Bob Hope
Overview
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, KCSG
Order of St. Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
, KSS
Order of St. Sylvester
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester Pope and Martyr , sometimes referred to as the Sylvestrine Order, or the Pontifical Order of Pope St Sylvester, is one of five Orders of Knighthood awarded directly by the Pope as Supreme Pontiff and head of the Catholic Church and as the Head of...
(born Leslie Townes Hope; May 29, 1903 July 27, 2003) was a British-born American comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and actor who appeared in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
shows entertaining American military personnel. Throughout his career, he was honored for his humanitarian work. In 1996, the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
honored Bob Hope by declaring him the "first and only honorary veteran of the U.S.
Discussions
Quotations
A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.
As soon as the war ended, we located the one spot on earth that hadn't been touched by the war and Operation Crossroads|blew it to hell.
Drugs are very much a part of professional sports today, but when you think about it, Golf|golf is the only sport where the players aren't penalized for being on grass.
I do benefits for all religions - I'd hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality.
If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf.
I grew up with six brothers. That's how I learned to dance -waiting for the bathroom.
I love to go to Washington, if only to be nearer my money.
I'm so old they've cancelled my blood type.
I thought Deep Throat (film)|Deep Throat was a movie about a giraffe.
Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle.
Encyclopedia
Bob Hope, KBE
, KCSG
, KSS
(born Leslie Townes Hope; May 29, 1903 July 27, 2003) was a British-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. Throughout his 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.
gives evidence that he may actually have born in 1901. 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 who later worked as a cleaning woman. The family lived in Weston-super-Mare, then Whitehall
and St George
in Bristol
, before 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. Hope became a U.S. citizen in 1920 at the age of 17. In a 1942 legal document, Hope's legal name is given as Lester Townes Hope. His name on the Social Security Index is also listed as Lester T. Hope. His name at birth as registered during the July–August–September quarter in the Lewisham
district of Greater London was Leslie Towns [sic] Hope.
From the age of 12, Hope worked at a variety of odd jobs at a local boardwalk
. He would busk
, 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), 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.
In 1918, at the age of 15, Hope was admitted (as Lester Hope) to the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. 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.
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. 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.
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." 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) 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).
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
.
Hope's informal teaming with 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. At the beginning of the "Road" series, Broadway
star Hope was relatively little known nationally compared to Crosby, and was actually billed under Dorothy Lamour
in the first film, while Crosby had already been a hugely popular singer and movie star
for years. After the release of Road to Singapore
(1940), Hope's screen career immediately became white hot and stayed that way for over two decades, actually continuing until Cancel My Reservation
(1972), his last theatrical starring role. 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.
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).
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 The 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 Best Actor for Going My Way
in 1944), 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
."
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
).
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", 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." Lucy and Desi returned the favor by appearing on one of his Chevy Show specials (with Vivian Vance
and William Frawley
) later that season.
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. His final television special, Laughing with the Presidents, was broadcast in 1996, with Tony Danza
helping Hope present a personal retrospective of presidents of the United States
known to the comedian.
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. 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 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.
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."
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 and explained in his last episode that it was an homage to Hope.
/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.
. 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." 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 is currently the only FedEx Cup
tournament that takes place over five 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.
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 and owned it for most of the rest of his life. 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 and sold it in 1962.
. In 1934, Bob Hope married Dolores (DeFina) Reade
, and adopted four children at The Cradle in Evanston, Illinois
: Linda, Tony, Kelly and Nora. 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.
, 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. The arrangement soured as Hope was not able to satisfy Payton’s definition of generosity and her insatiable need for attention. Hope paid her off to end the affair quietly. Payton later revealed the affair with a tell-all printed in July 1956 in Confidential
. "Hope was...at times a mean-spirited individual with the ability to respond with a ruthless vengeance when sufficiently provoked." His advisors counseled him to ignore the Confidential expose in order to avoid further publicity. "Barbara's ...revelations caused a minor ripple...and then quickly sank without causing any appreciable damage to Bob Hope's legendary career."
. He recruited numerous top celebrities for the annual "Lights On" fundraiser, 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.
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, he was presented with the Life Achievement Award at the Kennedy Center Honors
. He was presented with the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award
in 1997 by Nancy Reagan
. 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."
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, 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."
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
." He converted to Roman Catholicism.
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
. 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 2000, Hope's health steadily declined and he was hospitalized several times before his death. In June 2000, he spent nearly a week in a California hospital after being hospitalized for gastrointestinal bleeding
. In August 2001, he spent close to two weeks in the hospital recovering from pneumonia
.
