The Academy Juvenile Award, also known as the Juvenile Oscar, was a Special Honorary Academy Award bestowed at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to specifically recognize juvenile performers under the age of eighteen for their "outstanding contributions to screen entertainment".^[1][2]

The trophy itself was a miniature Oscar statuette which stood approximately 7 inches tall.^[2][3][4] The honor was first awarded by the Academy in 1935 to 6-year-old Shirley Temple for her work in 1934.^[2] The Award continued to be presented intermittently over the next 25 years until 1961, when 12-year-old Hayley Mills became the last recipient to be awarded the child-size statuette for her role in Pollyanna.^[5]

History[link]

First presented on May 16, 1929, the Academy Awards did not originally present a Special Award for Juvenile actors.^[6] The very first child actor to be nominated for an Oscar was 9-year-old Jackie Cooper who was nominated as Best Actor in 1931 for his work in the film Skippy, but lost that year to Lionel Barrymore.^[7] Perhaps recognizing that children could expect little chance of winning against their adult counterparts in the competitive Best Actor/Actress categories, and with no category for Best Supporting Actor/Actress having yet been established,^[8] the Academy saw the need to establish an Honorary "Special Award" specifically created to recognize juveniles under the age of eighteen for their work in film.^[2]

On February 27, 1935, the 7th Annual Academy Awards honoring achievements in film for the year 1934, became the first Oscar ceremony to award the Special Juvenile Award.^[2] Playfully dubbed the "Oscarette" by Bob Hope in 1945,^[9] the statuette itself was a miniaturized Oscar, depicting an Art Deco image of a knight holding a crusader's sword and standing on a reel of film.^[10] Standing approximately ½ the size of its full-sized counterpart, this rare child-sized trophy remained the prototype for the statuette throughout the history of the Award with only relatively small modifications to its base over time.^[4][11][12]

After first being presented in 1935, the Special Juvenile Award continued to be presented intermittently to a total of 12 young actors over the next 25 years,^[4][13] however, several juvenile actors were instead nominated in the competitive Best Supporting Actor/Actress categories during this time; most notably, 14-year-old Bonita Granville as Best Supporting Actress of 1936 for These Three,^[14] 11-year-old Brandon deWilde as Best Supporting Actor of 1953 for Shane,^[15] 17-year-old Sal Mineo as Best Supporting Actor of 1955 for Rebel Without a Cause,^[16] and 11-year-old Patty McCormack as Best Supporting Actress of 1956 for The Bad Seed,^[17] all of whom lost to their adult counterparts in their respective categories.

Presented on April 17, 1961, the 33rd Annual Academy Awards honoring achievements in film for the year 1960 would be the last Oscar ceremony to present the Honorary Juvenile Award.^[5] The following year, 16 year-old Patty Duke starred in The Miracle Worker and in 1963, was nominated for and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the film, becoming the youngest actress at the time to ever win an Academy Award of merit and, for the first time, proving that a child could win in a competitive category.^[18] From this point onward, child actors were recognized in the same categories as their adult counterparts, or not at all.^[4]

Honorees[link]

1930s[link]

The 7th Annual Academy Awards recognized Shirley Temple with the Academy's first Juvenile Award to honor "her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment during the year 1934."^[2] Beginning her film career at the age of three, in 1934 Temple had attained child stardom in such films as Stand Up and Cheer!, Little Miss Marker, Baby Take a Bow and Bright Eyes. Just six years old on the night she accepted her Honorary statuette, Temple became the youngest recipient ever to be honored by the Academy, a distinction she still holds to this day.

The 11th Annual Academy Awards recognized both Deanna Durbin and Mickey Rooney with the Juvenile Award honoring "their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth".^[19] By 1938, 16-year-old Durbin was a rising star as the singing ingenue in such films as Mad About Music and That Certain Age, and Rooney had risen to fame in the Andy Hardy comedies and received critical acclaim for his dramatic turn in Boys Town.^[20] 18-years-old on the night he accepted the accolade, Rooney would be the eldest recipient ever to be honored with the Academy's Juvenile Award.

The 12th Annual Academy Awards recognized Judy Garland with the Juvenile Award honoring "her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile during the past year."^[21] In 1939, 16-year-old Garland had become one of Hollywood's brightest young starlets, appearing that year in the MGM musicals Babes in Arms and The Wizard of Oz. Although she would be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress of 1954,^[22] and again as Best Supporting Actress of 1961,^[23] the Juvenile Award would be the only honor Garland would receive from the Academy.

1940s[link]

The 17th Annual Academy Awards recognized Margaret O'Brien with the Juvenile Award honoring her as "outstanding child actress of 1944".^[3] That year, 7-year-old O'Brien had become one of the most popular child actresses of her day, starring in the films The Canterville Ghost, Music for Millions, and Meet Me In St. Louis alongside former Juvenile Award Honoree Judy Garland. Hosting the Annual ceremony that year was Bob Hope who endearingly dubbed the Juvenile Award the "Oscarette" upon presenting O'Brien with her miniature Oscar.^[9]

The 18th Annual Academy Awards recognized Peggy Ann Garner with the Juvenile Award honoring her as "outstanding child actress of 1945".^[24] Beginning her prolific film career at the age of six, in 1945, 13-year-old Garner appeared in Nob Hill and Junior Miss, as well as receiving critical acclaim for her dramatic role as Francie Nolan, a girl living in the Brooklyn slums with her devoted mother and alcoholic father in the 20th Century Fox drama, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.^[25]

The 19th Annual Academy Awards recognized Claude Jarman, Jr. with the Juvenile Award honoring him as "outstanding child actor of 1946".^[26] 13-years-old in 1946, Jarman was honored with the Juvenile Oscar for his screen debut as Jody in Warner Brothers' family drama, The Yearling. Although the Academy didn't officially begin to present the Juvenile Award for a child's work in a specific film until two years later, The Yearling was Jarman's first and only film released in 1946.

