name	Irene Dunne
birth name	Irene Marie Dunn
birth date	December 20, 1898
birth place	Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
years active	1922-1985
death date	September 04, 1990
occupation	Actress
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
spouse	Francis Dennis Griffin (1928-1965) (his death) 1 adopted daughter }}

Irene Dunne (December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s and 1940s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in ''Cimarron'' (1931), ''Theodora Goes Wild'' (1936), ''The Awful Truth'' (1937), ''Love Affair'' (1939) and ''I Remember Mama'' (1948). She was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1958.

Early life

Born Irene Marie Dunn in Louisville, Kentucky, to Joseph Dunn, a steamboat inspector for the United States government, and Adelaide Henry, a concert pianist/music teacher from Newport, Kentucky, Irene Dunn would later write "No triumph of either my stage or screen career has ever rivalled the excitement of trips down the Mississippi on the river boats with my father." She was only eleven when her father died in 1909. She saved all of his letters and often remembered and lived by what he told her the night before he died: "Happiness is never an accident. It is the prize we get when we choose wisely from life's great stores."

After her father's death, she, her mother and younger brother Charles moved to her mother's hometown of Madison, Indiana. Dunn's mother taught her to play the piano as a very small girl. According to Dunn, "Music was as natural as breathing in our house." Dunne was raised as a devout Roman Catholic. Nicknamed "Dunnie," she took piano and voice lessons, sang in local churches and high school plays before her graduation in 1916.

She earned a diploma to teach art, but took a chance on a contest and won a prestigious scholarship to the Chicago Musical College and graduated in 1926. With a mezzo-soprano voice, she had hopes of becoming an opera singer, but did not pass the audition with the Metropolitan Opera Company.

Career

Irene, after adding an "e" to her surname, turned to musical theater, making her Broadway debut in 1922 in Zelda Sears's ''The Clinging Vine''. The following year, Dunne played a season of light opera in Atlanta, Georgia. Though in her own words Dunne created "no great furor," by 1929 she had a successful Broadway career playing leading roles, grateful to be at center stage rather than in the chorus line. Dunne met her future husband, Francis Griffin, a New York dentist, at a supper dance in New York. Despite differing opinions and battles that raged furiously, Dunne eventually agreed to marry him and leave the theater.

Dunne's role as Magnolia Hawks in Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's ''Show Boat'' was the result of a chance meeting with showman Florenz Ziegfeld in an elevator the day she returned from her honeymoon. Dunne was discovered by Hollywood while starring with the Chicago company of the musical in 1929. Dunne signed a contract with RKO and appeared in her first movie in 1930, ''Leathernecking'', a film version of the musical ''Present Arms''. She moved to Hollywood with her mother and brother, and maintained a long-distance marriage with her husband in New York until he joined her in California in 1936. That year, she re-created her role as Magnolia in what is considered the classic film version of the famous musical ''Show Boat'', directed by James Whale. (Edna Ferber's novel, on which the musical is based, had already been filmed as a part-talkie in 1929, and the musical would be remade in Technicolor in 1951, but the 1936 film is considered by most critics and many film buffs to be the definitive motion picture version.)

left|thumb|Dunne with Melvyn Douglas in ''Theodora Goes Wild''.During the 1930s and 1940s, Dunne blossomed into a popular screen heroine in movies such as the original ''Back Street'' (1932), and the original ''Magnificent Obsession'' (1935). The first of three films she made opposite Charles Boyer, ''Love Affair'' (1939) was one of her best. She starred, and sang "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", in the 1935 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film version of the musical ''Roberta''.

She was apprehensive about attempting her first comedy role, as the title character in ''Theodora Goes Wild'' (1936), but discovered that she enjoyed it. She turned out to possess an aptitude for comedy, with a flair for combining the elegant and the madcap, a quality she displayed in such films as ''The Awful Truth'' (1937) and ''My Favorite Wife'' (1940), both co-starring Cary Grant. Other notable roles include Julie Gardiner Adams in ''Penny Serenade'' (1941) (once again opposite Grant), Anna Leonowens in ''Anna and the King of Siam'' (1946), Lavinia Day in ''Life with Father'' (1947), and Martha Hanson in ''I Remember Mama'' (1948). In ''The Mudlark'' (1950), Dunne was nearly unrecognizable under heavy makeup as Queen Victoria.

She retired from the screen in 1952, after the comedy ''It Grows on Trees''. She performed as the opening act on the 1953 March of Dimes showcase in New York City. While in town, she made her first appearance as the mystery guest on ''What's My Line?''. She made television performances on ''Ford Theatre'', ''General Electric Theater'', and the ''Schlitz Playhouse of Stars'', continuing to act until 1962.

Dunne commented in an interview that she had lacked the "terrifying ambition" of some other actresses and said, "I drifted into acting and drifted out. Acting is not everything. Living is."

Later life

Dunne was present at Disneyland on "Dedication Day" in 1955 and was asked by Walt Disney to christen the Mark Twain River Boat, to which she did with a bottle filled with water from several major rivers across the United States. In 1957, Dwight David Eisenhower appointed Dunne one of five alternative U.S. delegates to the United Nations in recognition of her charitable works and interest in conservative Roman Catholic and Republican causes. In her retirement, Dunne devoted herself primarily to civic, philanthropic, and Republican political causes. In 1965, Dunne became a board member of Technicolor, the first woman ever elected to the board of directors.

Dunne remained married to Dr. Griffin until his death on October 15, 1965. They lived in Holmby Hills, California in a Southern plantation-style mansion that they designed. They had one daughter, Mary Frances (née Anna Mary Bush), who was adopted in 1938 from the New York Foundling Hospital, run by the Sisters of Charity of New York. Both Dunne and her husband were members of the Knights of Malta.

She was good friends with actress Loretta Young. They often attended Mass together and met for lunch frequently.

One of her last public appearances was in April 1985, when she attended the dedication of a bust in her honor at St. John's (Roman Catholic) Hospital in Santa Monica, California, for which her foundation, The Irene Dunne Guild, had raised more than $20 million.

Death

Dunne died peacefully at her Holmby Hills home in Los Angeles, California in 1990, and is entombed in the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California. Her personal papers are housed at the University of Southern California.

Awards and nominations

Dunne has been described as the best actress never to win an Academy Award. She received five Best Actress nominations during her career: for ''Cimarron'' (1931), ''Theodora Goes Wild'' (1936), ''The Awful Truth'' (1937), ''Love Affair'' (1939) and ''I Remember Mama'' (1948).

In 1985, she was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors, Lifetime Achievement for a career that spanned three decades and a range of musical theater, the silver screen, Broadway, radio and television. Other honors include the Laetare Medal from Notre Dame University in 1949, the Bellarmine Medal from Bellarmine College in 1965 and Colorado's Women of Achievement in 1968. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6440 Hollywood Blvd. and displays in the Warner Bros. Museum and Center for Motion Picture Study.

Filmography

Feature films

{| class=wikitable ! Year ! Title ! Role |- | 1930 | ''Leathernecking'' | Delphine Witherspoon |- | rowspan=5|1931 | ''Cimarron'' | Sabra Cravat |- | ''The Slippery Pearls'' | Herself |- | ''Bachelor Apartment'' | Helene Andrews |- | ''The Great Lover'' | Diana Page |- | ''Consolation Marriage'' | Mary Brown Porter |- | rowspan=3|1932 | ''Symphony of Six Million'' | Jessica |- | ''Back Street'' | Ray Smith |- | ''Thirteen Women'' | Laura Stanhope |- | rowspan=5|1933 | ''No Other Woman'' | Anna Stanley |- | ''The Secret of Madame Blanche'' | Sally Sanders St. John |- | ''The Silver Cord'' | Christina Phelps |- | ''Ann Vickers'' | Ann Vickers |- | ''If I Were Free'' | Sarah Cazenove |- | rowspan=4|1934 | ''This Man Is Mine'' | Tony Dunlap |- | ''Stingaree'' | Hilda Bouverie |- | ''The Age of Innocence'' | Countess Ellen Olenska |- | ''Sweet Adeline'' | Adeline "Addie" Schmidt |- | rowspan=2|1935 | ''Roberta'' | Stephanie |- | ''Magnificent Obsession'' | Helen Hudson |- | rowspan=2|1936 | ''Show Boat'' | Magnolia Hawks |- | ''Theodora Goes Wild'' | Theodora Lynn/Caroline Adams |- | rowspan=2|1937 | ''High, Wide, and Handsome'' | Sally Watterson |- | ''The Awful Truth'' | Lucy Warriner |- | 1938 | ''Joy of Living'' | Margaret "Maggie" Garret |- | rowspan=3|1939 | ''Love Affair'' | Terry |- | ''Invitation to Happiness'' | Eleanor Wayne |- | ''When Tomorrow Comes'' | Helen Lawrence |- | 1940 | ''My Favorite Wife'' | Ellen Arden |- | rowspan=2|1941 | ''Penny Serenade'' | Julie Gardiner Adams |- | ''Unfinished Business'' | Nancy Andrews |- | 1942 | ''Lady in a Jam'' | Jane Palmer |- | rowspan=2|1943 | ''Show Business at War'' | Herself |- | ''A Guy Named Joe'' | Dorinda Durston |- | rowspan=2|1944 | ''The White Cliffs of Dover'' | Susan Dunn |- | ''Together Again'' | Anne Crandall |- | 1945 | ''Over 21'' | Paula "Polly" Wharton |- | 1946 | ''Anna and the King of Siam'' | Anna Owens |- | 1947 | ''Life with Father'' | Vinnie Day |- | 1948 | ''I Remember Mama'' | Martha "Mama" Hanson |- | rowspan=2|1950 | ''Never a Dull Moment'' | Kay Kingsley Heyward |- | ''The Mudlark'' | Queen Victoria |- | 1951 | ''You Can Change the World'' | Herself |- | 1952 | ''It Grows on Trees'' | Polly Baxter |}

Television

''Schlitz Playhouse of Stars'' (1951) Host

''General Electric Theater'' (1953) episode: "Go Fight City Hall" 10/15/1962

''Saints and Sinners'' (1962) episode: "Source of Information" 10/15/1962

''Frontier Circus'' (1961) episode: "Dr. Sam" 10/26/1961

''The DuPont Show with June Allyson'' (1959) playing "Dr. Gina Kerstas", episode: "The Opening Door" 10/5/1959

''What's My Line?'' (10/20/1957) (Episode # 385) (Season 9, Ep 8) Mystery Guest.

''Ford Theatre'' (1952) episode: "Sheila" 5/24/1956

''Letter to Loretta'' (1953) Host, episode: "Tropical Secretary" 5/24/1956

''Ford Theatre'' (1952) episode: "On the Beach" 5/24/1956

''Letter to Loretta'' (1953) Host, episode: "Slander" 10/30/1955

''Ford Theatre'' (1952) episode: "Touch of Spring" 2/3/1955

''Ford Theatre'' (1952) episode: "Sister Veronica" 4/15/1954

Notes

References

TCM Film Guide, "Leading Ladies: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actresses of the Studio Era", Chronicle Books, San Francisco, California, 2006.

Books

''Pursuits of Happiness'', by Stanley Cavell, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1981.

''The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930s'', by Elizabeth Kendall, New York, 1990.

''Irene Dunne: A Bio-Bibliography,'' by Margie Schultz, New York, 1991.

''Irene Dunne: First Lady of Hollywood,'' by Wes D. Gehring (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003).

''Irene Dunne: a bio-bibliography,'' by Margie Schultz (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991).

''Fast-talking Dames,'' by Maria DiBattista (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001).

Articles

"I'm Still In Love With Irene Dunne", by Wes D. Gehring, ''USA Today'', July 2003

"Irene Dunne - Elegant Leading Lady of the Golden Age" by John Roberts; ''Films of the Golden Age'' (Fall, 1998, Issue #14)

"We Remember Irene," ''Film Comment'' (New York), by Richard Schickel, March/April 1991.

"Irene Dunne: Nominee for The Awful Truth," ''Architectural Digest'' (Los Angeles), by Richard Schickel, April 1990.

"Irene Dunne (1904-1990): A Bright Star," ''Filmnews,''by Peter Kemp November 1990.

"Irene Dunne, Top-rank Film Star of the '30s and '40s, Dead at 88," ''Variety'' (New York), 10 September 1990.

"Irene Dunne: The Awesome Truth," ''Film Comment'' (New York), by James McCourt January/February 1980.

