, 1972) was an American actress and entertainer. In a career that spanned the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in several films and radio programs, and entertained the troops during World War ...
was so open that the Hollywood community routinely referred to her as "Mrs. Bob Hope".
Rosemarie Frankland
Rosemarie Franklin (1 February 1943 – 2 December 2000) born in Rhosllanerchrugog a village near Wrexham. She was a Welsh actress, model and beauty queen who won Miss World 1961, having previously finished as first runner-up at Miss Universe ...
was a beauty queen ( Miss World 1961) who, according to Zoglin, took part in a 30-year affair with Hope. He said she was "the great love of his life".
Hope's infidelities are a part of the plot of the 2020 film '' Misbehaviour'', which follows the Women's Liberation
The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...
protests at the Miss World 1970 competition that Hope hosted; Greg Kinnear
Gregory Buck Kinnear (born June 17, 1963) is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in ''As Good as It Gets'' (1997).
Kinnear has appeared in many popular films, including '' Sabrina'' (1 ...
plays Hope.
Vision philanthropy
Hope, who suffered from vision problems for much of his adult life, served as an active honorary chairman on the board of Fight for Sight, a nonprofit organization in the United States which funds medical research in vision and ophthalmology. He hosted its ''Lights On'' telecast in 1960 and donated $100,000 to establish the Bob Hope Fight for Sight Fund. Hope recruited numerous top celebrities for the annual "Lights On" fundraiser. As an example, he hosted boxing champion Joe Frazier, actress Yvonne De Carlo, and singer-actor Sergio Franchi
Sergio Franchi (born Sergio Franci Galli; April 6, 1926 – May 1, 1990) was an Italian-American tenor and actor who enjoyed success in the United States and internationally after gaining notice in Britain in the early 1960s. In 1962, RCA Vict ...
as headliners for the April 25, 1971, show at Philharmonic Hall in Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
.
Last years and death
Hope continued an active entertainment career past his 90th birthday, concentrating on his television specials and USO tours.
Although he had given up starring in feature films after ''Cancel My Reservation'', he made several cameos in various films and co-starred with Don Ameche in the 1986 television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
''A Masterpiece of Murder''. A television special created for his 80th birthday in 1983 at the Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
in Washington, D.C., featured President Ronald Reagan, actress Lucille Ball, comedian-actor-writer George Burns
George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...
(a fellow centenarian), and many others. In 1985 he was presented with the Life Achievement Award at the Kennedy Center Honors, and in 1998 he was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. Upon accepting the appointment, Hope quipped, "I'm speechless. 70 years of ad lib material and I'm speechless."
In July 1997 at age 94, he attended the funeral of Jimmy Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...
, where many pointed out his frail appearance. At the age of 95, Hope made an appearance at the 50th anniversary of the Primetime Emmy Awards with Milton Berle and Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor, comedian and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950 ...
. Contemporaries Fay Wray
Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian/American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international r ...
and Gloria Stuart
Gloria Frances Stuart (born Gloria Stewart; July 4, 1910 September 26, 2010) was an American actress, visual artist, and activist. She was known for her roles in Pre-Code films, and garnered renewed fame late in life for her portrayal of Rose ...
were also present. Two years later, he was present at the opening of the Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
. The Library of Congress has presented two major exhibitions about Hope's life: "Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture" and "Bob Hope and American Variety". He last made an appearance at the Hope Classic in 2000, where he hugged Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik
Jesper Bo Parnevik (; born 7 March 1965) is a Swedish professional golfer. He spent 38 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking in 2000 and 2001.
Early years and amateur career
Parnevik was born in Botkyrka, Stockholm County, a ...
.
Hope celebrated his 100th birthday on May 29, 2003. He is among a small group of notable centenarians in the field of entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...
. To mark this event, the intersection of Hollywood and Vine
Hollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, a district of Los Angeles, became known in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered ...
in Los Angeles was named "Bob Hope Square" and his centennial was declared "Bob Hope Day" in 35 states. Even at 100, Hope maintained his self-deprecating sense of humor, quipping, "I'm so old, they've canceled my blood type."
Hope converted to Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
seven years before his death.
In 1998, five years before his death, a prepared obituary written by the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newsp ...
was inadvertently released, resulting in Hope's death being announced on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. However, Hope remained in relatively good health until late in his old age, though he became somewhat frail in his last few years. In June 2000 at age 97, he spent nearly a week in a California hospital being treated for gastrointestinal bleeding
Gastrointestinal bleeding (GI bleed), also called gastrointestinal hemorrhage (GIB), is all forms of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the rectum. When there is significant blood loss over a short time, symptoms may include ...
. In August 2001 at age 98, he spent close to two weeks in a hospital recovering from pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
.