The 21st Annual Academy Awards recognized Ivan Jandl with the Juvenile Award honoring him for "the outstanding juvenile performance of 1948, as 'Karel Malik' in "The Search".^[27] Born in Czechoslovakia, and beginning his relatively brief film career in 1948 at the age of eleven, Jandl was the first foreign child actor to be honored with the Juvenile Oscar. Unable to travel to the United States to attend the ceremony, Jandl's statuette was instead presented to him in his native Prague.^[28]

The 22nd Annual Academy Awards recognized Bobby Driscoll with the Juvenile Award honoring him as "the outstanding juvenile actor of 1949".^[29] That year, 12-year-old Driscoll had starred in the Disney tear-jerker So Dear to My Heart, as well as garnering critical acclaim for his dramatic performance in the RKO melodrama The Window. Demonstrating the prestige the Honorary Juvenile Award held for Hollywood child stars of the time, on the night of the ceremony, Driscoll nervously accepted his miniature statuette saying, "I don't ever think I've been so thrilled in my life".^[30]

1950s—1960[link]

The 27th Annual Academy Awards recognized both Jon Whiteley and Vincent Winter with the Juvenile Award honoring their "outstanding juvenile performance(s) in "The Little Kidnappers".^[31] Perhaps best known to audiences in their native Scotland, in 1953, Whiteley, age 8, and Winter, age 6, played Harry and Davy respectively, two boys living with their grandfather in Nova Scotia who, forbidden by their grandfather to have a dog, "kidnap" an unattended baby and care for the child as their own in the British produced family drama.

The 33nd Annual Academy Awards recognized Hayley Mills with what would be the last Juvenile Award, honoring her performance in Pollyanna as "the most outstanding juvenile performance during 1960".^[5] Making her acting debut at the age of twelve alongside her father John Mills in the 1959 crime thriller Tiger Bay, in 1960, 13-year-old Mills made her Disney debut as the titular Pollyanna which also earned her a BAFTA Award nomination that same year as "Best British Actress".^[32]

List of Honorees[link]

Lost & Found[link]

Lost Garland Award[link]

While only 12 stars have been awarded the rare miniature statuette, a total of 14 Juvenile Oscars are actually known to exist. Judy Garland had reportedly lost her award over the years, and in June 1958 contacted the Academy to obtain a replacement at her own expense.^[11][33] The Academy obliged, but asked Garland to sign its well known right of first refusal agreement covering the duplicate Oscar as well as her original, should it ever turn up.^[11] The agreement, in effect, states that Oscar recipients or their heirs who want to sell their statuettes must first offer the Academy the chance to buy the Oscar back for the sum of $10. (An amount which was subsequently dropped to $1 in the 1980s.)^[11][33]

After her death in 1969, many of Garland's personal effects came into the possession of her former husband, Sidney Luft who attempted to sell a miniature Oscar statuette at a Christie's auction in 1993.^[11][34] Upon learning of the impending auction, the Academy quickly filed a legal injunction to halt the sale of the Award and, after some research, determined that the statuette in question was Garland's 1958 replacement Oscar, using photographs that showed the original 1940 statuette's unique base differed from the one being put up for auction.^[11][35] The courts ruled in the Academy's favor in 1995 and ordered Luft to return the 1958 statuette to the Academy; prompting Luft to instead turn the award over to daughter Lorna Luft who had expressed a desire to keep it in the family.^[11]

In 2000, a second statuette was put up for auction, which the Academy determined this time to be Garland's long-lost "original" 1940 Oscar.^[11][36] After once again tracing the auction back to Sidney Luft, the Academy again took legal action to halt the sale claiming the 1940 statuette fell under the terms of the agreement Garland had signed in 1958.^[11][36] The Academy again won its lawsuit in 2002 and Luft was ordered to turn the 1940 statuette over to the Academy.^[11] In February, 2010, Garland's original 1940 Juvenile Oscar was put on display to the public at an exhibit held by the Academy in New York City called "Meet The Oscars".^[37] As of 2011, its 1958 replacement is believed to still be in the possession of Garland's youngest daughter, Lorna.^[12][38]

Lost O'Brien Award[link]

Growing up, Margaret O'Brien's awards were always kept in a special room. One day in 1954, the family's maid asked to take O'Brien's Juvenile Oscar and two other awards home with her to polish, as she had done in the past.^[39] After three days, the maid failed to return to work, prompting O'Brien's mother to discharge her, requesting that the awards be returned.^[9] Not long after, O'Brien's mother, who had been sick with a heart condition, suffered a relapse and died.^[39] In mourning, 17 year-old O'Brien forgot about the maid and the Oscar until several months later when she tried to contact her, only to find that the maid had moved and had left no forwarding address.^[9][39]

Several years later, upon learning that the original had been stolen, the Academy promptly supplied O'Brien with a replacement Oscar, but O'Brien still held onto hope that she might one day recover her original Award.^[9][39] In the years that followed, O'Brien attended memorabilia shows and searched antique shops, hoping she might find the original statuette, until one day in 1995 when Bruce Davis, then executive director of the Academy, was alerted that a miniature statuette bearing O'Brien's name had surfaced in a catalogue for an upcoming memorabilia auction.^[39] Davis contacted a mutual friend of his and O'Brien's, who in turn phoned O'Brien to tell her the long-lost Oscar had been found.^[9][39]