Interview with J. Harvey, ''Film Comment'' (New York), January/February 1980.

"Irene Dunne," interview with John Kobal, in ''Focus on Film'' (London), no. 28, 1977.

"Hats - Hunches and Happiness" by Irene Dunne ''Picturegoer'', (England) February, 1945.

"Irene Dunne: Native Treasure", ''Close-Ups: The Movie Star Book'', DeWitt Bodeen, edited by Danny Peary, New York, 1978.

Irene Dunne, in ''Films in Review'' (New York), Madden, J. C., December 1969.

External links

The Irene Dunne Site

Kennedy Center Biographical Info for Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne Film Reference by Jeanine Basinger

Real Movie Stars - Stanford University

Photographs of Irene Dunne

Indiana Historical Marker for Irene Dunne in Madison, Indiana

Category:1898 births Category:1990 deaths Category:20th-century actors Category:Actors from Indiana Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:California Republicans Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Kentucky Republicans Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky

an:Irene Dunne ca:Irene Dunne de:Irene Dunne es:Irene Dunne eu:Irene Dunne fr:Irene Dunne id:Irene Dunne it:Irene Dunne la:Irena Dunne hu:Irene Dunne nl:Irene Dunne ja:アイリーン・ダン no:Irene Dunne pl:Irene Dunne pt:Irene Dunne ru:Данн, Айрин sr:Ајрин Дан sh:Irene Dunne fi:Irene Dunne sv:Irene Dunne

name	Charles Boyer
birth date	August 28, 1899
birth place	Figeac, Lot, Midi-Pyrénées, France
death date	August 26, 1978
death place	Phoenix, Arizona, United States
spouse	Pat Paterson (1934–1978)
years active	1920–76
occupation	Actor }}

Charles Boyer (28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas, ''Algiers'' (1938) and ''Love Affair'' (1939). Another famous role was in the 1944 mystery-thriller ''Gaslight''. He received four Academy Award nominations for Best Actor.

Early years

Born in Figeac, Lot, Midi-Pyrénées, France, to Maurice and Louise Boyer, Charles was a shy, small-town boy who discovered the movies and theatre at the age of eleven. Boyer performed comic sketches for soldiers while working as a hospital orderly during World War I. He began studies briefly at the Sorbonne, and was waiting for a chance to study acting at the Paris Conservatory. He went to the capital city to finish his education, but spent most of his time pursuing a theatrical career. In 1920, his quick memory won him a chance to replace the leading man in a stage production, and he scored an immediate hit. After starring in a French adaptation of ''Liliom'' (1934) directed by Fritz Lang, he began to receive public favor; Boyer landed his first leading Hollywood role in the romantic musical ''Caravan'' (1934) with Loretta Young. French expatriate Claudette Colbert requested him in the psychiatric drama ''Private Worlds'' (1935), which was a modest success.

Stardom

Until the early 1930s, Boyer mainly continued making French films, and ''Mayerling'' co-starring Danielle Darrieux in 1936 made him an international star. This was followed by ''Orage'' (1938), opposite Michèle Morgan. The offscreen Boyer was bookish and private, far removed from the Hollywood high life. But onscreen he made audiences swoon as he romanced Marlene Dietrich in ''The Garden of Allah'' (1936), Jean Arthur in ''History Is Made at Night'' (1937), Greta Garbo in ''Conquest'' (1937), and Irene Dunne in ''Love Affair'' (1939). Boyer's role as Pepe Le Moko was already world famous when animator Chuck Jones based the character of Pepe le Pew, the romantic skunk introduced in 1945's ''Odor-able Kitty'', on Boyer and his most well-known performance. Boyer's vocal style was also parodied on the Tom and Jerry cartoons, most notably when Tom was trying to woo a female cat. (See ''The Zoot Cat'').

Boyer played in three classic films of unrequited love: ''All This, and Heaven Too'' (1940), with Bette Davis; ''Back Street'' (1941), with Margaret Sullavan; and ''Hold Back the Dawn'' (1941), with Olivia de Havilland and Paulette Goddard.

In contrast to his glamorous image, Boyer began losing his hair early, had a pronounced paunch, and was noticeably shorter than leading ladies like Ingrid Bergman. When Bette Davis first saw him on the set of ''All This, and Heaven Too'', she did not recognize him and tried to have him removed. played in the film by Rex Harrison. In 1948, he was made a ''chevalier'' of the French ''Légion d'honneur''.

When another film with Bergman, ''Arch of Triumph'' (1948), failed at the box office, he started looking for character parts. Apart from several French films such as Max Ophuls' ''The Earrings of Madame de...'' (1953, again with Danielle Darrieux) and ''Nana'' (1955, opposite Martine Carol), he also moved into television as one of the pioneering producers and stars of Four Star Theatre; Four Star Productions would make him and partners David Niven and Dick Powell rich. He was nominated for the Golden Globe as Best Actor for the 1952 film ''The Happy Time''; and also nominated for the Emmy for Best Continuing Performance by an Actor in a Dramatic Series for his work in ''Four Star Playhouse'' (1952–1956).

In 1951, he appeared on the Broadway stage in one of his most notable roles, that of Don Juan, in a dramatic reading of the third act of George Bernard Shaw's ''Man and Superman''. This is the act popularly known as ''Don Juan in Hell''. In 1952, he won Broadway's 1951 Special Tony Award for ''Don Juan in Hell''. It was directed by actor Charles Laughton. Laughton co-starred as the Devil, with Cedric Hardwicke as the statue of the military commander slain by Don Juan, and Agnes Moorehead as Dona Anna, the commander's daughter, one of Juan's former conquests. The production was a critical success, and was subsequently recorded complete by Columbia Masterworks, one of the first complete recordings of a non-musical stage production ever made. As of 2006, however, it has never been released on CD, but in 2009 it became available as an MP3 download. Boyer co-starred again with Claudette Colbert in the Broadway comedy ''The Marriage-Go-Round'' (1958–1960), but said to the producer, "Keep that woman away from me". He was also nominated for the Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) in the 1963 Broadway production of ''Lord Pengo''. Later the same year Boyer performed in ''Man and Boy'' on the London and New York stage.

Later career

Onscreen, he continued in older roles: in ''Fanny'' (1961) starring Leslie Caron; ''Barefoot in the Park'' (1967) with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda; and the French film ''Stavisky'' (1974, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo), the latter winning him the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor,

Another notable TV series, ''The Rogues'', starred Boyer with David Niven and Gig Young; the show lasted through the 1964–1965 season.

His career lasted longer than other romantic actors, winning him the nickname "the last of the cinema's great lovers." He recorded a very dark album called ''Where Does Love Go?'' in 1966. The album consisted of famous love songs sung (or rather spoken) with Boyer's distinctive deep voice and French accent. The record was reportedly Elvis Presley's favorite album for the last 11 years of his life, the one he most listened to.

Later in life, he turned to character parts in such films as: ''Around the World in 80 Days'' (1956), ''How to Steal a Million'' (1966, featuring Audrey Hepburn), ''Is Paris Burning?'' (1966), and ''Casino Royale'' (1967). He had a notable part as a corrupt city official in the 1969 film version of ''The Madwoman of Chaillot'', featuring Katharine Hepburn. His last major film role in Hollywood was that of the High Lama in a poorly received musical version of ''Lost Horizon'' (1973). A year later, he gave a final outstanding performance in his native language as Baron Raoul in Alain Resnais's ''Stavisky'' (1974)

For his contribution to the motion picture and television industries, Boyer has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6300 Hollywood Blvd.

Interesting piece of trivia: Cyndi Lauper mouthed Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer's lines from the 1936 film, The Garden of Allah, in her 1984 video, "Time After Time."

Personal life

In addition to French and English, Boyer spoke Italian, German, and Spanish. His only marriage was to British actress Pat Paterson, whom he met at a dinner party in 1934. The two became engaged after two weeks of courtship and were married three months later. The marriage lasted 44 years.

In Hollywood, he also was one of the few close friends of the great French actor/singer Maurice Chevalier. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1942.

On 26 August 1978, two days after his wife died from cancer, and two days before his own 79th birthday, Boyer committed suicide with an overdose of Seconal while at a friend's home in Scottsdale. He was taken to the hospital in Phoenix, where he died. He was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, alongside his wife and son Michael Charles Boyer (1943–1965). On the night of 10 December 1964, at his own 21st birthday party in his LA home, their son Michael shot himself. The media reported his death as a deliberate suicide although the website for his mother, Pat Peterson, suggests that it was the result of being horribly drunk and playing Russian roulette with a loaded gun.

Filmography

''L'Homme du large'' (1920)

''Chantelouve'' (1921)

''Le Grillon du foyer'' (1922)

''Esclave'' (1922)

''Infernal Circle'' (1928)

''La Barcarolle d'amour'' (1929)

''Captain Fracasse'' (1929)

''Le Procès de Mary Dugan'' (1930)

''Revolt in the Prison'' (1931)

''The Magnificent Lie'' (1931)

''Tumultes'' (1932)

''The Man from Yesterday'' (1932)

''Red-Headed Woman'' (1932)

''La Bataille'' (1933)

''L'Épervier'' (1933)

''The Empress and I'' (1933, voice)

''F.P.1 Doesn't Answer'' (1933)

''Moi et l'impératrice'' (1933)

''Liliom'' (1934)

''The Battle'' (1934)

''The Only Girl'' (1934)

''Caravan'' (1934)

''Caravane'' (1934)

''Le Bonheur'' (1934)

''Private Worlds'' (1935)

''Break of Hearts'' (1935)

''Shanghai'' (1935)

''I Loved a Soldier'' (1936, Unfinished film)

''Mayerling'' (1936)

''The Garden of Allah'' (1936)

''History Is Made at Night'' (1937)

''Conquest'' (1937)

''Tovarich'' (1937)

''Orage'' (1938)

''Algiers'' (1938)

''Le Corsaire'' (1939)

''Love Affair'' (1939)

''When Tomorrow Comes'' (1939)

''All This, and Heaven Too'' (1940)

''Back Street'' (1941)

''Hold Back the Dawn'' (1941)

''Appointment for Love'' (1941)

''Tales of Manhattan'' (1942)

''The Heart of a Nation'' (1943, US version only)

''The Constant Nymph'' (1943)

''Flesh and Fantasy'' (1943, third segment)

''Gaslight'' (1944)

''Together Again'' (1944)

''The Fighting Lady'' (1944, French version only) Narrator

''Confidential Agent'' (1945)

''The Battle of the Rails'' (1946)

''Cluny Brown'' (1946)

''A Woman's Vengeance'' (1948)

''Arch of Triumph'' (1948)

''The 13th Letter'' (1951)

''The First Legion'' (1951)

''The Happy Time'' (1952)

''Thunder in the East'' (1952)

''The Earrings of Madame de...'' (1953)

''Boum sur Paris'' (1953)

''The Cobweb'' (1955)

''Nana'' (1955)

''Lucky to Be a Woman'' (1956)

''Around the World in 80 Days'' (1956)

''Paris, Palace Hotel '' (1956)

''It Happened on the 36 Candles'' (1957) (uncredited)

''La Parisienne'' (1957)

''Maxime'' (1958)

''The Buccaneer'' (1958)

''Fanny'' (1961)

''Midnight Folly'' (1961)

''The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'' (1962)

''Adorable Julia'' (1962)

''Love Is a Ball'' (1963)

''A Very Special Favor'' (1965)

''How to Steal a Million'' (1966)

''Is Paris Burning?'' (1966)

''Casino Royale'' (1967)

''Barefoot in the Park'' (1967)

''Hot Line'' (1968)

''The April Fools'' (1969)

''The Madwoman of Chaillot'' (1969)

''Lost Horizon'' (1973)

''Stavisky'' (1974)

''A Matter of Time'' (1976)

Television

''Four Star Playhouse'' (29 episodes, 1952–1956)

''Charles Boyer Theater'' (1953)

''The Jackie Gleason Show'' (1 episode, 1953)

''Toast of the Town'' (2 episodes, 1953)

''I Love Lucy'' episode: ''Lucy Meets Charles Boyer'' (1956)

''Climax!'' (1 episode, 1956)

''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' (1 episode, 1957)

''Playhouse 90'' (1 episode, 1957)

''A Private Little Party for a Few Chums'' (1957)

''Goodyear Theatre'' (unknown episodes, 1957–1958)

''Alcoa Theatre'' (3 episodes, 1957–1958)

''What's My Line?'' (4 episodes, 1957–1958, 1962–1963)

''The Dinah Shore Chevy Show'' (1 episode, 1960)

''The Dick Powell Show'' (4 episodes, 1962–1963)

''A Golden Prison: The Louvre'' (1964, presenter)

''The Rogues'' (8 episodes, 1964–1965)

''The Bell Telephone Hour'' (1 episode, 1966)

''The Name of the Game'' (1 episode, 1969)

''Film '72'' (1 episode, 1976)

Short subjects

''The Candid Camera Story (Very Candid) of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures 1937 Convention'' (1937) (uncredited)

''Hollywood Goes to Town'' (1938)

''Les îles de la liberté'' (1943) Narrator

''Congo'' (1945) Voice

''On Stage!'' (1949)

''1955 Motion Picture Theatre Celebration'' (1955) (uncredited)

References

Bibliography

External links

Sur le site Quercy.net À propos de Charles Boyer et de Figeac.