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." He was interred in the Bob Hope Memorial Garden at San Fernando Mission Cemetery
in Los Angeles, where his mother is also buried.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, KCSG
Order of St. Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
, KSS
Order of St. Sylvester
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester Pope and Martyr , sometimes referred to as the Sylvestrine Order, or the Pontifical Order of Pope St Sylvester, is one of five Orders of Knighthood awarded directly by the Pope as Supreme Pontiff and head of the Catholic Church and as the Head of...
(born Leslie Townes Hope; May 29, 1903 July 27, 2003) was a British-born American comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and actor who appeared in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
shows entertaining American military personnel. Throughout his career, he was honored for his humanitarian work. In 1996, the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
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.
Early years
Hope was born in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons. In his biography Arthur MarxArthur Marx
Arthur Julius Marx was an American author, a former ranked amateur tennis player, and son of entertainer Groucho Marx and his first wife, Ruth Johnson....
gives evidence that he may actually have born in 1901. His English father, William Henry Hope, was a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, and his Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
mother, Avis Townes, was a light opera
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
singer who later worked as a cleaning woman. The family lived in Weston-super-Mare, then Whitehall
St George, Bristol
St. George is a district of Bristol, England on the edge of the inner city.- History :St George was originally outside the city boundary until about 1860. The area was once the end of the tram line from the city of Bristol, the terminus being in Beaconsfield Road.St...
and St George
St George, Bristol
St. George is a district of Bristol, England on the edge of the inner city.- History :St George was originally outside the city boundary until about 1860. The area was once the end of the tram line from the city of Bristol, the terminus being in Beaconsfield Road.St...
in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, in 1908. The family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia, and passed inspection at Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
on March 30, 1908. Hope became a U.S. citizen in 1920 at the age of 17. In a 1942 legal document, Hope's legal name is given as Lester Townes Hope. His name on the Social Security Index is also listed as Lester T. Hope. His name at birth as registered during the July–August–September quarter in the Lewisham
Lewisham
Lewisham is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
district of Greater London was Leslie Towns [sic] Hope.
From the age of 12, Hope worked at a variety of odd jobs at a local boardwalk
Boardwalk
A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....
. He would busk
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
, doing dance and comedy patter to make extra money (frequently on the trolley
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
to Luna Park
Luna Park, Cleveland
Luna Park was an amusement park in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, from 1905 to 1929. Constructed by Frederick Ingersoll, the park occupied a hilly site bounded by Woodland Avenue, Woodhill, Mt...
). He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests (as Lester Hope), and won prizes for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
. Hope also boxed briefly and unsuccessfully under the name Packy East (after the popular Packey McFarland
Packey McFarland
Patrick "Packey" McFarland was a popular American boxer in the lightweight and welterweight divisions, despite a extraordinary winning record he was unable to secure a match for either world title...
), once making it to the semifinals of the Ohio novice championship.
In 1918, at the age of 15, Hope was admitted (as Lester Hope) to the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. 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.
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
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
, before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself. In 1929, he changed his first name to "Bob". In one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman
Bob Burman
Bob Burman was an American racecar driver active in the formative years of auto racing.-Biography:He was born on April 23, 1884 in Imlay City, Michigan. He was the winner of the Prest-O-Lite Trophy Race in 1909. He competed at the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911...
. 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
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
at Culver City
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
, California.
Film
Hope, like other stage performers, made his first films in New York. Educational PicturesEducational Pictures
Educational Pictures was a film distribution company founded in 1919 by Earle Hammons . Educational primarily distributed short subjects, and today is probably best known for its series of 1930s comedies starring Buster Keaton, as well as for a series of one-reel comedies featuring Shirley...
employed him in 1934 for a short-subject comedy, Going Spanish
Going Spanish
Going Spanish is a American short comedy film featuring the film debut of Bob Hope and directed by Al Christie. The short comedy co-stars Leah Ray and Jules Epailly...
. Hope sealed his fate with Educational when Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
asked him about the film. Hope cracked, "When they catch John Dillinger
John Dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...
, they're going to make him sit through it twice." Educational fired him, but he was soon before the cameras at New York's Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
studio starring in 20-minute comedies and musicals from 1934 through 1936, beginning with Paree, Paree
Paree, Paree
Paree, Paree is a black and white Vitaphone musical short starring Bob Hope and Dorothy Stone. Cole Porter wrote the lyrics and music for this musical comedy short...
(1934).
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
signed Hope for the 1938 film The Big Broadcast of 1938
The Big Broadcast of 1938
The Big Broadcast of 1938 is a Paramount Pictures film featuring W.C. Fields and Bob Hope. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, the film is the last in a series of Big Broadcast movies that were variety show anthologies...