Memorabilia collectors Steve Neimand and Mark Nash were attending a flea market in 1995 when Neimand spotted a small Oscar with Margaret O'Brien's name inscribed upon it.^[40] The two men decided to split the $500 asking price hoping to resell it at a profit and lent it to a photographer to shoot for an upcoming auction catalogue.^[39] This led to Bruce Davis' discovery that the statuette had resurfaced and, upon learning of the award's history, Nash and Neimand agreed to return the Oscar to O'Brien.^[39] On February 7, 1995, almost fifty years after she'd first received it, the Academy held a special ceremony in Beverly Hills to return the stolen award to O’Brien.^[39][40] Upon being reunited with her Juvenile Oscar, Margaret O'Brien told the attending journalists:

“For all those people who have lost or misplaced something that was dear to them, as I have, never give up the dream of searching – never let go of the hope that you’ll find it because after all these many years, at last, my Oscar has been returned to me.”^[41]

See also[link]

• Academy Award (Oscar)
• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
• Honorary Academy Award
• List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees
• Young Artist Award

References[link]

External links[link]

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – Official Website
• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – Official Database

Peggy Ann Garner
Peggy Ann Garner pictured in 1947
Born	(1932-02-03)February 3, 1932 Canton, Ohio, U.S.
Died	October 16, 1984(1984-10-16) (aged 52) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Years active	1938–84
Spouse	Kenyon Foster Brown (1964–1968) (divorced) Albert Salmi (1956–1963) (divorced) 1 child Richard Hayes (1951–1953) (divorced)

Peggy Ann Garner (February 3, 1932 – October 16, 1984) was an American actress.

A successful child actor, Garner played her first film role in 1938 and won the Academy Juvenile Award for her work in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). Featured roles in such films as Black Widow (1954) did not further her attempts to establish herself in mature film roles, and although she progressed to theatrical work, she made relatively few acting appearances as an adult.

Life and career[link]

Born in Canton, Ohio, Garner's mother pushed her into the limelight and entered her in talent quests while Garner was still a child. By 1938 she had made her first film appearance, and over the next few years she appeared in several more films, including Jane Eyre (1943) and The Keys of the Kingdom (1944). She reached the height of her success at the age of 13 in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), winning an Academy Juvenile Award largely on the basis of this performance.

Like many child performers, Garner was unable to make a successful transition into adult film roles. She guest-starred steadily in television roles, beginning in the early 1950s and continuing through the 1960s. She was a regular panelist on the NBC series Who Said That?, along with H. V. Kaltenborn and Boris Karloff. After her film career ended, she ventured into stage acting and had some success but also worked as a real estate agent and fleet-car executive between acting jobs in order to support herself. In 1978, she surprised film audiences after a decade away from any feature film when she appeared as the pregnant aunt of the bride 'Candice Ruteledge' in the critically acclaimed ensemble Robert Altman film, "A Wedding", in 1978. Her final screen performance was a small part in a made-for-television feature, "This Year's Blonde", in 1980.

Personal life[link]

Garner married singer/game show host Richard Hayes, and they divorced in 1953. She went on to marry actor Albert Salmi on May 16, 1956, and they divorced on March 13, 1963. Garner's final marriage was to Kenyon Foster Brown. After a few years, that marriage, too, ended in divorce. Her only child, Catherine Ann Salmi, died in 1995 at age 38 from heart disease.

Death[link]

Garner died from pancreatic cancer in 1984, aged 52.

Filmography[link]

Further reading[link]

• "Plain Beautiful: The Life of Peggy Ann Garner," by Sandra Grabman. Albany: BearManor Media. 2005. ISBN 1-59393-017-8.
• "Spotlights & Shadows: The Albert Salmi Story," by Sandra Grabman. Albany: BearManor Media. 2004. ISBN 1-59393-001-1. Second edition 2010, ISBN 1-59393-425-4.

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peggy Ann Garner

• Peggy Ann Garner at the Internet Movie Database
• Peggy Ann Garner at the Internet Broadway Database
• Peggy Ann Garner at Find a Grave
• Peggy Ann Garner photos and links

Bob Hope
Hope in 1978
Born	Leslie Townes Hope (1903-05-29)May 29, 1903 Eltham, London, England
Died	July 27, 2003(2003-07-27) (aged 100) Toluca Lake, California[1]
Cause of death	pneumonia
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor, comedian, author, golfer
Years active	1925–2001
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Grace Louise Troxell (m. January 25, 1933-1933) Dolores Hope (m. 1934–2003)
Children	Eleanora(born 1930) Linda(born 1933) William Kelly Francis(born 1937) Anthony (born 1940, died 2004)
Family	Jack Hope (brother)

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS (born Leslie Townes Hope; May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an English-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel.^[2] Throughout his long career, he was honored for his humanitarian work. In 1996, the U.S. Congress honored Bob Hope by declaring him the "first and only honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces." Bob Hope appeared in or hosted 199 known USO shows.^[3]

Early years[link]

Hope was born in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons. His English father, William Henry Hope, was a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and his Welsh mother, Avis Townes, was a light opera singer from Barry who later worked as a cleaning woman. She married William Hope in April 1891 and the couple set up home at 12 Greenwood Street in the town, then moved to Whitehall and St George in Bristol, before eventually moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1908. The family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia, and passed inspection at Ellis Island on March 30, 1908.^[4] Hope became a U.S. citizen in 1920 at the age of 17.^[5] In a 1942 legal document, Hope's legal name is given as Lester Townes Hope.^[6] His name on the Social Security Index is also listed as Lester T. Hope.^[7] His name as registered at birth was Leslie Towns [sic] Hope. ^[8]