Photographs and literature

Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:Actors who committed suicide Category:French film actors Category:French emigrants to the United States Category:French silent film actors Category:French stage actors Category:French television actors Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Category:Drug-related suicides in Arizona Category:American people of French descent Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Tony Award winners Category:Drug-related deaths in Arizona Category:1899 births Category:1978 deaths Category:People from Lot Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur

an:Charles Boyer br:Charles Boyer bg:Шарл Боайе ca:Charles Boyer da:Charles Boyer de:Charles Boyer el:Σαρλ Μπουαγιέ es:Charles Boyer eu:Charles Boyer fr:Charles Boyer it:Charles Boyer ja:シャルル・ボワイエ no:Charles Boyer pl:Charles Boyer pt:Charles Boyer ro:Charles Boyer ru:Буайе, Шарль fi:Charles Boyer sv:Charles Boyer tl:Charles Boyer tr:Charles Boyer

name	Barbara Stanwyck
birth name	Ruby Catherine Stevens
birth date	July 16, 1907
birth place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
death date	January 20, 1990
death place	Santa Monica, California, U.S.
occupation	Actress
years active	1927–86
spouse	Frank Fay (1928–35)Robert Taylor (1939–51) }}

Barbara Stanwyck (July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress. A film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra. After a short but notable career as a stage actress in the late 1920s, she made 85 films in 38 years in Hollywood, before turning to television.

Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award four times, and won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. She was the recipient of honorary lifetime awards from the Motion Picture Academy, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Golden Globes, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Screen Actors Guild, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is ranked as the eleventh greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.

Early life and career

Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens in Brooklyn, New York on July 16, 1907. She was the fifth and youngest child of Byron and Catherine (née McGee) Stevens; the couple were working-class natives of Chelsea, Massachusetts, of English and Irish extraction, respectively. When Ruby was four, her mother was killed when a drunken stranger pushed her off a moving streetcar. Two weeks after the funeral, Byron Stevens joined a work crew digging the Panama canal; and was never seen again. Ruby and her brother Byron were raised by their elder sister Mildred, five years Ruby's senior. When Mildred got a job as a John Cort showgirl, Ruby and Byron were placed in a series of foster homes (as many as four in a year), from which Ruby often ran away. Ruby attended various public schools in Brooklyn, where she received uniformly poor grades and routinely picked fights with the other students.

During the summers of 1916 and 1917, Ruby toured with Mildred, and practiced her sister's routines backstage. Another influence toward performing was watching the movies of Pearl White, whom Ruby idolized. At age 14, she dropped out of school to take a job wrapping packages at a Brooklyn department store. Soon after she took a job filing cards at the Brooklyn telephone office for a salary of $14 a week, a salary that allowed her to become financially independent. She disliked both jobs; she was interested in show business, but her sister Mildred discouraged the idea, so Ruby next took a job cutting dress patterns for ''Vogue'', however customers complained about her work and she was fired. Her next job was as a typist for the Jerome H. Remick Music Company, a job she reportedly enjoyed; however her true interest was still show business and her sister gave up trying to dissuade her.

In 1923, a few months short of her 16th birthday, Ruby auditioned for a place in the chorus at the Strand Roof, a night club over the Strand Theatre in Times Square. A few months thereafter she obtained a job as a Ziegfeld girl in the 1922 and 1923 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. For the next several years, she worked as a chorus girl, performing from midnight to seven a.m. at nightclubs owned by Texas Guinan; she also occasionally served as a dance instructor at a speakeasy for gays and lesbians owned by Guinan.

In 1926, Ruby was introduced to Willard Mack by Billy LaHiff, who owned a popular pub frequented by showpeople. Mack was casting his play ''The Noose''; LaHiff suggested that the part of the chorus girl could be played by a real chorus girl, and Mack agreed to let Ruby audition. Ruby obtained the part, but the play was not a success. In a bid to add pathos to the drama, Ruby's part was expanded. At the suggestion of either Mack or David Belasco, Ruby adopted the stage name of Barbara Stanwyck; the "Barbara" came from Barbara Frietchie and the "Stanwyck" from English actress Jane Stanwyck. ''The Noose'' re-opened on October 20, 1926, became one of the most successful of the season, running for nine months and 197 performances. Stanwyck co-starred with actors Rex Cherryman and Wilfred Lucas.

Her performance in ''The Noose'' earned rave reviews, and she was summoned by film producer Bob Kane to make a screen test for his upcoming 1927 silent film ''Broadway Nights'' where she won a minor part of a fan dancer after losing out on the lead role, because she could not cry during the screen test. This marked Stanwyck's first film appearance. She played her first lead part on stage that year in ''Burlesque''; the play was critically panned, but Stanwyck's performance netted her rave reviews. While playing in ''Burlesque'', Stanwyck was introduced to actor Frank Fay by Oscar Levant; Stanwyck and Fay both later claimed they had hated each other immediately, but became close after the sudden death of fellow actor Rex Cherryman at the age of 30. Cherryman had become ill early in 1928, and his doctor had advised a sea voyage; while on a ship to Paris, where he and Stanwyck had arranged to meet, Cherryman died of septic poisoning. Stanwyck and Fay married on August 26, 1928, and moved to Hollywood.

Film career

Stanwyck's first sound film was ''The Locked Door'' (1929), followed by ''Mexicali Rose'' in 1929. Neither film was successful; nonetheless, Frank Capra chose Stanwyck for his ''Ladies of Leisure'' (1930). Numerous memorable roles followed, among them the children's nurse who saves two would be juvenile murder victims in ''Night Nurse'' (1931), the ambitious woman from "the wrong side of the tracks" in ''Baby Face'' (1933), the self-sacrificing mother in ''Stella Dallas'' (1937), the con artist who falls for her would-be victim (played by Henry Fonda) in ''The Lady Eve'' (1941), the woman who talks an infatuated insurance salesman (Fred McMurray) into killing her husband in ''Double Indemnity'' (1944), the columnist caught up in white lies and Christmas romance in ''Christmas in Connecticut'' (1945) and the doomed wife in ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' (1948). Stanwyck was reportedly one of the many actresses considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gone With The Wind'' (1939), although she wasn't given a screen test. In 1944, Stanwyck was the highest-paid woman in the United States.

Pauline Kael described Stanwyck's acting, "[she] seems to have an intuitive understanding of the fluid physical movements that work best on camera" and in reference to her early 1930s film work "early talkies sentimentality ... only emphasizes Stanwyck's remarkable modernism."

Stanwyck was known for her accessibility and kindness to the backstage crew on any film set. She knew the names of their wives and children, and asked after them by name. Frank Capra said she was "destined to be beloved by all directors, actors, crews and extras. In a Hollywood popularity contest she would win first prize hands down."

Television career

When Stanwyck's film career declined in 1957, she moved to television. Her – series ''The Barbara Stanwyck Show'' was not a ratings success but earned her first Emmy Award. The – Western series ''The Big Valley'' on ABC made her one of the most popular actresses on television, winning her another Emmy. She was billed as "Miss Barbara Stanwyck", and her role as frontier family matron Victoria Barkley was likened to that of Ben Cartwright, played by Lorne Greene in the series ''Bonanza''. Stanwyck's costars included Richard Long as Jarrod Thomas Barkley, (who had been in Stanwyck's 1953 film ''All I Desire''), Peter Breck as the hot headed Nick Barkley, Linda Evans as the seductress Audra Barkley, and Lee Majors as Heath Barkley, the son fathered out-of-wedlock by the Stanwyck character's husband.

Years later, Stanwyck earned her third Emmy for ''The Thorn Birds''. In , she made three guest appearances on the hit primetime soap opera ''Dynasty'' prior to the launch of its ill-fated spin-off series ''The Colbys'' in which she starred alongside Charlton Heston, Stephanie Beacham and Katharine Ross. Unhappy with the experience, Stanwyck remained with the series for only one season (it lasted for two), and her role as Constance Colby Patterson would prove to be her last. Earl Hamner Jr. (producer of ''The Waltons'') had initially wanted Stanwyck for the lead role of Angela Channing on the successful 1980s soap opera, ''Falcon Crest'', but she turned it down; the role was ultimately given to her best friend Jane Wyman.

William Holden credited her with saving his career when they co-starred in ''Golden Boy'' (1939). They remained lifelong friends. When Stanwyck and Holden were presenting the Best Sound Oscar, Holden paused to pay a special tribute to Stanwyck. Shortly after Holden's death, Stanwyck returned the favor. Upon receiving her honorary Oscar, she said aloud: "And tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish."

Personal life

Her first husband was actor Frank Fay. They were married on August 26, 1928. On December 5, 1932, they adopted a son, Dion Anthony "Tony" Fay. (He and Stanwyck eventually became estranged.) The marriage was a troubled one; Fay's successful career on Broadway did not translate to the big screen, whereas Stanwyck achieved Hollywood stardom, after a bumpy start. Fay did not shy from physical confrontations with his young wife, especially when he was inebriated. Some claim that this union was the basis for ''A Star is Born''. The couple divorced on December 30, 1935. Subsequently, Stanwyck won custody of their adoptive son.

In 1936, while making the film ''His Brother's Wife'', Stanwyck met and fell in love with her co-star, Robert Taylor. Following a whirlwind romance, the couple began living together. Their 1939 marriage was arranged with the help of Taylor's studio MGM, a common practice in Hollywood's golden age. She and Taylor enjoyed time together outdoors during the early years of their marriage, and were the owners of acres of prime West Los Angeles property. Their large ranch and home in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles is to this day referred to by locals as the old "Robert Taylor ranch".

Taylor reportedly had affairs during the marriage. When Stanwyck learned of Taylor's fling with Lana Turner, she filed for divorce in 1950 when a starlet made Turner's romance with Taylor public. The decree was granted on February 21, 1951. After the divorce, they acted together in Stanwyck's last feature film ''The Night Walker'' (1964). Stanwyck never remarried, collecting alimony of 15 percent of Taylor's salary until his death in 1969.

Stanwyck had an affair with actor Robert Wagner, whom she met on the set of ''Titanic''. Wagner, who was 22, and Stanwyck, who was 45 at the beginning of the affair, had a four-year romance, as described in Wagner's 2008 memoir, ''Pieces of My Heart''. Stanwyck broke off the relationship.

She was reportedly a conservative-minded Republican along with such contemporaries as William Holden, Ginger Rogers, and Gary Cooper.

Later years

Stanwyck's retirement years were active, with charity work outside the limelight. Her decline began after she was robbed and assaulted inside her Beverly Hills home in 1981. The following year, while filming ''The Thorn Birds'', the inhalation of special-effects smoke on the set caused her to contract bronchitis. The illness was compounded by her cigarette habit; she had been a smoker since age 9 until four years before her death.

Death

Stanwyck died of congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Saint John's Health Center, in Santa Monica, California, in 1990. Her body was cremated, and her ashes scattered in Lone Pine, California.

Filmography

Awards and honors

Academy Awards

1938 - ''nominated'' - "Best Actress in a Leading Role" - ''Stella Dallas''

1942 - ''nominated'' - "Best Actress in a Leading Role" - ''Ball of Fire''

1945 - ''nominated'' - "Best Actress in a Leading Role" - ''Double Indemnity''

1949 - ''nominated'' - "Best Actress in a Leading Role" - ''Sorry, Wrong Number''

1982 - ''won'' - Honorary Award: "For superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting."