, also starring W. C. Fields
W. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...
. During a duet with Shirley Ross
Shirley Ross
Shirley Ross was an American actress and singer.Ross was born Bernice Gaunt in Omaha, Nebraska but her family relocated to California when she was a child. She studied at Hollywood High School and the University of California and auditioned successfully for Gus Arnheim's band during her second...
as accompanied by Shep Fields
Shep Fields
Shep Fields was the band leader for the "Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm" orchestra during the Big Band era of the 1930s.-Biography:...
and his orchestra, Hope introduced the song later to become his trademark, "Thanks for the Memory
Thanks for the Memory
"Thanks for the Memory" is a popular song, with music composed by Ralph Rainger and lyrics by Leo Robin. It was introduced in the 1938 film The Big Broadcast of 1938 by Shep Fields and His Orchestra with vocals by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross...
", 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) to later invent endless variations of the song to fit specific circumstances, such as bidding farewell to troops while on tour.
Buttons and Bows
"Buttons and Bows" is a popular song. The music was written by Jay Livingston with lyric by Ray Evans. The song was published in 1947. The song appeared in the Bob Hope and Jane Russell film, The Paleface, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song...
" in The Paleface
The Paleface
The Paleface is a 1948 comedy Western directed by Norman Z. McLeod, starring Bob Hope as "Painless Potter" and Jane Russell as Calamity Jane. In the film, Hope sings the song Buttons and Bows, which became his greatest hit by far when it came to record sales. The song also won the Academy Award...
(1948), his biggest hit song by far, and he matched James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
's bravura dancing during the tabletop showdown sequence in The Seven Little Foys
The Seven Little Foys
The Seven Little Foys is a 1955 film starring Bob Hope as Eddie Foy. James Cagney reprises his role as George M. Cohan for an energetic tabletop dance showdown sequence. In addition to the famous film, the story of Eddie Foy, Sr...
(1955).
My Favorite Brunette
My Favorite Brunette is a 1947 movie spoofing movie detectives and the film noir style. Starring Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, it also features Lon Chaney, Jr...
and the highly successful "Road"
Road to...
Road to ... refers to a series of seven comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. They are also often referred to as the "Road" pictures or the "Road" series. The movies were a combination of adventure, comedy, romance, and music...
movies in which he starred with Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
and Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
. Hope had seen Lamour as a nightclub singer in New York, and invited her to work on his USO
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
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
Road to Singapore
Road to Singapore is a 1940 Paramount Pictures film starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and Bob Hope, which marked the debut of the long-running and popular "Road to …" series of pictures spotlighting the trio.-Plot:...
(1940), Road to Zanzibar
Road to Zanzibar
Road to Zanzibar is a 1941 Paramount Pictures comedy film starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour, and marked the second picture in the popular "Road to …" series made by the trio....
(1941), Road to Morocco
Road to Morocco
Road to Morocco is an 1942 American comedy film about two fast-talking guys tossed up on a desert shore and sold into slavery to a beautiful princess...
(1942), Road to Utopia
Road to Utopia
Road to Utopia, filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946, is the fourth film of the "Road to …" series starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.-Plot:After the credits we see Sal and Chester Hooton, an old married couple...
(1946), Road to Rio
Road to Rio
Road to Rio is a 1947 comedy film, directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Bing Crosby as Scat Sweeney, Bob Hope as "Hot Lips" Barton, and Dorothy Lamour as Lucia Maria de Andrade. It was the fifth of the "Road to …" series.-Plot:...
(1947), Road to Bali
Road to Bali
Road to Bali is a 1952 comedy film starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. It was released by Paramount Pictures and is the sixth of the seven Road to … movies...
(1952), and
The Road to Hong Kong
The Road to Hong Kong
The Road to Hong Kong starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Joan Collins, was the last in the long-running Road to … series and the only episode not produced by Paramount Pictures, though reference to the other films in the series are shown in Maurice Binder's opening title sequence...
(1962). Hope's other leading ladies
Leading lady
Leading lady is an informal term for the actress who plays a secondary lead or supporting role, usually a love interest, to the leading actor in a film or play. It is not usually applied to the leading actress in the performance if her character is the protagonist.A leading lady can also be an...
included Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
, Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
, Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress celebrated for her great beauty who was a major contract star of MGM's "Golden Age".Lamarr also co-invented – with composer George Antheil – an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, necessary to wireless...
, Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, Jane Russell
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
, Betty Grable
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
, Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...
, Arlene Dahl
Arlene Dahl
Arlene Carol Dahl is an American actress and former MGM contract star, who achieved notability during the 1950s. She is the mother of actor Lorenzo Lamas.-Early years:...
, Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
, Eva Marie Saint
Eva Marie Saint
Eva Marie Saint is an American actress who has starred in films, on Broadway, and on television in a career spanning seven decades. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama film On the Waterfront , and later starred in the thriller film North by...
, Rhonda Fleming
Rhonda Fleming
Rhonda Fleming , is an American film and television actress.She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most beautiful and glamorous actresses of her day...
, Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
, Anita Ekberg
Anita Ekberg
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita which features the legendary scene of her cavorting in Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.-Biography:Ekberg was born in...
, and Elke Sommer
Elke Sommer
Elke Sommer , born Baroness Elke Schletz, is a German actress, entertainer and artist.-Career:Sommer was born in Berlin to a Lutheran minister and his wife...
.
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
for the seven "Road"
Road to...
Road to ... refers to a series of seven comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. They are also often referred to as the "Road" pictures or the "Road" series. The movies were a combination of adventure, comedy, romance, and music...
pictures from 1940 to 1962 and countless stage, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
appearances together over the decades were critically important to Hope's career. At the beginning of the "Road" series, Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
star Hope was relatively little known nationally compared to Crosby, and was actually billed under Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
in the first film, while Crosby had already been a hugely popular singer and movie star
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
for years. After the release of Road to Singapore
Road to Singapore
Road to Singapore is a 1940 Paramount Pictures film starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and Bob Hope, which marked the debut of the long-running and popular "Road to …" series of pictures spotlighting the trio.-Plot:...
(1940), Hope's screen career immediately became white hot and stayed that way for over two decades, actually continuing until Cancel My Reservation
Cancel My Reservation
Cancel My Reservation is a 1972 comedy film starring Bob Hope and Eva Marie Saint, and directed by Paul Bogart. The ironically entitled movie was Bob Hope's last of over 50 theatrical features as leading man, a screen run begun in 1938.-Cast:...
(1972), his last theatrical starring role. 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.
College Swing
College Swing, also known as Swing, Teacher, Swing in the U.K., is a 1938 comedy film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye, and Bob Hope...
(1938; with George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
, Gracie Allen
Gracie Allen
Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
, and Betty Grable
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
), Some Like It Hot
Some Like It Hot (1939 film)
Some Like It Hot is a 1939 comedy film starring Bob Hope, Shirley Ross, and Gene Krupa. The movie was directed by George Archainbaud, and the screenplay was written by Wilkie C. Mahoney and Lewis R. Foster, based on the play The Great Magoo by Ben Hecht and Gene Fowler, which performed briefly on...
(1939; with Shirley Ross
Shirley Ross
Shirley Ross was an American actress and singer.Ross was born Bernice Gaunt in Omaha, Nebraska but her family relocated to California when she was a child. She studied at Hollywood High School and the University of California and auditioned successfully for Gus Arnheim's band during her second...
and Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
), The Ghost Breakers
The Ghost Breakers
The Ghost Breakers is a comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. The movie was adapted by Walter DeLeon from the play The Ghost Breaker by Paul Dickey and Charles W...
(1940, with Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
), The Paleface
The Paleface
The Paleface is a 1948 comedy Western directed by Norman Z. McLeod, starring Bob Hope as "Painless Potter" and Jane Russell as Calamity Jane. In the film, Hope sings the song Buttons and Bows, which became his greatest hit by far when it came to record sales. The song also won the Academy Award...
(1948; with Jane Russell
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
), Sorrowful Jones
Sorrowful Jones
Sorrowful Jones is a 1949 film directed by Sidney Lanfield. The film stars Lucille Ball and Bob Hope.Sorrowful Jones was a remake of a 1934 Shirley Temple film, Little Miss Marker. In the film, a young girl is left with the notoriously cheap Sorrowful Jones as a marker for a bet...
(1949; with Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
), The Seven Little Foys
The Seven Little Foys
The Seven Little Foys is a 1955 film starring Bob Hope as Eddie Foy. James Cagney reprises his role as George M. Cohan for an energetic tabletop dance showdown sequence. In addition to the famous film, the story of Eddie Foy, Sr...
(1955; with James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
as George M. Cohan
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer....
), The Iron Petticoat
The Iron Petticoat
The Iron Petticoat is a 1956 British Cold War comedy film starring Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn and directed by Ralph Thomas. Hepburn plays a Russian aviatrix who lands in West Germany and is quickly converted to capitalism after sampling life in the West in the company of Major Chuck Lockwood...