From the age of 12, Hope worked at a variety of odd jobs at a local boardwalk. He would busk,^[9] doing dance and comedy patter to make extra money (frequently on the trolley to Luna Park). He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests (as Lester Hope),^[9] and won prizes for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. Hope also boxed briefly and unsuccessfully under the name Packy East (after the popular Packey McFarland), once making it to the semifinals of the Ohio novice championship.^[10][11]

In 1918, at the age of 15, Hope was admitted (as Lester Hope) to the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio.^[12] Formerly known as the Ohio Reform School, this was one of the more innovative, progressive institutions for juvenile offenders. As an adult, Hope donated sizable sums of money to the institution.^[13]

Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw one of Hope's performances with his first partner, Lloyd "Lefty" Durbin, and in 1925 got the pair steady work with Hurley's Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with George Byrne and the Hilton Sisters, conjoined twins who had a tap dancing routine. Hope and his partner, George Byrne, had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well, and both danced and sang while wearing blackface, before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself.^[14] In 1929, he changed his first name to "Bob". In one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman. In another, he said he chose Bob because he wanted a name with a friendly "Hiya, Fellas!" sound to it. After five years on the vaudeville circuit, by his own account, Hope was surprised and humbled when he and his partner (and future wife) Grace Louise Troxell failed a 1930 screen test for Pathé at Culver City, California.

Career[link]

Film[link]

Hope, like other stage performers, made his first films in New York. Educational Pictures employed him in 1934 for a short-subject comedy, Going Spanish. Hope sealed his fate with Educational when Walter Winchell asked him about the film. Hope cracked, "When they catch John Dillinger, they're going to make him sit through it twice."^[15] Educational fired him, but he was soon before the cameras at New York's Vitaphone studio starring in 20-minute comedies and musicals from 1934 through 1936, beginning with Paree, Paree (1934).

Paramount Pictures signed Hope for the 1938 film The Big Broadcast of 1938, also starring W. C. Fields. During a duet with Shirley Ross as accompanied by Shep Fields and his orchestra, Hope introduced the song later to become his trademark, "Thanks for the Memory", which became a major hit and was praised by critics. The sentimental, fluid nature of the music allowed Hope's writers (whom he is said to have depended upon heavily throughout his career^[16]) to later invent endless variations of the song to fit specific circumstances, such as bidding farewell to troops while on tour.

Hope became one of Paramount's biggest stars, and would remain with the studio through the 1950s. Hope's regular appearances in Hollywood films and radio made him one of the best known entertainers in North America, and at the height of his career he was also making a large income from live concert performances. He was both a world-class singer and dancer, introducing many major songs during the course of his career, including the Oscar-winning "Buttons and Bows" in The Paleface (1948), his biggest hit song by far, and he matched James Cagney's bravura dancing during the tabletop showdown sequence in The Seven Little Foys (1955).

Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour

As a movie star, he was best known for comedies like My Favorite Brunette and the highly successful "Road" movies in which he starred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. Hope had seen Lamour as a nightclub singer in New York, and invited her to work on his USO tours. Lamour is said to have arrived for filming prepared with her lines, only to be baffled by completely re-written scripts from Hope's writers without studio permission. Hope and Lamour were lifelong friends, and she remains the actress most associated with his film career. The series consists of Road to Singapore (1940), Road to Zanzibar (1941), Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Utopia (1946), Road to Rio (1947), Road to Bali (1952), and The Road to Hong Kong (1962). Hope's other leading ladies included Paulette Goddard, Katharine Hepburn, Hedy Lamarr, Lucille Ball, Jane Russell, Betty Grable, Betty Hutton, Arlene Dahl, Rosemary Clooney, Eva Marie Saint, Rhonda Fleming, Lana Turner, Anita Ekberg, and Elke Sommer.

Bob Hope & Bing Crosby sing and dance during "Chicago Style" in Road to Bali (1952)

Hope's informal teaming with the famous Bing Crosby for the seven "Road" pictures from 1940 to 1962 and countless stage, radio, and television appearances together over the decades were critically important to Hope's career. Hope was a star on Broadway, but when the "Road" series began, he was relatively unknown nationally and was actually billed under Dorothy Lamour in the first film. After the release of Road to Singapore (1940), Hope's screen career took off until his final starring role in Cancel My Reservation (1972). Bing Crosby and Bob Hope became linked in public perception to the extent that it became difficult to think of one without the other even though they actually conducted predominately separate careers. They had planned one more movie together, The Road to the Fountain of Youth, until Crosby's demise abruptly intervened.^[17]

Hope starred in fifty-two theatrical features altogether between 1938 and 1972, not to mention cameos and short films, and frequently stated that his movies were the most important part of his career. Some notable examples include College Swing (1938; with George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Betty Grable), Some Like It Hot (1939; with Shirley Ross and Gene Krupa), The Ghost Breakers (1940, with Paulette Goddard), The Paleface (1948; with Jane Russell), Sorrowful Jones (1949; with Lucille Ball), The Seven Little Foys (1955; with James Cagney as George M. Cohan), The Iron Petticoat (1956; with Katharine Hepburn), and Beau James (1957; with Hope as James J. Walker).