Emmy Awards

1961 - ''won'' - "Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead)" - ''The Barbara Stanwyck Show''

1966 - ''won'' - "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series" - ''The Big Valley''

1967 - ''nominated'' - "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series" - ''The Big Valley''

1968 - ''nominated'' - "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series" - ''The Big Valley''

1983 - ''won'' "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special" - ''The Thorn Birds'' (part 1)

Golden Globes

1966 - ''nominated'' - "Best TV Star - Female" - ''The Big Valley''

1967 - ''nominated'' - "Best TV Star - Female" - ''The Big Valley''

1968 - ''nominated'' - "Best TV Star - Female" - ''The Big Valley''

1984 - ''won'' - "Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV" - ''The Thorn Birds''

1986 - ''won'' - Cecil B. DeMille Award

Other awards

1967 - ''won'' - Screen Actors Guild - Life Achievement Award

1981 - ''won'' - Film Society of Lincoln Center - Gala Tribute

1981 - ''won'' - Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Career Achievement Award

1987 - ''won'' - American Film Institute - Life Achievement Award

Hollywood Walk of Fame - star at 1751 Vine Street

In 1973, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Notes

Bibliography

Bachardy, Don. ''Stars in My Eyes.'' University of Wisconsin Press, 2000. ISBN 0299167305.

Balio, Tino. ''Grand design: Hollywood as a modern business enterprise, 1930-1939'' University of California Press, 1995; ISBN 0520203348.

"A Century of Stanwyck." ''The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)'' by John Beifuss on July 16, 2007

Chierichetti, David, and Edith Head. ''Edith Head: the life and times of Hollywood's celebrated costume designer''. HarperCollins, 2003. ISBN 0060567406.

Eyman, Scott. "The Lady Stanwyck". ''The Palm Beach Post (FL)'', July 15, 2007. pg. 1J; accessed through Access World News on 16 June 2009.

Flint, Peter B. "Barbara Stanwyck, Actress, Dead at 82.", ''The New York Times''. January 22, 1990; pg. D11.

Hall, Dennis. ''American icons: an encyclopedia of the people, places, and things that have shaped our culture.'' Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006; ISBN 027598429X.

Hirsch, Foster. ''The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir.'' Da Capo Press, 2008; ISBN 0306817721.

King, Susan. "Wagner Memoir Tells of Wood Death, Stanwyck Affair." ''San Jose Mercury News (CA)'' October 5, 2008, pg. 6D; accessed through Access World News on June 16, 2009.

Lesser, Wendy. ''His Other Half: Men Looking at Women Through Art''. Harvard University Press, 1992; ISBN 0674392116.

Madsen, Axel. ''Stanwyck: A Biography''. HarperCollins, 1994. ISBN 006017997X.

Muller, Eddie. ''Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir''. St. Martin's Griffin, 1998; ISBN 0312180764.

Nassour, Ellis, and Beth A. Snowberger. "Stanwyck, Barbara". ''American National Biography Online'' (subscription only), February 2000; accessed July 1, 2009.

Schackel, Sandra. "Barbara Stanwyck: Uncommon Heroine." In ''Back in the saddle: essays on Western film and television actors.'' McFarland Publishing, 1998; ISBN 078640566X.

"The Rumble: An Off-the-Ball Look at Your Favorite Sports Celebrities", ''New York Post'', December 31, 2006; accessed June 16, 2009.

External links

That Old Feeling: Ruby in the Rough Time Magazine, 2001

Saluting Stanwyck: A Life On Film Los Angeles Times, 1987

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Name	Jack Benny
Birth name	Benjamin Kubelsky
Birth date	February 14, 1894
Birth place	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Death date	December 26, 1974
Death place	Beverly Hills, CaliforniaUnited States
Show	The Jack Benny Program
Network	NBC, CBS
Style	Comedian
Country	United States
Website	}}

Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film. Widely recognized as one of the leading American entertainers of the 20th century, Benny played the role of the comic penny-pinching miser, insisting on remaining 39 years old on stage despite his actual age, and often playing the violin badly.

Benny was known for his comic timing and his ability to get laughs with either a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "''Well!''" His radio and television programs, tremendously popular from the 1930s to the 1960s, were a foundational influence on the situation comedy genre. Dean Martin, on the celebrity roast for Johnny Carson in November 1973, introduced Benny as "the Satchel Paige of the world of comedy."

Biography

Early life

Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky on February 14, 1894, in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in neighboring Waukegan, Illinois. He was the son of Meyer Kubelsky and Emma Sachs Kubelsky. Meyer was a Jewish saloon owner, later to become a haberdasher, who had emigrated to America from Poland. Emma had emigrated from Lithuania. Benny began studying the violin, an instrument that would become his trademark, when he was just six, with his parents' hopes that he would be a great classical violinist. He loved the violin, but hated practice. By age 14, he was playing in local dance bands as well as in his high school orchestra. Benny was a dreamer and a poor student and he was expelled from high school. He did equally badly in business school and at his father's trade. At age 17, he began playing the instrument in local vaudeville theaters for $7.50 a week. He was joined by Ned Miller, a young composer and singer, on the vaudeville circuit. They became life-long friends and Miller eventually joined the cast of ''The Jack Benny Program'' in the 1960s.

In 1911, Benny was playing in the same theater as the young Marx Brothers, whose mother Minnie was so enchanted with Benny's musicianship that she invited him to be their permanent accompanist. The plan was foiled by Benny's parents, who refused to let their son, then 17, go on the road, but it was the beginning of his long friendship with Zeppo Marx. Benny's future wife Mary Livingstone was a distant cousin of the Marx Brothers.

The following year, Benny formed a vaudeville musical duo with pianist Cora Salisbury, a buxom 45-year-old widow who needed a partner for her act. This provoked famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who thought that the young vaudeville entertainer with a similar name (Kubelsky) would damage his reputation. Under pressure from Kubelik's lawyer, Benjamin Kubelsky agreed to change his name to Ben K. Benny (sometimes spelled Bennie). When Salisbury left the act, Benny found a new pianist, Lyman Woods, and re-named the act "From Grand Opera to Ragtime". They worked together for five years and slowly added comedy elements to the show. They even reached the Palace Theater, the "Mecca of Vaudeville", but bombed. Benny left show business briefly in 1917 to join the U.S. Navy during World War I, and he often entertained the troops with his violin playing. One evening, his violin performance was booed by the troops, so with prompting from fellow sailor and actor Pat O'Brien, he ad-libbed his way out of the jam and left them laughing. He got more comedy spots in the revues and was a big hit, and earned himself a reputation as a comedian as well as a musician.

Shortly after the war, Benny started a one-man act, "Ben K. Benny: Fiddle Funology". But then he heard from another lawyer, this time that of Ben Bernie, another patter-and-fiddle performer who also threatened to sue. So Benny adopted the common sailor's nickname Jack. By 1921, the fiddle became more of a prop and the low-key comedy took over.

Benny had several romantic encounters, including one with a dancer, Mary Kelly, whose devoutly Catholic family forced her to turn down Benny's proposal because he was Jewish. Benny was introduced to Mary Kelly by Gracie Allen. Some years after their split, Kelly resurfaced as a dowdy fat girl and Jack gave her a part in an act of three girls: one homely, one fat and one who couldn't sing. This lasted until, at Mary Livingstone's request, Mary Kelly was let go.

In 1922, Jack accompanied Zeppo Marx to a Passover seder where he met Sadye (Sadie) Marks, whom he married in 1927 after meeting again on a double-date. She was working in the hosiery section of the Hollywood Boulevard branch of the May Company and Benny would court her there. Called on to fill in for the "dumb girl" part in one of Benny's routines, Sadie proved a natural comedienne and a big hit. Adopting Mary Livingstone as her stage name, Sadie became Benny's collaborator throughout most of his career. They later adopted a daughter, Joan.

In 1929, Benny's agent Sam Lyons convinced MGM's Irving Thalberg to catch Benny's act at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Benny was signed to a five-year contract and his first film role was in ''The Hollywood Revue of 1929''. His next movie, ''Chasing Rainbows'', was a flop and after several months, Benny was released from his contract and returned to Broadway in Earl Carroll's ''Vanities''. At first dubious about the viability of radio, Benny was eager to break into the new medium. In 1932, after a four-week nightclub run, he was invited onto Ed Sullivan's radio program, uttering his first radio spiel "This is Jack Benny talking. There will be a slight pause while you say, 'Who cares?'..."

Radio

History

Benny had been only a minor vaudeville performer, but he became a national figure with ''The Jack Benny Program'', a weekly radio show which ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS. It was consistently among the most highly rated programs during most of that run.

On April 6, 1932, the NBC Commercial Program Department arranged for an audition of Jack Benny for Ayer and its client Canada Dry, after which its head, Bertha Brainard made an assessment of this new comic: “We think Mr. Benny is excellent for radio, and while the audition was unassisted as far as orchestra was concerned, we believe he would make a great bet for an air program.” With Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sponsor, Benny came to radio on ''The Canada Dry Program'', beginning May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continuing there for six months until October 26, moving the show to CBS on October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933. The commercial ran twice a week from 9:30 to 10:00, it ran for almost a year.

Arriving at NBC on March 17, Benny did ''The Chevrolet Program'' until April 1, 1934. He continued with sponsor General Tire through the end of the season. In October, 1934, General Foods, the makers of ''Jell-O'' and ''Grape-Nuts'', became the sponsor most identified with Jack, for the next ten years. American Tobacco's ''Lucky Strike'' was his longest-lasting radio sponsor, from October, 1944, through the end of his original radio series.

The show switched networks to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of CBS president William S. Paley's notorious "raid" of NBC talent in 1948–49. There it stayed for the remainder of its radio run, which ended on May 22, 1955. CBS aired repeats of old radio episodes from 1956 to 1958 as ''The Best of Benny''.

Characters

Benny's stage character was just about everything the actual Jack Benny was not: cheap, petty, vain, and self-congratulatory. His comic rendering of these traits became the linchpin to the Benny show's success. Benny set himself up as the comedic foil, allowing his supporting characters to draw laughs at the expense of his character's flaws. By allowing such a character to be seen as human and vulnerable, in an era where few male characters were allowed such obvious vulnerability, Benny made what might have been a despicable character into a lovable Everyman character. Benny himself said on several occasions: "I don't care ''who'' gets the laughs on my show, as long as the ''show'' is funny." In her book, Benny's daughter Joan said her father always said it doesn't matter who gets laughs, because come the next day they will say, "Remember the Jack Benny Show, last night, it was good, or it was bad." Jack felt he got the credit or blame either way, not the actor saying the lines, so it had better be funny.

The supporting characters who amplified that vulnerability only too gladly included wife Mary Livingstone as his wisecracking and not especially deferential female friend (not quite his girlfriend, since Benny would often try to date movie stars like Barbara Stanwyck, and occasionally had stage girlfriends such as "Gladys Zybisco"); rotund announcer Don Wilson (who also served as announcer for Fanny Brice's hit, ''Baby Snooks''); bandleader Phil Harris as a jive-talking, wine-and-women type whose repartee was rather risqué for its time; boy tenor Dennis Day, who was cast as a sheltered, naïve youth who still got the better of his boss as often as not (this character was originated by Kenny Baker, but perfected by Day); and, especially, Eddie Anderson as valet-chauffeur Rochester van Jones who was as popular as Benny himself.

And that was itself a radical proposition for the era: unlike the protagonists of ''Amos 'n' Andy'', Rochester was a black man allowed to one-up his vain, skinflint boss. In more ways than one, with his mock-befuddled one-liners and his sharp retorts, he broke a comedic racial barrier. Unlike many black supporting characters of the time, Rochester was depicted and treated as a regular member of Benny's fictional household. Benny, in character, tended if anything to treat Rochester more like an equal partner than as a hired domestic, even though gags about Rochester's flimsy salary were a regular part of the show.

Rochester seemed to see right through his boss's vanities and knew how to prick them without overdoing it, often with his famous line "Oh, Boss, come now!" Benny deserves credit for allowing this character and the actor who played him (it is difficult, if not impossible, to picture any other performer giving Rochester what Anderson gave him) to transcend the era's racial stereotype and for not discouraging his near-equal popularity. A New Year's Eve episode, in particular, shows the love each performer had for the other, quietly toasting each other with champagne. That this attention to Rochester's race was no accident became clearer during World War II, when Benny would frequently pay tribute to the diversity of Americans who had been drafted into service.