On the morning of July 27, 2003, Hope died of pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, California
Toluca Lake is an affluent neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown. The name is also given to a private natural lake fed by wells and maintained by neighboring property ow ...
two months after his 100th birthday. His grandson Zach Hope told TV interviewer Soledad O'Brien
María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien (born September 19, 1966) is an American broadcast journalist and executive producer. Since 2016, O'Brien has been the host for ''Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien,'' a nationally syndicated weekly talk show ...
that, when asked on his deathbed where he wanted to be buried, Hope is alleged to have told his wife, Dolores, "Surprise me." His remains were temporarily placed in a mausoleum vault before the construction of the Bob Hope Memorial Garden at San Fernando Mission Cemetery
The San Fernando Mission Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery located in the Mission Hills community of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The property adjoins the San Fernando Mission and Bishop Alemany Catholic High School.
ThSan Fernando Mi ...
in Los Angeles, joined in 2011 by Dolores when she died four months after her 102nd birthday. After his death, newspaper cartoonists worldwide paid tribute to his work for the USO, and some featured drawings of Bing Crosby, who had died in 1977, welcoming Hope to Heaven.
Estate
Hope'sModernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
home, built to resemble a volcano, was designed in 1973 by John Lautner. It is located above Palm Springs
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...
, with panoramic views of the Coachella Valley and the San Jacinto Mountains
The San Jacinto Mountains (''Avii Hanupach''Munro, P., et al. ''A Mojave Dictionary''. Los Angeles: UCLA. 1992. in Mojave) are a mountain range in Riverside County, located east of Los Angeles in southern California in the United States. The mo ...
. It was put on the market for the first time in February 2013 with an asking price of $50 million. Hope also owned a home which had been custom built for him in 1939 on an lot in Toluca Lake. That house was put on the market in late 2012. The Palm Springs house sold in November 2016 for $13 million to investor Ron Burkle
Ronald Wayne Burkle (born November 12, 1952) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner of The Yucaipa Companies, LLC, a private investment firm that specializes in U.S. companies in the distribution, logistics, food, ...
, far below its 2013 asking price.
2008 loss of original recordings
Hope was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.Awards and honors
Hope was awarded more than 2,000 honors and awards, including 54 honorary university doctorates. In 1963 President John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...
for service to his country. President Lyndon Johnson bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
in 1969 for his service to the armed forces through the USO. In 1982 he received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an honor given annually by Jefferson Awards. He was presented with the National Medal of Arts in 1995 and received the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award
The Ronald Reagan Freedom Award is the highest honor bestowed by the private Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The award is given to "those who have made monumental and lasting contributions to the cause of freedom worldwide."
Until her dea ...
in 1997. On June 10, 1980, he became the 64th—and only civilian—recipient of the United States Air Force Order of the Sword
The Royal Order of the Sword (officially: ''Royal Order of the Sword''; Swedish: ''Kungliga Svärdsorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry and military decoration created by King Frederick I of Sweden on February 23, 1748, together with the ...
which recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the enlisted corps.
Several buildings and facilities were renamed for Hope, including the historic Fox Theater in downtown Stockton, California, and the Bob Hope Airport
Hollywood Burbank Airport, legally and formerly marketed as Bob Hope Airport after entertainer Bob Hope , is a public airport northwest of downtown Burbank, in Los Angeles County, California, United States.. Federal Aviation Administration. ef ...
in Burbank, California. There is a Bob Hope Gallery at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
. In memory of his mother, Avis Townes Hope, Bob and Dolores Hope gave the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is a large minor Catholic basilica and national shrine in the United States in Washington, D.C., located at 400 Michigan Avenue Northeast, adjacent to Catholic University. ...
in Washington, D.C., a chapel called the Chapel of Our Lady of Hope
Our Lady of Pontmain, also known as Our Lady of Hope, is the title given to the Virgin Mary following her apparition at Pontmain, France on 17 January 1871.
The Apparition
The Franco-Prussian War (also called the War of 1870) was the culminati ...
. of the U.S. Military Sealift Command was named for the performer in 1997. It is one of very few U.S. naval ships that were named after living people. The Air Force named a C-17 Globemaster III
The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of t ...
transport aircraft the ''Spirit of Bob Hope''.
In 1965, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) degree from Whittier College
Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...
.
In 1978, Hope was invited to dot the "i" in the Ohio State University Marching Band's "Script Ohio" formation, an honor only given to non-band members on 14 occasions from 1936 through 2016. The ''New York Times'', 5–8–79, p. C 7, stated that Woody Allen wrote and narrated a documentary honoring him, ''My Favorite Comedian'', shown at Lincoln Center. In Hope's hometown of Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, the refurbished Lorain-Carnegie Bridge was renamed the Hope Memorial Bridge in 1983, though differing claims have been made as to whether the bridge honors Hope himself, his entire family, or his stonemason father who helped in the bridge's construction. Also, East 14th Street near Playhouse Square in Cleveland's theater district was renamed Memory Lane-Bob Hope Way in 2003 in honor of the entertainer's 100th birthday.