Bob Hope in the Ghost Breakers trailer

Hope was host of the Academy Awards ceremony 18 times between 1939 and 1977. His feigned lust for an Academy Award became part of his act. In one scene from Road to Morocco he erupted in a frenzy, shouting about his imminent death from exposure. Bing Crosby reminds him that rescue is just minutes away, and a disappointed Hope complains that Crosby has spoiled his best scene, and thus his chance for an Academy Award. Also, in Road to Bali, when Crosby finds Humphrey Bogart's Oscar for The African Queen, Hope grabs it, saying "Give me that. You've got one." Although Hope was never nominated for an Oscar for his performances (Bing Crosby won the 1944 Best Actor Oscar for Going My Way), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him with four honorary awards, and in 1960, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. While introducing the 1968 telecast, he quipped, "Welcome to the Academy Awards, or, as it's known at my house, Passover."^[18]

Broadcasting[link]

Barbara Eden and Bob Hope honor the Apollo 7 astronauts

Hope first appeared on television in 1932 during a test transmission from an experimental CBS studio in New York. In January 1947, Hope was master of ceremonies for the first telecast by California's first television station, KTLA. His career in broadcasting spanned 64 years and included a long association with NBC. Hope made his network radio debut in 1937 on NBC. His first regular series for NBC Radio was the Woodbury Soap Hour. A year later, The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope began, continuing as The New Swan Show in 1948 (for the same sponsor, Lever Brothers). After 1950, the series was known simply as The Bob Hope Show, with Liggett & Myers (1950–52), General Foods (1953) and American Dairy Association (1953–55) as his sponsors, until it finally went off the air in April 1955. Regulars on his radio series included zany Jerry Colonna and Barbara Jo Allen as spinster Vera Vague.

Hope did many specials for the NBC television network in the following decades, beginning in April 1950. These were often sponsored by General Motors (1955–1961), Chrysler (1963–73) and Texaco (1975–1985), and Hope served as a spokesman for these companies for many years and would sometimes introduce himself as "Bob, from Texaco, Hope." Hope's Christmas specials were popular favorites and often featured a performance of "Silver Bells" (from his 1951 film The Lemon Drop Kid) done as a duet with an often much younger female guest star (such as Olivia Newton-John, Barbara Eden, and Brooke Shields), or with his wife Delores, with whom he dueted on two specials.

In October 1956, Hope appeared on an episode of the most-viewed program in America at the time, I Love Lucy. He said, upon receiving the script: "What? A script? I don't need one of these"^{[cite this quote]}, and ad-libbed the entire episode. Desi Arnaz said of Hope after his appearance: "Bob is a very nice man, he can crack you up, no matter how much you try for him to not."^{[cite this quote]} Lucy and Desi returned the favor by appearing on one of his Chevy Show specials (with Vivian Vance and William Frawley) later that season.

With James Garner (1961)

Hope's 1970 and 1971 Christmas specials for NBC—filmed in Vietnam in front of military audiences at the height of the war—are on the list of the Top 30 U.S. Network Primetime Telecasts of All Time. Both were seen by more than 60% of the U.S. households watching television.

In 1992, Bob Hope made a guest appearance as himself on The Simpsons, in the episode "Lisa the Beauty Queen" (season 4, episode 4). The episode attracted 11.1 million viewers when it premiered on October 15. Hope's NBC television career consisted of monthly shows successfully spanning so many decades that it literally outlasted his ability to read his monologue from cue cards; toward the end, SCTV Hope impressionist Dave Thomas would deliver the monologue for him while imitating Hope's delivery. After 1992, his specials were re-formatted into retrospectives of Hope's past career, for occasions such as his 90th birthday in May 1993, which resulted in an Emmy-winning TV celebration on NBC, featuring guests such as Betty White, Walter Cronkite, Gerald Ford, Jay Leno and a rare post-Tonight Show appearance by Johnny Carson.

Hope's brother producing his early '50s show.

In October 1996, Hope announced, via a press release, that he was ending his 60-year contract with NBC, joking that he "decided to become a free agent". His final television special, Laughing with the Presidents, was broadcast in November 1996, with Tony Danza helping Hope present a personal retrospective of presidents of the United States known to the comedian. The special received mixed reviews, mostly due to the weakening appearance and speech of the 93-year-old Hope.

Following a brief appearance at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1997. Bob Hope's last TV appearance was in a 1997 K-Mart commercial directed by Penny Marshall.

USO[link]

For more on this topic see USO – Honoring Bob Hope

Bob Hope's 1966 Christmas Show at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand

Bob Hope in Korea climbing out of a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, which flew him from Daegu to Gimpo airfield in Korea, on his entertainment tour.

Bob Hope sits with men of X Corps, as members of his troupe entertain at Womsan, Korea. October 26, 1950. (Army)

Bob Hope and golf club, Lackland Air Force Base, 1990

Hope's first wartime performance occurred at sea. Aboard the RMS Queen Mary when World War II began in September 1939, he went to the captain to volunteer to perform a special show for the panicked passengers, during which he sang "Thanks for the Memory" with rewritten lyrics.^[19] Hope performed his first United Service Organizations (USO) show on May 6, 1941, at March Field, California. He continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II^[20] and later during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the third phase of the Lebanon Civil War, the latter years of the Iran–Iraq War, and the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War. When overseas he almost always performed in Army fatigues as a show of support for his audience. Hope's USO career lasted half a century, during which he headlined approximately 60 tours. For his service to his country through the USO, he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968.