After the war, once the depths of Nazi race hatred had been revealed, Benny made a conscious effort to remove the most stereotypical aspects of Rochester's character. In 1948, it became apparent to Benny how much the times had changed when a 1941 script for "The Jack Benny Program" was re-used for one week's show. The script included mention of several African-American stereotypes (i.e. a reference to Rochester carrying a razor), and prompted a number of listeners, who didn't know the script was an old one, to send in angry letters protesting the stereotypes. Thereafter, Benny insisted that his writers should make sure that no racial jokes or references should be heard on his show. Benny also often gave key guest-star appearances to African-American performers such as Louis Armstrong and The Ink Spots.

The rest of Benny's cast included character actors and comedians:

Sheldon Leonard (later a hugely successful television producer and creator) as a tight-lipped racetrack tout

Joseph Kearns (best remembered as cantankerous Mr. Wilson on the television version of ''Dennis the Menace'') as Ed, the superannuated guard to Jack's money vault

Verna Felton as Dennis Day's mother

Frank Nelson, usually as an oily desk clerk or floorwalker, always greeting Benny with an eager ''Yeeeeeeesss?'';

singer/bandleader Bob Crosby (who succeeded Phil Harris in the early 1950s);

Artie Auerbach as the Yiddish-accented Mr. Kitzel ("hoo, hoo, ''hoo!''");

Bea Benaderet, as Gertrude the switchboard operator;

Mel Blanc, who provided several characters' voices, including the railroad station announcer who said, "Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga!". This running gag became so well known that it eventually led to a statue of Benny in Cucamonga. Blanc also was featured with Benny in the classic ''Si-Sy'' routine and on radio as the sound of Benny's Maxwell automobile. Blanc is perhaps best remembered as Benny's perpetually frustrated violin teacher, Professor LeBlanc, who was as likely to throw his own and Benny's instrument into the fireplace as he was to have a nervous breakdown before he was out the door.

Other musical contributions came starting in 1946 from the singing quartet the Sportsmen (members: Bill Days, Max Smith, Marty Sperzel and Gurney Bell) singing the middle Lucky Strike commercial. In the early days of the program, the supporting characters were often vaudevillian ethnic stereotypes whose humor was grounded in dialects. As the years went by, the humor of these figures became more character-based.

Benny's method of bringing a character into a skit, by announcing his name, also became a well-known Benny shtick: "Oh, Dennis..." or "Oh, Rochester..." typically answered by, "Yes, Mr. Benny (Boss)?"

Situations

''The Jack Benny Program'' evolved from a variety show blending sketch comedy and musical interludes into the situation comedy form we know even now, crafting particular situations and scenarios from the fictionalization of Benny the radio star. Any situation from hosting a party to income tax time to a night on the town was good for a Benny show, and somehow the writers and star would find the right ways and places to insert musical interludes from Phil Harris and Dennis Day. With Day, invariably, it would be a brief sketch that ended with Benny ordering Day to sing the song he planned to do on that week's show.

One extremely popular scenario that became an annual tradition on ''The Jack Benny Program'' was the "Christmas Shopping" episode, in which Benny would head to a local department store. Each year, Benny would buy a ridiculously cheap Christmas gift for Don Wilson from a store clerk played by Mel Blanc. Benny would then have second (then third, and even fourth) thoughts about his gift choice, driving Blanc (or, in two other cases, his wife and his psychiatrist, as well) to hilarious insanity by exchanging the gift, pestering about the Christmas card or wrapping paper countless times throughout the episode: in many cases, the clerk would commit suicide, or attempt and fail to commit suicide ("Look what you done! You made me so nervous, I missed!") as a result.

In the 1946 Christmas episode, for example, Benny buys shoelaces for Don, and then is unable to make up his mind whether to give Wilson shoelaces with plastic tips or shoelaces with metal tips. After Benny exchanges the shoelaces repeatedly, Mel Blanc is heard screaming insanely, "Plastic tips! Metal tips! I can't stand it anymore!" A variation in 1948 concerned Benny buying an expensive wallet for Don, but repeatedly changing the greeting card inserted—prompting Blanc to shout: "I haven't run into anyone like you in 20 years! Oh, why did the governor have to give me that pardon!?" – until Benny realizes that he should have gotten Don a wallet for $1.98, whereupon the put-upon clerk immediately responds by committing suicide. Over the years, in these Christmas episodes, Benny bought and repeatedly exchanged cuff links, golf tees, a box of dates, a paint set, and even a gopher trap.

In 1936, after a few years broadcasting from New York, Benny moved the show to Los Angeles, allowing him to bring in guests from among his show business friends — such as Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, Bing Crosby, Burns and Allen (George Burns was Benny's closest friend), and many others. Burns and Allen and Orson Welles guest hosted several episodes in March and April 1943 when Benny was seriously ill with pneumonia, while Ronald Colman and his wife Benita Hume appeared frequently in the 1940s as Benny's long-suffering neighbors.

Sponsors

In the early days of radio (and in the early television era, often as not), the airtime was owned by the sponsor, and Benny made a point of incorporating the commercials into the body of the show. Sometimes the sponsors were the butt of jokes, though Benny did not deploy this device as frequently as his friend and "rival" Fred Allen did at the time, or as his cast member Phil Harris later did on his own successful radio sitcom. Nevertheless, for many years Benny insisted in contract negotiations that his writers pen the sponsor's commercial in the middle of the program (leaving the sponsor to provide the opening and closing spots) and the resulting ads were cleverly and wittily worked into the storyline of the show. For example, on one program, Don Wilson accidentally misread Lucky Strike's slogan ("Be happy, go Lucky") as "Be Lucky, go happy", prompting a story arc over several weeks that had Wilson unable to attend the show due to being severely traumatized by the error.

In fact, the radio show was generally not announced as ''The Jack Benny Program''. Instead, the primary name of the show tied to the sponsor. Benny's first sponsor was Canada Dry Ginger Ale from 1932 to 1933. Benny's sponsors included Chevrolet from 1933 to 1934, General Tire in 1934, and Jell-O from 1934 to 1942. ''The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny'' was so successful in selling Jell-O, in fact, that General Foods could not manufacture it fast enough when sugar shortages arose in the early years of World War II, and the company had to stop advertising the popular dessert mix. General Foods switched the Benny program from Jell-O to Grape-Nuts from 1942 to 1944, and it became, naturally, ''The Grape Nuts Program Starring Jack Benny''. Benny's longest-running sponsor, however, was the American Tobacco Company's Lucky Strike cigarettes, from 1944 to 1955, when the show was usually announced as ''The Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny''.

Writers

Benny was notable for employing a small group of writers, most of whom stayed with him for many years. This was very much in contrast to other successful radio or television comedians, such as Bob Hope, who would change writers frequently. Historical accounts (like those by longtime Benny writer Milt Josefsberg) indicate that Benny's role was essentially that of both head writer and director of his radio programs, though he was not credited in either capacity. In contrast to Fred Allen, who initially personally wrote all of his own radio scripts (and continued to extensively rewrite scripts produced in later years by a writing staff), Jack Benny was often described by his writers as a consummate comedy editor rather than a writer per se. He would often debate the precise wording of jokes, and always sought to ensure the preservation of the integrity of the show's characters above easy gags.

Theme music

During his early radio shows, there was no recurring theme, the program instead opening each week with a different then-current popular song. Throughout the Jello and Grapenuts years, announcer Don Wilson would announce the name of the show, some of the cast, and then state "The orchestra opens the program with [name of song]". The orchestra number would continue softly as background for Don Wilson's opening commercial.

Starting in the Lucky Strike era, Benny adopted a medley of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Love in Bloom" as his theme music, opening every show. "Love in Bloom" later became the theme of his television show as well. His radio shows often ended with the orchestra playing "Hooray for Hollywood". The TV show ended with one of two bouncy instrumentals written for the show by his musical arranger and conductor, Mahlon Merrick.

Benny would sometimes joke about the propriety of "Love in Bloom" as his theme song. On a segment often played in ''Tonight Show'' retrospectives, Benny talks with Johnny Carson about this. Benny says he has no objections to the song in and of itself, only as ''his theme.'' Proving his point, he begins reciting the lyrics slowly and deliberately: "Can it be the ''trees.'' That fill the breeze. With rare and magic perfume. Now what the hell has that got to do with ''me?''"

"Your money or your life"

In an episode broadcast March 28, 1948, Benny borrowed neighbor Ronald Colman's Oscar, and was returning home when accosted by a mugger (voiced by comedian Eddie Marr). After asking for a match to light a cigarette, the mugger demanded, "Don't make a move, this is a stickup. Now, come on. Your money or your life." Benny paused, and the studio audience—knowing his skinflint character—laughed. The robber then repeated his demand: "Look, bud! I said your money or your life!" And that's when Benny snapped back, without a break, "I'm thinking it over!" This time, the audience laughed louder and longer than they had during the pause.

The punchline came to Benny staff writers John Tackaberry and Milt Josefsberg almost by accident. Writer George Balzer described the scene to author Jordan R. Young, for ''The Laugh Crafters'', a 1999 book of interviews with veteran radio and television comedy writers: :... they had come to a point where they had the line, "Your money or your life." And that stopped them... Milt is pacing up and down, trying to get a follow... And he gets a little peeved at Tack, and he says, "For God's sakes, Tack, say something." Tack, maybe he was half asleep—in defense of himself, says, "I'm thinking it over." And Milt says, "Wait a minute. That's it." And that's the line that went in the script... By the way, that was ''not'' the biggest laugh that Jack ever got. It has the reputation of getting the biggest laugh. But that's not true.

The actual length of the laugh the joke got was five seconds when originally delivered and seven seconds when the gag was reprised on a follow-up show. In fact, the joke is probably not so memorable for the length of the laugh it provoked, but because it became the definitive "Jack Benny joke"—the joke that best illustrated Benny's "stingy man" persona. The punchline—"I'm thinking it over!"—simply would not have worked with any other comedian but Benny.

The actual longest laugh known to collectors of ''The Jack Benny Program'' lasted in excess of 32 seconds. The International Jack Benny Fan Club reports that, at the close of the program broadcast on December 13, 1936, sponsored by Jell-O, guest Andy Devine says that it is the "last number of the eleventh program in the new Jelly series." The audience, who loved any sort of accidental flub in the live program, is still laughing after 32 seconds, at which point the network cut off the program to prevent it from running overtime.

According to Jack himself, Mary Livingstone got the biggest laugh he ever heard on the show, on the April 25, 1948 broadcast. The punchline was the result of the following exchange between Don Wilson and noted opera singer Dorothy Kirsten:

:Don Wilson: Oh, Miss Kirsten, I wanted to tell you that I saw you in "Madame Butterfly" Wednesday afternoon, and I thought your performance was simply magnificent. :Dorothy Kirsten: Well, thanks, awfully. It's awfully nice and kind of you, Mr. Wilson. But, uh, who could help singing Puccini? It's so expressive. And particularly in the last act, starting with the ''allegro vivacissimo''. :Don Wilson: Well, now, that's being very modest, Miss Kirsten. But not every singer has the necessary ''bel canto'' and flexibility or range to cope with the high ''tessitura'' of the first act. :Dorothy Kirsten: Thank you, Mr. Wilson. And don't you think that in the aria, "''Un bel dì vedremo''", that the strings played the ''con molto passione'' exceptionally fine and with great ''sostenuto''? :Jack Benny: Well, I thought-- :Mary Livingstone (to Jack): Oh, shut up!

According to Jack, the huge laugh resulted from the long buildup, and the audience's knowledge that Jack, with his pompous persona, would have to break into the conversation at some point.

A nearly identical exchange occurred over a year earlier, among renowned violinist Isaac Stern, actor Ronald Colman, Jack Benny, and Mary Livingstone. The quartet's back-and-forth, which centered on Stern's recent public performance of a Mendelssohn piece, was heard on an episode first broadcast on February 16, 1947. The resulting laughter lasted some 18 seconds, after which Jack retorted, "Mary, that's no way to talk to Mr. Stern."

Later in life, when performing as a stand-up comedian in Las Vegas, Jack had just begun to tell an old joke about the salesman, the farmer and the farmer's daughter: "So the salesman and the farmer's daughter come to the front door, and the farmer opens the door." At this point, Sammy Davis, Jr. walks onstage behind Jack, the audience screams, and Sammy proceeds to speak and sing and dance about 25 minutes or so, while Jack continues to stand at center stage, quietly watching the spectacle. When Davis finally walks offstage and the audience's applause dies down, Jack continues to watch Davis offstage for a few moments, then as the audience is finally quiet continues: "... So the farmer said--" And that's about as far as that joke got, because the audience laughed for minutes afterward.