In 1992, Hope was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was created to honor the football coach's legacy, and is awarded annually to an individual who exemplifies his spirit. He was also inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society, in 1992 at Ferris State University
Ferris State University (FSU or Ferris) is a public university with its main campus in Big Rapids, Michigan. It was founded in 1884 and became a public institution in 1950. Ferris is the ninth-largest institutions of higher education by enrol ...
. On May 28, 2003, President George W. Bush established the Bob Hope American Patriot Award.
Academy Awards
Although he was never nominated for a competitive Oscar, Hope was given five honorary awards by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
:
* 13th Academy Awards
The 13th Academy Awards were held on February 27, 1941, to honor films released in 1940. This was the first year that sealed envelopes were used to keep the names of the winners secret. The accounting firm of Price Waterhouse was hired to coun ...
(1940): Special Award in recognition of his unselfish services to the motion picture industry
* 17th Academy Awards
The 17th Academy Awards were held on March 15, 1945 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, honoring the films of 1944. This was the first time the complete awards ceremony was broadcast nationally, on the Blue Network ( ABC Radio). Bob Hope hosted th ...
(1944): Special Award for his many services to the Academy
* 25th Academy Awards
The 25th Academy Awards were held on March 19, 1953 at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, and the NBC International Theatre in New York City, to honor the films of 1952. It was the first Oscars ceremony to be televised, the first ceremony ...
(1952): Honorary Award for his contribution to the laughter of the world, his service to the motion picture industry, and his devotion to the American premise
* 32nd Academy Awards
The 32nd Academy Awards ceremony was held on April 4, 1960 at the RKO Pantages Theatre, to honor the films of 1959.
William Wyler's Bible epic '' Ben-Hur'' won 11 Oscars, breaking the record of nine set the previous year by '' Gigi''. This ...
(1959): Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is awarded periodically by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) at the Governors Awards ceremonies for an individual's "outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes". Prior to 2009 and ...
* 38th Academy Awards
The 38th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1965, were held on April 18, 1966, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. They were hosted by Bob Hope.
The ceremony was broadcast on the ABC network and was ...
(1965): Honorary Award: first Academy Gold Medal for unique and distinguished service to the industry and the Academy
Discography
Singles
See also
* Bob Hope bibliography *Bob Hope television specials
The following is a list of Bob Hope television specials. Hope made his television debut on the inaugural broadcast of Los Angeles station KTLA in January 1947 and appeared on various television shows, particularly Christmas specials and various e ...
References
Bibliography
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * Hope, Bob (1985). Confessions of a Hooker: My Lifelong Love Affair with Golf. New York: Doubleday.Further reading
* Perret, Gene and Bolton, Martha (1998) ''Talk About Hope'', California, Jester Press, ISBN 978-1-8886-8802-3 * * * * *Bolton, Martha (2021), Hope, Linda (2021) ''Dear Bob... Bob Hope's Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of WW2,'' Mississippi, University Press of Mississippi, ISBN 978-1-4968-3265-8External links
* * * * * *Video of Bob Hope 85th Birthday Special (3 hours long)
*
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
tribute series:
*"Hope-ful Century of Wit and Laughter"
*
"100 Years of Hope: The Early Years"
*
"100 Years of Hope: Slapstick and the Great Divide"
Literature on Bob Hope
Law making Bob Hope an honorary veteran
* [http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/bob-hope-and-the-holocaust-no-laughing-matter/2003/07/26 article "Bob Hope And The Holocaust: No Laughing Matter (The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies) – praise "took real political courage"] {{DEFAULTSORT:Hope, Bob Bob Hope, 1903 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers 20th-century British male singers 20th-century English comedians 20th-century English male actors 20th-century English singers Academy Honorary Award recipients Actors awarded knighthoods American burlesque performers American centenarians American male boxers American male comedians American male comedy actors American male dancers American male film actors American male radio actors American male singers American male television actors American people of Welsh descent American radio personalities American Roman Catholics American stand-up comedians Beauty pageant hosts British centenarians British expatriate male actors in the United States Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery California Republicans Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners Comedians from California Comedians from London Comedians from Ohio Congressional Gold Medal recipients Converts to Roman Catholicism Deaths from pneumonia in California English emigrants to the United States English expatriates in the United States English male boxers English male comedians English male dancers English male film actors English male singers English male television actors English Roman Catholics English people of Welsh descent Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winners Kennedy Center honorees Knights Commander with Star of the Order of St. Gregory the Great Male actors from London Men centenarians Musicians from London Paramount Pictures contract players Peabody Award winners People from Eltham People from Toluca Lake, Los Angeles People with acquired American citizenship Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients RCA Victor artists Recipients of the Order of the Sword (United States) Recipients of the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award Singers from London Super-featherweight boxers United States National Medal of Arts recipients United Service Organizations entertainers Vaudeville performers World Golf Hall of Fame inductees