Of Hope's USO shows in World War II, writer John Steinbeck, who was then working as a war correspondent, wrote in 1943:

In addition to the star-studded casts Hope recruited his own family members for the far-reaching travel. Wife Dolores sang from atop an armored vehicle as recently as the Desert Storm tour, with granddaughter Miranda alongside Hope on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean.^[22]

A 1997 act of Congress signed by President Clinton named Hope an "Honorary Veteran." He remarked, "I've been given many awards in my lifetime — but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most — is the greatest honor I have ever received."^[23]

Hope appeared in so many theaters of war over the decades that it was often cracked (in Bob Hope style) that "Where there's death, there's Hope".

In 2009, Stephen Colbert carried a golf club on stage each night during his own week-long USO performance and taping of The Colbert Report^[24] and explained in his last episode that it was an homage to Hope.

Theater[link]

Hope's first Broadway appearances, in 1927's The Sidewalks of New York and 1928's Ups-a-Daisy, were minor walk-on parts.^[25] He returned to Broadway in 1933 to star as Huckleberry Haines in the Jerome Kern/Dorothy Fields musical Roberta. Stints in the musicals Say When, the 1936 Ziegfeld Follies (with Fanny Brice), and Red, Hot and Blue with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante followed. His performances were generally well received, and critics noted his keen sense of comedic timing. Hope reprised his role as Huck Haines in a 1958 production of Roberta at The Muny Theater in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri.

Hope rescued Eltham Little Theatre from closure by providing the funds to buy the property. He continued his interest and support and regularly visited when in London. The Theatre was renamed in his honor in 1982.^[26]

Sports[link]

Bob Hope, a golf fan, putting a golf ball into an ashtray held by President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office in 1973.

Hope was an avid golfer. He was introduced to the game in the 1930s, and eventually played to a four handicap. His love for the game, and the humor he could find in it, made him a much sought-after foursome member. He once remarked that President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave up golf for painting – "fewer strokes, you know."^[27] Throughout his career, a golf club became an integral prop for Hope during the stand-up segments of his television specials and USO Shows. In 1978, he putted against a then two-year-old Tiger Woods in a television appearance with James Stewart on The Mike Douglas Show. The Bob Hope Classic was founded in 1960, and it was the only FedEx Cup tournament that took place over five rounds; but for the first time in 2012, it was reduced to the standard four rounds. The tournament made history in 1995, when Hope teed up for the opening round in a foursome that included Presidents Gerald R. Ford, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton – the only time ever that three presidents participated in a golf foursome.^[28]

Hope would frequently use his television specials to promote the annual College Football All-America Team. The team members would enter the stage one by one and introduce themselves, and Hope would then give a one-liner about the player or his school. Hope would often don a football uniform for these presentations.

Hope bought a small stake in the Cleveland Indians in 1946^[29] and owned it for most of the rest of his life.^[30] In 1993, he sang "Thanks for the Memory" after the Indians' last game at Cleveland Stadium. Hope also bought a share of the Los Angeles Rams football team in 1947 with Bing Crosby^[31] and sold it in 1962.^[32]

Personal life[link]

Marriages[link]

The Hope family. Back, from left: Tony, Dolores, and Linda. Front, from left: Kelly, Hope, and Nora.

According to biographer Arthur Marx, Hope's first wife was his vaudeville partner Grace Louise Troxell, whom he married on January 25, 1933. When the marriage record was unearthed some years later, Hope denied that the marriage had any substance and said they had quickly divorced. There were rumors that he fathered a daughter with Troxell and that he continued to send generous checks to her despite a widely documented reputation for frugality. In 1934, Bob Hope married Dolores (DeFina) Reade, and adopted four children at The Cradle in Evanston, Illinois: Linda, Tony, Kelly and Nora.^[33] From them he had several grandchildren, including Andrew, Miranda, and Zachary Hope. Tony (Anthony J. Hope), who served as a presidential appointee in the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations and in a variety of posts under Presidents Ford and Reagan, died at age 63 in 2004.^[34]

Extramarital affairs[link]

Hope's "endless extramarital flings had been an open secret in Hollywood for years."^[35] In 1949, while Hope was in Dallas on a publicity tour for his radio show, he met starlet Barbara Payton, a contract player at Universal Studios, who at the time was on her own PR jaunt. Shortly thereafter, Hope set Payton up in a luxury apartment in Hollywood.^[36] The arrangement soured as Hope was not able to satisfy Payton’s definition of generosity and her insatiable need for attention.^[37] Hope paid her off to end the affair quietly. Payton later revealed the affair with a tell-all printed in July 1956 in Confidential.^[38] "Hope was...at times a mean-spirited individual with the ability to respond with a ruthless vengeance when sufficiently provoked."^[35] His advisors counseled him to ignore the Confidential expose in order to avoid further publicity.^[35] "Barbara's ...revelations caused a minor ripple...and then quickly sank without causing any appreciable damage to Bob Hope's legendary career."^[35] According to Arthur Marx's Hope biography, The Secret Life of Bob Hope, Hope's subsequent long-term affair with actress Marilyn Maxwell was so open that the Hollywood community routinely referred to her as "Mrs. Bob Hope".^{[citation needed]}

Activism[link]

Hope served as an active honorary chairman on the board of Fight for Sight. He led a coast-to-coast telecast for Fight for Sight in 1960, and donated $100,000 to establish the Bob Hope Fight for Sight Fund.^[39] He recruited numerous top celebrities for the annual "Lights On" fundraiser; as an example, he hosted Joe Frazier, Yvonne DeCarlo, and Sergio Franchi as headliners for the April 25, 1971 show at Philharmonic Hall.^[40]

Boxing record[link]