The Benny-Allen "feud"

In 1937 Benny began his famous radio "feud" with rival Fred Allen. Allen kicked the "feud" off on his own show, after child violinist Stewart Canin gave a performance credible enough that Allen wisecracked about "a certain alleged violinist" who should by comparison be ashamed of himself. Benny, who either listened to the Allen show or was told about the crack, answered in kind on his own show. And the two comedians were off and running.

For a decade, the two went at it back and forth, so convincingly that fans of either show could have been forgiven for believing they had become blood enemies. In fact, the two men were good friends and each other's greatest admirers. Benny and Allen often appeared on each other's show during the thick of the "feud"; numerous surviving episodes of both comedians' radio shows feature each other, in both acknowledged guest spots and occasional cameos. Benny in his eventual memoir (''Sunday Nights at Seven'') and Allen in his ''Treadmill to Oblivion'' later revealed that each comedian's writing staff often met together to plot future takes on the mock feud. If Allen zapped Benny with a satirisation of Benny's show ("The Pinch Penny Program"), Benny shot back with a parody of Allen's early favourite, ''Town Hall Tonight''. Benny's parody? "Clown Hall Tonight." And their playful sniping ("Benny was born ignorant, and he's been losing ground ever since") was also advanced in the films ''Love Thy Neighbor'' and ''It's in the Bag!''.

Perhaps the climax of the "feud" came during Fred Allen's parody of popular quiz-and-prize show ''Queen for a Day'', which was barely a year old when Allen decided to have a crack at it on ''The Fred Allen Show''---an episode that has survived for today's listeners to appreciate. Calling the sketch "King for a Day", Allen played the host and Benny a contestant who sneaked onto the show using the alias Myron Proudfoot. Benny answered the prize-winning question correctly and Allen crowned him "king" and showered him with a passel of almost meaningless prizes. Allen proudly announced, "Tomorrow night, in your ermine robe, you will be whisked by bicycle to Orange, New Jersey, where you will be the judge in a chicken-cleaning contest." To which Benny joyously declared, "I'm ''king'' for a day!" At this point a professional pressing-iron was wheeled on stage, to press Benny's suit properly. It didn't matter that Benny was still ''in'' the suit. Allen instructed his aides to remove Benny's suit, one item at a time, ending with his trousers, each garment's removal provoking louder laughter from the studio audience. As his trousers began to come off, Benny howled, "Allen, you haven't seen the ''end'' of me!" At once Allen shot back, "It won't be long ''now!''"

The laughter was so loud and chaotic at the chain of events that the Allen show announcer, Kenny Delmar, was cut off the air while trying to read a final commercial and the show's credits. (Allen was notorious for running overtime often enough, largely thanks to his ad-libbing talent, and he overran the clock again this time.)

Benny was profoundly shaken by Allen's sudden death of a heart attack in 1956. In a statement released on the day after Allen's death, Benny said, "People have often asked me if Fred Allen and I were really friends in real life. My answer is always the same. You couldn't have such a long-running and successful feud as we did, without having a deep and sincere friendship at the heart of it."

The CBS talent raid

On the advice of MCA's Lew Wasserman, Jack Benny formed a holding company, "Amusement Enterprises" (a tax break major entertainers usually enjoyed in those years), which allowed him to bundle his entire program and personnel into a single commodity. The company also gave Benny the opportunity to produce and package other radio programs (including his 1947 summer replacement series starring Jack Paar), and invest in other entertainment ventures, including the production of a 1949 feature film, ''The Lucky Stiff'', starring Dorothy Lamour, and as a key financial backer of the 1948 Broadway version of Mister Roberts, starring Henry Fonda. While Benny was top of the proverbial heap on NBC, CBS czar William S. Paley cast a hungry eye upon the comedian. Paley apparently had good reason to believe Benny could be had. In the summer of 1948, he successfully negotiated a deal with Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, buying ''their'' holding company, which owned the Amos 'n' Andy radio show (and the rights to those characters), moving the entire "package" from NBC to CBS that fall: he then learned that NBC balked at buying a "Jack Benny" package deal when "Jack Benny" was not the star's real name. Paley reached out to Benny and offered him a deal that would allow that package-buy.

But Paley, according to CBS historian Robert Metz, also learned that Benny chafed under NBC's almost indifferent attitude toward the talent that attracted the listeners. NBC, under the leadership of David Sarnoff, seemed at the time to think that listeners were listening to NBC because of NBC itself. To Paley, according to Metz, that was foolish thinking at best: Paley believed listeners were listening because of the talent, not because of which platform hosted them. When Paley said as much to Benny, the comedian agreed. Because Paley took a personal interest in the Benny negotiations, as opposed to Sarnoff who had never met his top-rated star, Benny was convinced to make the jump. He convinced a number of his fellow NBC performers (notably Burns and Allen, Edgar Bergen, Red Skelton and Kate Smith) to join him.

To sweeten the deal for a very nervous sponsor, Paley also agreed to make up the difference to American Tobacco if Benny's Hooper rating (the radio version of today's Nielsen ratings) on CBS fell to a certain level below his best NBC Hooper rating. Benny's CBS debut on January 2, 1949 bested his top NBC rating by several points while also pumping up the ratings of the show that followed, ''Amos 'n' Andy''. NBC, with its smash Sunday night lineup now broken up, offered lucrative new deals to two of those Sunday night hits, ''The Fred Allen Show'' and ''The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show''. Benny's bandleader and his singing actress wife now starred in their own hit sitcom, meaning Harris was featured on shows for two different networks.

Benny and Sarnoff eventually met several years later and became good friends. Benny said that if he had had this kind of relationship with Sarnoff earlier, when he was Sarnoff's number-one radio star, he never would have left NBC.

Television

Benny first appeared on television in a brief appearance on the inaugural broadcast of Los Angeles station KTTV (Channel 11) on January 1, 1949. KTTV was the Los Angeles CBS Television outlet at the time.

The television version of ''The Jack Benny Program'' ran from October 28, 1950 to 1965. Initially scheduled as a series of five "specials" during the 1950–1951 season, the show appeared every six weeks for the 1951–1952 season, every four weeks for the 1952–1953 season and every three weeks in 1953–1954. For the 1953–1954 season, half the episodes were live and half were filmed during the summer, to allow Benny to continue doing his radio show. From the fall of 1954 to 1960, it appeared every other week, and from 1960 to 1965 it was seen weekly.

In September 1954, CBS premiered Chrysler's ''Shower of Stars'' co-hosted by Jack Benny and William Lundigan. It enjoyed a successful run from 1954 until 1958. Both television shows often overlapped the radio show. In fact, the radio show alluded frequently to its television counterparts. Often as not, Benny would sign off the radio show in such circumstances with the line "Well, good night, folks. I'll see you on television."

When Benny moved to television, audiences learned that his verbal talent was matched by his controlled repertory of dead-pan facial expressions and gesture. The program was similar to the radio show (several of the radio scripts were recycled for television, as was somewhat common with other radio shows that moved to television), but with the addition of visual gags. Lucky Strike was the sponsor. Benny did his opening and closing monologues before a live audience, which he regarded as essential to timing of the material. As in other TV comedy shows, canned laughter was sometimes added to "sweeten" the soundtrack, as when the studio audience missed some close-up comedy because of cameras or microphones in their way. The television viewers learned to live without Mary Livingstone, who was afflicted by a striking case of stage fright. Livingstone appeared rarely if at all on the television show (for the last few years of the radio show, she pre-recorded her lines and Jack and Mary's daughter, Joan, stood in for the live broadcast as the pre-recordings were played), and finally retired from show business permanently in 1958, as her friend Gracie Allen had done.

Benny's television program relied more on guest stars and less on his regulars than his radio program. In fact, the only radio cast members who appeared regularly on the television program as well were Don Wilson and Eddie Anderson. Day appeared sporadically, and Harris had left the radio program in 1952, although he did make a guest appearance on the television show (Bob Crosby, Phil's "replacement", frequently appeared on television through 1956). A frequent guest was the Canadian born singer-violinist Gisele Mackenzie.

Benny was able to attract guests who rarely, if ever, appeared on television. In 1953, both Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart made their television debuts on Benny's program.

Canadian singer Gisele MacKenzie, who toured with Benny in the early 1950s, guest starred seven times on ''The Jack Benny Program''. Benny was so impressed with MacKenzie's talents that he served as co-executive producer and guest starred on her 1957–1958 NBC variety show, ''The Gisele MacKenzie Show''. In 1964, Walt Disney was a guest, primarily to promote his production of ''Mary Poppins''. Benny persuaded Disney to give him over 100 free admission tickets to Disneyland for his friends, but later in the show Disney apparently sent his pet tiger after Benny as revenge, at which point Benny opened his umbrella and soared above the stage like Mary Poppins.

In due course the ratings game finally got to Benny, too. CBS dropped the show in 1964, citing Benny's lack of appeal to the younger demographic the network began courting, and he went to NBC, his original network, in the fall, only to be out-rated by CBS's ''Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.'' The network dropped Benny at the end of the season. He continued to make occasional specials into the 1970s. His last television appearance was in 1974, on a Dean Martin Celebrity Roast for Lucille Ball. The videotaped show was telecast just a few weeks after his death.

In his unpublished autobiography, ''I Always Had Shoes'' (portions of which were later incorporated by Jack's daughter, Joan, into her memoir of her parents, ''Sunday Nights at Seven''), Benny said that he, not NBC, made the decision to end his TV series in 1965. He said that while the ratings were still very good (he cited a figure of some 18 million viewers per week, although he qualified that figure by saying he never believed the ratings services were doing anything more than guessing, no matter what they promised), advertisers were complaining that commercial time on his show was costing nearly twice as much as what they paid for most other shows, and he had grown tired of what was called the "rate race." Thus, after some three decades on radio and television in a weekly program, Jack Benny went out on top. In fairness, Benny himself shared Fred Allen's ambivalence about television, though not quite to Allen's extent. "By my second year in television, I saw that the camera was a man-eating monster...It gave a performer close-up exposure that, week after week, threatened his existence as an interesting entertainer."

In a joint appearance with Phil Silvers on Dick Cavett's show, Benny recalled that he had advised Silvers not to appear on television. However, Silvers ignored Benny's advice and proceeded to win several Emmy awards as Sergeant Bilko on the popular series ''The Phil Silvers Show'', while Benny claimed he never won any of the television honors.

Movies

Benny also acted in movies, including the Academy Award-winning ''The Hollywood Revue of 1929'', ''Broadway Melody of 1936'' (as a benign nemesis for Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor), ''George Washington Slept Here'' (1942), and notably, ''Charley's Aunt'' and ''To Be or Not to Be''. He and Livingstone also appeared in Ed Sullivan's ''Mr. Broadway'' (1933) as themselves. Benny often parodied contemporary movies and movie genres on the radio program, and the 1940 film ''Buck Benny Rides Again'' features all the main radio characters in a funny Western parody adapted from program skits. The failure of one Benny vehicle, ''The Horn Blows at Midnight'', became a running gag on his radio program, although contemporary viewers may not find the film as disappointing as the jokes suggest.

Benny may have had an unbilled cameo role in ''Casablanca'' (claimed by a contemporary newspaper advertisement and reportedly in the ''Casablanca'' press book). When asked in his column "Movie Answer Man", critic Roger Ebert first replied, "It looks something like him. That's all I can say." In response to a follow-up question in his next column, he stated, "I think you're right."

Benny also was caricatured in several Warner Brothers cartoons including ''Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur'' (1939, as Casper the Caveman), ''I Love to Singa'', ''Slap Happy Pappy'', and ''Goofy Groceries'' (1936, 1940, and 1941 respectively, as Jack Bunny), ''Malibu Beach Party'' (1940, as himself), and ''The Mouse that Jack Built'' (1959). The last of these is probably the most memorable: Robert McKimson engaged Benny and his actual cast (Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson, and Don Wilson) to do the voices for the mouse versions of their characters, with Mel Blanc—the usual Warner Brothers cartoon voicemeister—reprising his old vocal turn as the always-aging Maxwell, always a ''phat''-phat-''bang!'' away from collapse. In the cartoon, Benny and Livingstone agree to spend their anniversary at the Kit-Kat Club, which they discover the hard way is inside the mouth of a live cat. Before the cat can devour the mice, Benny himself awakens from his dream, then shakes his head, smiles wryly, and mutters, "Imagine, me and Mary as little mice." Then, he glances toward the cat lying on a throw rug in a corner and sees his and Livingstone's cartoon alter egos scampering out of the cat's mouth. The cartoon ends with a classic Benny look of befuddlement. It was rumored that Benny requested that, in lieu of monetary compensation, he receive a copy of the finished film.