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Date	Round	Time	Event	Location	Notes
Win	1-0-0	Unknown[41]	Knockout	1919	1		Ohio State Boxing Amateurs (Tournament)	Moose Hall, Cleveland, Ohio	Opening match (Lightweight Division) Hope fought as Packy East. Source: New York Herald Tribune, July 10, 1938.
Win	2-0-0	Unknown[41]	Default (Hope's opponent failed to show for bout.)	1919			Ohio State Boxing Amateurs (Tournament)	Moose Hall, Cleveland, Ohio	Semi-Finals (Lightweight Division) Hope fought as Packy East.
Loss	2-1-0	Happy Walsh[41]	Knockout	1919			Ohio State Boxing Amateurs (Tournament)	Moose Hall, Cleveland, Ohio	Finals (Lightweight Division) Hope fought as Packy East. Source: The Plain Dealer, August 17, 1984.
Win	3-1-0	Jack Dempsey[41]	Knockout	April 10, 1948	1	0:14	Charity match for the US Airforce	Madison Square Garden, New York	Clearly a "rigged" bout. Former heavyweight champ Dempsey is "KO'd" in 14 seconds.[42]
No-Contest	3-1-0-1	Rocky Marciano	No Contest	1968	1		"Salute To The USO"	Madison Square Garden, New York	Charity match. Bing Crosby was referee. 19,000 fans attended. (RING Magazine, May 1968, page 33)
N/A	3-1-0-1	Sugar Ray Robinson	Result Unknown	April 21, 1972			Sugar Ray Youth Foundation	North Hollywood, California	Charity match for the Sugar Ray (Robinson) Youth Foundation[43]

Later years[link]

Hope (left) with President Ronald Reagan in 1981

As Hope entered his ninth decade, he showed no signs of slowing down and continued appearing in numerous television specials. He was given an 80th birthday party in 1983 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. which was attended by President Ronald Reagan. In 1985 at 82, he was presented with the Life Achievement Award at the Kennedy Center Honors. He was presented with the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award in 1997 at 94 by Nancy Reagan.^[44] The following year, Hope was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Upon accepting the appointment, Hope quipped, "I'm speechless. 70 years of ad lib material and I'm speechless."^[45]

Nancy Reagan presents Hope with the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, 1997

At the age of 95, Hope made an appearance at the 50th anniversary of the Primetime Emmy Awards with Milton Berle and Sid Caesar. Two years later at 97, Hope was present at the opening of the Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment at the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress has immortalized Bob Hope's life with two major exhibitions - "Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture" and "Bob Hope and American Variety."^[46][47] Hope celebrated his 100th birthday on May 29, 2003. He is among a small group of notable centenarians in the field of entertainment. To mark this event, the intersection of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles, California was named Bob Hope Square and his centennial was declared Bob Hope Day in 35 states. Even at 100, Hope was said to have maintained his self-deprecating sense of humor, quipping, "I'm so old, they've canceled my blood type."^[1] He converted to Roman Catholicism.^[48]

Death[link]

Hope had premature obituaries on two separate occasions. In 1998, a prepared obituary by The Associated Press was inadvertently released on the Internet, prompting Hope's death to be announced in the U.S. House of Representatives.^[49][50] In 2003 he was among several famous figures whose pre-written obituaries were published on CNN's website because of a lapse in password protection.

Beginning in 2001 at 98, Hope's health steadily declined and he was hospitalized several times before his death. In June 2000 a month after his 97th birthday, he spent nearly a week in a California hospital after being hospitalized for gastrointestinal bleeding.^[51] In August 2001, he spent close to two weeks in the hospital recovering from pneumonia.^[52]

On July 27, 2003, Bob Hope died at his home in Toluca Lake at 9:28 p.m. According to the Soledad O'Brien interview with Hope's grandson Zach Hope, when asked on his deathbed where he wanted to be buried, Hope told his wife, "Surprise me."^[53] He was interred in the Bob Hope Memorial Garden at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles, where his mother is also buried.

After Hope's death, many newspaper cartoons worldwide featured some variation of Bing Crosby welcoming Bob Hope into heaven or his work for the USO.^[54]

Short subjects[link]

Hope appeared in twenty six short subjects. The first (Going Spanish) was made in 1934 and the final short (Rowan & Martin at the Movies) was made in 1968.

Honors[link]

• In 1962, Bob Hope was presented with the United States Congressional Gold Medal.
• In 1969, President Lyndon Johnson bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Bob Hope for his service to the men and women of the armed forces through the USO.^[55]
• Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1983.
• He was a member of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in the radio division.^[56]
• Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (KCSG) – 1989
• In 1995, Bob Hope was presented with the National Medal of Arts.
• Hope received the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award in 1997.^[57]
• Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) – 1998
• Member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels
• One of the few non-members given the privilege of dotting the 'i' in the Script Ohio routine performed by The Ohio State University Marching Band.
• The historic chapel at the Los Angeles National Cemetery was renamed as the Bob Hope Veterans Chapel on his 99th birthday, May 29, 2002 in "celebration of his lifelong service to our American Veterans."
• San Diego Chargers owner and friend, Alex Spanos donated $500,000 to the historic Fox Theater in downtown Stockton, California to rename the theater, it was later approved from the city to change it to "The Bob Hope Theater".
• The Burbank, California, public airport was renamed Bob Hope Airport in 2003.
• The historic Bob Hope Patriotic Hall building on Figueroa Street in Los Angeles County was named in his honor on August 3, 2003, by the Board of Supervisors.
• USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR-300) of the U.S. Military Sealift Command was named after the performer in 1997. It is one of very few U.S. naval ships that were named after living people.
• The United States Air Force named a C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft after Hope, the Spirit of Bob Hope.
• The hotel on Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH, the scene of the Dayton Peace Accords ending the fighting in the Former Yugoslavia, is named the Hope Hotel after Bob Hope. The bar in the hotel is called "Packy's" after Hope's prize fighting name.
• The USO at Los Angeles International Airport LAX is dedicated to Bob Hope.
• The dining facility at Camp Lemonnier (Djibouti) is named the Bob Hope Galley.
• In 2008, the research library at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum was renamed by Congress with the consent of the President, as the Bob Hope Memorial Library.
• For contributions to the live theater, radio, motion picture, and television, Bob Hope was honored with four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[58]
• At the U.S. Naval Academy, Alumni Hall is home to the Bob Hope Performing Arts Center.
• The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. has a wing funded by Dolores and Bob Hope in memory of his mother.^[59] It is dedicated to a miracle in Pontmain, France.
• The municipal clock tower of Utica, New York is named the Tower of Hope in honor of Bob Hope.
• In 2009, "A National Salute to Bob Hope and the Military" was dedicated in San Diego, California.^[60]
• The 64th and only civilian recipient of the United States Air Force "Order of the Sword." The Order of the Sword recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the enlisted corps. Presented June 10, 1980.
• In 2011, British independent label Audio Antihero released a charity compilation to raise money for the Japan crisis entitled "Bob Hope would" in tribute to his many fundraising efforts.
• At Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, the base theater is named the Bob Hope Theater.^[61]
• In 1996 TV Guide ranked Hope number 25 on it's '50 Greatest TV Stars' of All Time' list.^[62]
• Hope had a long and close association with Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, USA. "The Bob Hope Theatre, which opened in 1968" in the Owen Fine Arts Center of the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, "was built with gifts from the entertainer totaling more than $800,000."^[63]

Books by Bob Hope[link]

Listed in chronological order:

• Hope, Bob. They Got Me Covered. Hollywood California: Bob Hope, 1941.
• Hope, Bob. I Never Left Home. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944.
• Hope, Bob. Bob Hope's So This is Peace. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1946.
• Hope, Bob and Pete Martin. Have Tux, Will Travel: Bob Hope's Own Story. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1954. ISBN 0-7432-6103-8.
• Hope, Bob. I Owe Russia $1200. New York: Doubleday, 1963. ISBN 978-0-01-745039-5.
• Hope, Bob. Five Women I Love: Bob Hope's Vietnam Story. Amarillo , Texas: Hale Publishing, 1967. ISBN 978-0-517-50455-0.
• Hope, Bob and Pete Martin. The Last Christmas Show. New York: Doubleday, 1974. ISBN 0-7091-5660-X.
• Hope, Bob and Bob Thomas. The Road to Hollywood: My 40-year Love Affair with the Movies. New York: Doubleday, 1977. ISBN 0-385-02292-1.
• Hope, Bob and Dwayne Netlund. Bob Hope's Confessions of a Hooker: My Lifelong Love Affair with Golf. New York: Doubleday, 1985. ISBN 0-385-17442-X.
• Hope, Bob and Melville Shavelson. Don't Shoot, It's Only Me: Bob Hope's Comedy History of the United States. New York: Putnam, 1990. ISBN 0-399-13518-9.
• Hope, Bob and Linda Chandler Munson. We Could've Finished Last Without You: An Irreverent Look at the Atlanta Braves, the Losingest Team in Baseball for the Past 25 Years. Longstreet Press, 1991. ISBN 0-929264-84-3.
• Hope, Bob and Ward Grant. Bob Hope Remembers World War II: The European Theater and D-Day. Hollywood, California: Hope Enterprises, 1994. ISBN 1-885997-01-9.
• Hope, Bob and Ward Grant. Bob Hope's Dear Prez, I Wanna Tell Ya!: A Presidential Jokebook. Los Angeles, California: General Pub. Group, 1996. ISBN 1-57544-009-1.
• Hope, Bob, Delores Hope and Ward Grant. Thanks for the Memories. Los Angeles, California: General Pub. Group, 1998. ISBN 1-57544-040-7.
• Hope, Bob and Linda Hope. Bob Hope: My Life in Jokes. New York: Hyperion Books, 2004. ISBN 1-4013-0742-6.

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bob Hope

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bob Hope

Biography portal

• Official website
• Bob Hope at AllRovi
• Bob Hope at the Internet Broadway Database
• Bob Hope at the Internet Movie Database
• Bob Hope at the National Radio Hall of Fame
• Bob Hope Biography on Chortle.co.uk
• Bob Hope and American Variety at the Library of Congress
• Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture at the Library of Congress
• "1967 Hope for the Blind 3rd International Blind Golfers Tournament Held at Edgmont Country Club"
• MSNBC tributes:
  • "Hope-ful Century of Wit and Laughter"
  • "100 Years of Hope: The Early Years"
  • "100 Years of Hope: Slapstick and the Great Divide"
• CNN: Bob Hope dead at 100
• BOB HOPE – 1942-05-05 – War Years – Guest – Claudette Colbert – Great Lakes Naval Training Station
• Bob Hope Show radio archive (27 episodes from Bob Hope radio Show)
• Bob Hope Show at Old Time Radio Downloads
• Congressional Gold Medal Recipients
• Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts
• The Bob Hope Theatre, Eltham
• Literature on Bob Hope
• Presents Bob Hope's annual USO tour of Southeast Asian military bases. Features Raquel Welch, Elaine Dunn, Phil Crosby, Barbara McNair, and Miss World, Madeleine Hartog Bell. Department of Defense. Department of the Air Force.
• Find-a-grave entry.