Running gags

Benny teamed with Fred Allen for the best-remembered running gag in classic radio history, in terms of character dialogue. But Benny alone sustained a classic repertoire of running gags in his own right, including his skinflint radio and television persona, his perpetual stage age of 39, and his atonal violin playing.

A skit heard numerous times on radio, and seen many times on television, had Mel Blanc as a Mexican in a sombrero and sarape sitting on a bench. Jack Benny sits down and begins a conversation. To each question asked by Benny, Blanc replies Si, Benny asks his name, Blanc replies Sy and when Benny asks where Blanc is going, Blanc replies, "to see his sister", Sue.

A running gag in Benny's private life concerned George Burns. To Benny's eternal frustration, he could never get Burns to laugh. Burns, on the other hand, could crack Benny up with the least effort. An example of this occurred at a party when Benny pulled out a match to light a cigar. Burns announced to all, "Jack Benny will now perform the famous match trick!" Benny had no idea what Burns was talking about, so he proceeded to light up. Burns observed, "Oh, a new ending!" and Benny collapsed in helpless laughter.

Benny even had a sound-based running gag of his own: his famous basement vault alarm, allegedly installed by Spike Jones, ringing off with a shattering cacophony of whistles, sirens, bells, and blasts, before ending invariably with the sound of a foghorn. The alarm rang off even when Benny opened his safe with the correct combination. The vault also featured a guard named Ed (voiced by Joseph Kearns) who had been on post down below before, apparently, the end of the Civil War, the end of the Revolutionary War, the founding of Los Angeles, on Jack's 38th birthday, and even the beginning of humanity. In one appearance, Ed asked Benny, "By the way, Mr. Benny...what's it like on the outside?" Benny responded, "...winter is nearly here, and the leaves are falling." Ed responded, "Hey, that must be exciting." To which Benny replied (in a stunningly risqué joke for the period), "Oh, no—people are wearing clothes now." In one episode of the Benny radio show, Ed the Guard actually agreed when Jack invited him to take a break and come back to the surface world, only to discover that modern conveniences and transportation, which hadn't been around the last time he'd been to the surface, terrorized and confused him. (Poor Ed thought a crosstown bus was "a red and yellow dragon.") Finally, Ed decides to return to his post fathoms below and stay there. The basement vault gag was also used in the cartoon ''The Mouse that Jack Built'' and an episode of ''The Lucy Show''.

A separate sound gag involved a song Benny had written, "When You Say I Beg Your Pardon, Then I'll Come Back to You." Its inane lyrics and insipid melody guaranteed that it would never be published or recorded, but Benny continued to try to con, extort, or otherwise inveigle some of his musical guests (including The Smothers Brothers and Peter, Paul and Mary) to perform it. None ever made it all the way through.

In keeping with his "stingy" schtick, on one of his television specials he remarked that, to his way of looking at things, a "special" is when the price of coffee is marked down.

The explanation usually given for the "stuck on 39" running joke is that he had celebrated his birthday on-air when he turned 39, and decided to do the same the following year, because "there's nothing funny about 40." Upon his death, having celebrated his 39th birthday 41 times, some newspapers continued the joke with headlines such as "Jack Benny Dies – At 39?"

Another popular running gag concerned the social habits of Benny's on-air orchestra, who were consistently portrayed as a bunch of drunken ne'er-do-wells. Led first by Phil Harris and later by Bob Crosby, the orchestra, and in particular band member Frank Remley, were jokingly portrayed as often being too drunk to play properly, using an overturned bass drum to play cards on just minutes before a show, and so enamored by liquor that the sight of a glass of milk would make them sick. Remley was portrayed in various unflattering situations, such as being thrown into a garbage can by a road sweeper who had found him passed out in the street at 4 am, and on a wanted poster at the Beverly Hills police station. Crosby also got consistent laughs by frequently joking about his more famous brother Bing's vast wealth.

The Maxwell

Starting on the radio show, a running joke was that Benny drove a Maxwell automobile, a brand that went out of business in 1925. Benny's old car was so worn out that it would barely run, but the miserly Benny insisted he could get a few more miles out of it. When a sound effects man missed a cue for the automobile engine, Mel Blanc quickly improvised a vocal imitation of a sputtering car engine that was so funny it became a regular feature of the show. By 1943, Jack Benny's Maxwell had become such a well known aspect of popular culture that it was referenced in the Spike Jones record "The Sound Effects Man".

When the Jack Benny Program began appearing on television in 1950, a 1916 Maxwell Model 25 Tourer became one of the production's standard props. Benny's Maxwell later became a 1923 Tourer. In addition to on the program, Benny would often make public appearances in Maxwells. He appeared behind the wheel of one in the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and drove a Maxwell onto the stage in one of his last television specials. Benny and his archaic auto were featured in a series of television and print ads for Texaco from the 1950s through the 1970s. A series of gags were built around the premise that Benny appreciated the value of "Sky Chief" brand gasoline in keeping his car running smoothly, but was too cheap to buy more than one gallon at a time.

Final years

After his broadcasting career ended, Benny performed live as a stand up comedian and returned to films in 1963 with a cameo appearance in ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World''. Benny was preparing to star in the film version of Neil Simon's ''The Sunshine Boys'' when his health failed. In fact, he prevailed upon his longtime best friend, George Burns, to take his place on a nightclub tour while preparing for the film. (Burns ultimately had to replace Benny in the film as well and went on to win an Academy Award for his performance).

Benny made one of his final television appearances in the fall of 1972 on ''The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson'' when Carson celebrated his 10th anniversary. (An audio recording featuring highlights of Benny's appearance is featured on the album ''Here's Johnny: Magic Moments From The Tonight Show'' released in 1973.) During this appearance, he stated that he loved the violin so much, "if God came to me and said 'Jack, starting tomorrow I will make you one of the world's great violinists, but no more will you ever be able to tell a joke', I really believe that I would accept that." He also related something Isaac Stern once told him: "You know, Jack, when you walk out in front of a symphony orchestra in white tie and tails and your violin, you actually ''look'' like one of the world's great violinists. It's a damned shame you have to ''play''!" Jokes aside, Benny was a serious, dedicated violinist who could play aside Stern and not embarrass himself.

Death

In October 1974, Benny canceled a performance in Dallas after suffering a dizzy spell, coupled with numbness in his arms. Despite a battery of tests, Benny's ailment could not be determined. When he complained of stomach pains in early December, a first test showed nothing, but a subsequent one showed he had inoperable pancreatic cancer. Choosing to spend his final days at home, he was visited by close friends including George Burns, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson and New Zealand crooner John Rowles. He died on December 26, 1974. Bob Hope delivered the eulogy at his funeral. Two days after his death, he was interred in a crypt at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. Benny's will arranged for flowers, specifically a single long-stemmed red rose, to be delivered to his widow, Mary Livingstone, every day for the rest of her life. Livingstone died nine years later on June 30, 1983.

In trying to explain his successful life, Benny summed it up by stating "Everything good that happened to me happened by accident. I was not filled with ambition nor fired by a drive toward a clear-cut goal. I never knew exactly where I was going."

Upon his death, his family donated to UCLA his personal, professional, and business papers, as well as a collection of his television shows. The university established the Jack Benny Award in his honor in 1977 to recognize outstanding people in the field of comedy. Johnny Carson was the first award recipient. Benny also donated a Stradivarius violin purchased in 1957 to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Benny had commented, "If it isn't a $30,000 Strad, I'm out $120."

Honors

Jack Benny has one star each on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for TV, film, and radio.

Posthumous tributes

When the price of a standard first-class US postal stamp was increased to 39 cents in 2006, fans petitioned for a Jack Benny stamp to honor his stage persona’s perpetual age. The U.S. Postal Service had issued a stamp depicting Jack Benny in 1991, as part of a booklet of stamps honoring comedians; however, the stamp was issued at the then-current rate of 29 cents.

Jack Benny Middle School in Waukegan, Illinois, is named after the famous comedian. Its motto matches his famous statement as "Home of the '39ers".

See also

List of most-listened-to radio programs

References

Further reading

New York Times, April 16, 1953, p43,"Jack Benny plans more work on tv."

New York Times, March 16, 1960, p75, "Canned laughter: Comedians are crying on the inside about CBS rule that public know of its use."

''Jack Benny'', Mary Livingstone Benny, Hilliard Marks with Marcia Borie, Doubleday & Company, 1978, 322 p.

''Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story'', Jack Benny and Joan Benny, Warner Books, 1990, 302 p.

''CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye'', by Robert Metz, New American Library, 1978.

''The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV's Golden Age'', by Jordan R. Young; Past Times Publishing, 1999.

''Well! Reflections on the Life and Career of Jack Benny'', edited by Michael Leannah, BearManor Media, 2007.

''Jack Benny v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue'', 25 T.C. 197 (1955).

Hilmes, M. (1997). Radio voices American broadcasting, 1922-1952. Minnesota Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Further reading

Benny, Jack; Benny, Joan. (1990) ''Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story''. Warner Books.

Josefsberg, Milt. (1977) ''The Jack Benny Show.'' New Rochelle: Arlington House. ISBN 0-87000-347-X

Leannah, Michael, editor. (2007) ''Well! Reflections on the Life and Career of Jack Benny.'' BearManor Media. Contributing authors: Frank Bresee, Clair Schulz, Kay Linaker, Janine Marr, Pam Munter, Mark Higgins, B. J. Borsody, Charles A. Beckett, Jordan R. Young, Philip G. Harwood, Noell Wolfgram Evans, Jack Benny, Michael Leannah, Steve Newvine, Ron Sayles, Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, Marc Reed, Derek Tague, Michael J. Hayde, Steve Thompson, Michael Mildredson.

External links

Audio

*Jack Benny Show – OTR Podcast – Daily episodes of The Jack Benny Program in MP3 format with new introductions and Benny Trivia

*Over 350 episodes of The Jack Benny Program in MP3 format

*Two broadcasts (East/West) of ''The Jello Program'': "Christmas Shopping for Perfume and a Necktie" (12/17/39)

Video

Jack Benny at TVGuide.com

Jack Benny Fred Allen Feud

Jack Benny Audio History

International Jack Benny Fan Club

Online audio and video of Jack Benny

Copies of Jack Benny's Radio and TV scripts, with handwritten edits

Free 2 minute download of Humphrey Bogart on the Jack Benny Show

Jack Benny Middle School

Jack Benny Center for the Cultural Arts

"The Friars Club"

Jack Benny papers at the University of Wyoming - American Heritage Center

FBI file on Jack Benny

Category:1950s American television series Category:1960s American television series Category:1950 television series debuts Category:1965 television series endings Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American military personnel of World War I Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:American radio personalities Category:American radio actors Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American violinists Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:CBS network shows Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish comedians Category:Peabody Award winners Category:National Radio Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:People from Waukegan, Illinois Category:United States Navy officers Category:Vaudeville performers Category:1894 births Category:1974 deaths

de:Jack Benny es:Jack Benny eo:Jack Benny fr:Jack Benny gl:Jack Benny ko:잭 베니 it:Jack Benny hu:Jack Benny ja:ジャック・ベニー pl:Jack Benny pt:Jack Benny simple:Jack Benny sh:Jack Benny fi:Jack Benny sv:Jack Benny tl:Jack Benny

name	Vincent Price
birth date	May 27, 1911
birth place	St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
death date	October 25, 1993
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
occupation	Actor
years active	1935–93
spouse	Edith Barrett (1938–48)Mary Grant Price (1949–73)Coral Browne (1974–91; her death) }}

Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.

Early life and career

Price was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Marguerite Cobb (née Wilcox) and Vincent Leonard Price, Sr., who was the president of the National Candy Company. His grandfather, Vincent Clarence Price, invented "Dr. Price's Baking Powder," the first cream of tartar baking powder, and secured the family's fortune.

Price attended St. Louis Country Day School. He was further educated at Yale in art history and fine art. He was a member of the Courtauld Institute, London. He became interested in the theatre during the 1930s, appearing professionally on stage for the first time in 1935.

Career

He made his film debut in 1938 with ''Service de Luxe'' and established himself in the film ''Laura'' (1944), opposite Gene Tierney, directed by Otto Preminger. He also played Joseph Smith, Jr. in the movie ''Brigham Young'' (1940) and William Gibbs McAdoo in ''Wilson'' (1944) as well as a pretentious priest in ''The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944). Price's first venture into the horror genre was in the 1939 Boris Karloff film ''Tower of London''. The following year he portrayed the title character in the film ''The Invisible Man Returns'' (a role he reprised in a vocal cameo at the end of the 1948 horror-comedy spoof ''Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'').

In 1946 Price reunited with Tierney in two notable films, ''Dragonwyck'' and ''Leave Her to Heaven''. There were also many villainous roles in film noir thrillers like ''The Web'' (1947), ''The Long Night'' (1947), ''Rogues' Regiment'' (1948) and ''The Bribe'' (1949) with Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner and Charles Laughton. His first starring role was as conman James Addison Reavis in the 1950 biopic ''The Baron of Arizona''. He also did a comedic turn as the tycoon Burnbridge Waters, co-starring with Ronald Colman in ''Champagne for Caesar''. He was active in radio, portraying the Robin Hood-inspired crime-fighter Simon Templar in ''The Saint'' that ran from 1943 to 1951.

In the 1950s, he moved into horror films, with a role in ''House of Wax'' (1953), the first 3-D film to land in the year's top ten at the North American box office, then ''The Mad Magician'' (1954), and then the monster movie ''The Fly'' (1958) and its sequel ''Return of the Fly'' (1959) . Price also starred in the original ''House on Haunted Hill'' (1959) as the eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren. Price played Dr. Warren Chapin, in ''The Tingler'', a 1959 horror-thriller film by the American producer and director William Castle. In between these horror films, Price played Baka (the master builder) in ''The Ten Commandments''. In the 1955–1956 television season he appeared three times as Rabbi Gershom Seixos in the ABC anthology series, ''Crossroads'', a study of clergymen from different denominations. About this time, he also appeared on NBC's ''The Martha Raye Show''.

1960s

In the 1960s, Price had a number of low-budget successes with Roger Corman and American International Pictures (AIP) including the Edgar Allan Poe adaptations ''House of Usher'' (1960), ''The Pit and the Pendulum'' (1961), ''Tales of Terror'' (1962), ''The Comedy of Terrors'' (1963) ''The Raven'' (1963), ''The Masque of the Red Death'' (1964), and ''The Tomb of Ligeia'' (1965). He starred in ''The Last Man on Earth'' (1964), the first adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel ''I Am Legend''. In 1968 Price portrayed witchhunter Matthew Hopkins in ''Witchfinder General'' (released in the US as ''The Conqueror Worm''). He starred in comedy films, notably ''Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine'' (1965) and its sequel ''Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs'' (1966). In 1968 he played the part of an eccentric artist in the musical ''Darling of the Day'' opposite Patricia Routledge.

Price often spoke of his pleasure at playing Egghead in the ''Batman'' television series. One of his co-stars, Yvonne Craig (Batgirl), said Price was her favorite villain in the series. In an often-repeated anecdote from the set of ''Batman'', Price, after a take was printed, started throwing eggs at series stars Adam West and Burt Ward, and when asked to stop, replied, "With a full artillery? Not a chance!", causing an eggfight to erupt on the soundstage. This incident is reenacted in the behind-the-scenes telefilm ''Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt''. In the 1960s, he began his role as a guest on the game show ''Hollywood Squares'', even becoming a semi-regular in the 1970s, including being one of the guest panelists on the finale in 1980. He was known for usually making fun of Rose Marie's age, and using his famous voice to answer questions in a playfully menacing tone.

Later career

During the early 1970s, Price hosted and starred in BBC Radio's horror and mystery series ''The Price of Fear''. Price accepted a cameo part in the Canadian children's television program ''The Hilarious House of Frightenstein'' (1971) in Hamilton, Ontario, on the local television station CHCH. In addition to the opening and closing monologues, his role in the show was to recite poems about the show's various characters, sometimes wearing a cloak or other costumes. He appeared in ''The Abominable Dr. Phibes'' (1971), its sequel ''Dr. Phibes Rises Again'' (1972) and ''Theatre of Blood'' (1973), in which he portrayed a pair of campy serial killers. That same year Price appeared as himself in ''Mooch Goes to Hollywood'', a film written by Jim Backus. Price recorded dramatic readings of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories and poems, which were collected together with readings by Basil Rathbone.

Price greatly reduced his film work from around 1975, as horror itself suffered a slump, and increased his narrative and voice work, as well as advertising Milton Bradley's Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture. Price's voiceover is heard on Alice Cooper's first solo album, ''Welcome to My Nightmare'' from 1975, and he also appeared in the corresponding TV special ''Alice Cooper: The Nightmare''. He starred for a year in the early 1970s in a syndicated daily radio program, ''Tales of the Unexplained''. He made guest appearances in a 1970 episode of ''Here's Lucy'' showcasing his art expertise and in a 1972 episode of ABC's ''The Brady Bunch'', in which he played a deranged archaeologist. In October 1976, Price appeared as the featured guest in an episode of ''The Muppet Show''.

In the summer of 1977, Price began performing as Oscar Wilde in the one-man stage play ''Diversions and Delights''. Written by John Gay and directed by Joe Hardy, the play is set in a Parisian theatre on a night about one year before Wilde's death. In an attempt to earn some much-needed money, the Wilde character speaks to the audience about his life, his works and, in the second act, about his love for Lord Alfred Douglas, which led to his downfall. The original tour of the play was a success in every city that it played, except for New York City. In the summer of 1979, Price performed it at the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado on the same stage from which Wilde had spoken to miners about art some 96 years before. Price would eventually perform the play worldwide. In her biography of her father, Victoria Price stated that several members of Price's family and friends thought that this was the best acting that he ever performed. In the spring of 1979, Price starred with his wife Coral Browne in the short-lived CBS TV series ''Time Express''.

In 1982, Price provided the narrator's voice in ''Vincent'', Tim Burton's six-minute film about a young boy who flashes from reality into a fantasy where he is Vincent Price. That same year, he performed a sinister "rap" on the title track of Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'' album. A longer version of the rap, ''sans'' the music, along with some conversation can be heard on Jackson's 2001 remastered reissue of the ''Thriller'' album. Part of the extended version can be heard on the ''Thriller 25'' album, released in 2008. Price appeared as Sir Despard Murgatroyd in a 1982 television production of Gilbert & Sullivan's ''Ruddigore'' (with Keith Michell as Robin Oakapple). In 1983, Price played the Sinister Man in the British spoof horror film ''Bloodbath at the House of Death'' starring Kenny Everett, and he also appeared in the film ''House of the Long Shadows'', which teamed him with Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine. While Price had worked with each one of them at least once in the prior decade, this was the first teaming of all of them together. One of his last major roles, and one of his favorites, was as the voice of Professor Ratigan in Walt Disney Pictures' ''The Great Mouse Detective'' in 1986.

From 1981 to 1989, he hosted the PBS television series ''Mystery!'' In 1985, he provided voice talent on the Hanna-Barbera series ''The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo'' as the mysterious Vincent Van Ghoul, who aided Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo and the gang in recapturing thirteen evil demons. During this time (1985–1989), he appeared in horror-themed commercials for Tilex bathroom cleanser. In 1984, Price appeared in Shelley Duvall's live-action series ''Faerie Tale Theatre'' as the Mirror in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and the narrator for "The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers." In 1987, he starred with Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, and Ann Sothern in ''The Whales of August'', a story of two sisters living in Maine, facing the end of their days. In 1989, Price was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. His last significant film work was as the inventor in Tim Burton's ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990).

A witty raconteur, Price was a frequent guest on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', where he once demonstrated how to poach a fish in a dishwasher. Price was a noted gourmet cook and art collector. He also authored several cookbooks and hosted a cookery TV show, ''Cooking Pricewise''.

From 1962 to 1971, Sears, Roebuck offered the "Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art", selling about 50,000 pieces of fine art to the general public. Price selected and commissioned works for the collection, including works by Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Nate Dunn.

Personal life

Price was married three times and fathered a son, named Vincent Barrett Price, with his first wife, former actress Edith Barrett. Price and his second wife Mary Grant Price donated hundreds of works of art and a large amount of money to East Los Angeles College in the early 1960s in order to endow the Vincent and Mary Price Gallery there. Their daughter, Mary Victoria Price, was born in 1962. Price's last marriage was to the Australian actress Coral Browne, who appeared with him (as one of his victims) in ''Theatre of Blood'' (1973). He converted to Catholicism to marry her, and she became a U.S. citizen for him.

One example of his outspoken political action came when he concluded an episode of ''The Saint'' titled "Author of Murder", which aired on NBC Radio on July 30, 1950. While concluding the episode, Price denounced racial and religious prejudice as a form of poison and stated that Americans must actively fight against it because racial and religious prejudice within the United States fuels support for the nation's enemies.

Death

Price was a lifelong smoker. He suffered from emphysema and Parkinson's disease, which had caused his role in ''Edward Scissorhands'' to be much shorter than expected.

His illness also contributed to his retirement from ''Mystery!'', as his condition was becoming noticeable on-screen. He died of lung cancer on October 25, 1993 at the age of 82. He was cremated and his ashes scattered off Point Dume in Malibu, California.

Legacy

In 1951, impressed by the spirit of the students and the community's need for the opportunity to experience original art works first hand, Price donated some 90 pieces from his own collection to East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, California, thus establishing the first "teaching art collection" owned by a community college in the U.S. Today, the Vincent Price Art Museum continues to present world-class exhibitions, and remains one of the actor's most enduring legacies. The collection contains over 9,000 pieces and has been valued in excess of five million dollars.

The A&E; Network aired an episode of ''Biography'' highlighting Price's horror career the night following his death, but because of its failure to clear copyrights, the show was never aired again. Four years later, A&E; produced its updated episode, a show titled ''Vincent Price: The Versatile Villain'', which aired on October 12, 1997. The script was by Lucy Chase Williams, author of ''The Complete Films of Vincent Price'' (Citadel Press, 1995). In early 1991, Tim Burton was developing a personal documentary with the working title ''Conversations with Vincent'', in which interviews with Price were shot at the Vincent Price Gallery, but the project was never completed and was eventually shelved.

Price was an Honorary Board Member and strong supporter of the Witch's Dungeon Classic Movie Museum located in Bristol, Connecticut until his death. The museum features detailed life-size wax replicas of characters from some of Price's films, including ''The Fly'', ''The Abominable Dr. Phibes'' and ''The Masque of the Red Death''. A black box theater at Price's alma mater, Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, is named after him.

Director Tim Burton directed a short stop-motion film as a tribute to Vincent Price called ''Vincent'', about a young boy named Vincent Malloy who was obsessed with the grim and macabre. It is narrated by Price. "Vincent Twice, Vincent Twice" was a parody on ''Sesame Street''. He was parodied in an episode of ''The Simpsons'' ("Sunday, Cruddy Sunday"). Price even had his own ''Spitting Image'' puppet, who was always trying to be "sinister" and lure people into his ghoulish traps, only for his victims to point out all the obvious flaws. The October 2005 episode of the Channel 101 series ''Yacht Rock'' featured comedian James Adomian as Vincent Price during the recording of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Starting in November 2005, featured cast member Bill Hader of the NBC sketch comedy/variety show ''Saturday Night Live'' has played Price in a recurring sketch where Vincent Price hosts botched holiday specials filled with celebrities of the 1950s and '60s. Other cast members who have played Price on ''SNL'' include Dan Aykroyd and Michael McKean (who played Price when he hosted a season 10 episode and again when he was hired as a cast member for the 1994–95 season).

In 1999, a frank and detailed biography written by his daughter, Victoria Price, about her father was published by St. Martin's Press. In late May 2011, an event was held by the organization Cinema St. Louis to celebrate what would have been Price's 100th Birthday. It included a public event with Victoria at the Missouri History Museum and a showcase of ephemeral and historic items at the gallery inside the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Filmography

References

Further reading

Price, Vincent, ''I Like What I Know – A Visual Autobiography'', Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, copyright 1959.

External links

Vincent Price Gallery

St. Louis Walk of Fame

Profile @ Turner Classic Movies

Vincent Price Papers catalog

''The Saint'' radio program

Category:Actors from Missouri Category:Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Category:American film actors Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism Category:Deaths from emphysema Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:People from St. Louis, Missouri Category:People with Parkinson's disease Category:Yale University alumni Category:Gilbert and Sullivan performers Category:1911 births Category:1993 deaths Category:The Yale Record alumni

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