(1956; with Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
), and Beau James
Beau James
Beau James is a 1957 film based on a non-fiction book of the same name by Gene Fowler.The movie stars Bob Hope as Jimmy Walker, the colourful but controversial Mayor of New York City from 1926-32. American prints of this film are narrated by Walter Winchell; in Britain, the film was narrated by...
(1957; with Hope as James J. Walker).
Hope was host
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
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
Road to Morocco
Road to Morocco is an 1942 American comedy film about two fast-talking guys tossed up on a desert shore and sold into slavery to a beautiful princess...
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 The Road to Bali, when Crosby finds Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
'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
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for his performances (Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
won the Best Actor for Going My Way
Going My Way
Going My Way is a 1944 film directed by Leo McCarey. It is a light-hearted musical comedy-drama about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran . Crosby sings five songs in the film. It was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's. This picture was...
in 1944), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
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
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
."
Broadcasting
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
studio in New York. In January 1947, Hope was master of ceremonies for the first telecast by California's first television station, KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
. His career in broadcasting spanned 64 years and included a long association with NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. 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
Pepsodent
Pepsodent is a brand of toothpaste with a minty flavour derived from Sassafras. The brand is owned by Unilever, but in 2003 the rights to the brand in the United States and Canada were bought by Church and Dwight....
Show Starring Bob Hope began, continuing as The New Swan Show in 1948 (for the same sponsor, Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturer founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James Darcy Lever . The brothers had invested in and promoted a new soap making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson, it was a huge success...
). After 1950, the series was known simply as The Bob Hope Show, with Liggett & Myers (1950–52), General Foods
General Foods
General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the USA by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The name General Foods was adopted in 1929, after several corporate acquisitions...
(1953) and American Dairy Association
American Dairy Association
The American Dairy Association is a registered name owned by Dairy Management Inc., which also owns the names National Dairy Council and U.S. Dairy Export Council. It should not be confused with various state-level and regional 501 organizations with similar names .-External links:* Home page of...
(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
Barbara Jo Allen
Barbara Jo Allen was an actress also known as Vera Vague, the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 1950s. She based the character on a woman she had seen delivering a PTA literature lecture in a confused manner...
as spinster Vera Vague.
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
(1955–1961), Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
(1963–73) and Texaco
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
(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
The Lemon Drop Kid
The Lemon Drop Kid is a 1951 comedy film based on the short story of the same name by Damon Runyon, starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell, and directed by Sidney Lanfield.The song "Silver Bells," sung by Hope and Maxwell, was introduced in the film...
) done as a duet with an often much younger female guest star (such as Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...
, and Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
).
In October 1956, Hope appeared on an episode of the most-viewed program in America at the time, I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
. He said, upon receiving the script: "What? A script? I don't need one of these", and ad-libbed the entire episode. Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to...
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." Lucy and Desi returned the favor by appearing on one of his Chevy Show specials (with Vivian Vance
Vivian Vance
Vivian Roberta Jones was an American television and theater actress and singer. Often referred to as “TV’s most beloved second banana,” she is best known for her role as Ethel Mertz, sidekick to Lucille Ball on the American television sitcom I Love Lucy, and as Vivian Bagley on The Lucy...
and William Frawley
William Frawley
William Clement "Bill" Frawley was an American stage entertainer, screen and television actor. Although Frawley acted in over 100 films, he achieved his greatest fame playing landlord Fred Mertz for the situation comedy I Love Lucy.-Early life:William was born to Michael A. Frawley and Mary E....
) later that season.
Hope's 1970 and 1971 Christmas specials for NBC—filmed in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
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
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, in the episode "Lisa the Beauty Queen
Lisa the Beauty Queen
"Lisa the Beauty Queen" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons fourth season, which first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 15, 1992. In the episode, Homer enters Lisa into a beauty pageant to boost her confidence. Lisa is runner-up, but gains the title of Little Miss...
" (season 4, episode 4). The episode attracted 11.1 million viewers when it premiered on October 15. Hope's NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
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
Second City Television
Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
Hope impressionist Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas (actor)
David "Dave" Thomas is a Canadian comedian and actor. He was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, but moved to Durham, North Carolina where his father, John E. Thomas, attended Duke University and earned a PhD in Philosophy. Thomas attended George Watts and Moorehead elementary schools...
would deliver the monologue for him while imitating Hope's delivery. His final television special, Laughing with the Presidents, was broadcast in 1996, with Tony Danza
Tony Danza
Tony Danza is an American actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards...
helping Hope present a personal retrospective of presidents of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
known to the comedian.
USO
For more on this topic see USO – Honoring Bob HopeRMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...
when World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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. Hope performed his first United Service Organizations
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
(USO) show on May 6, 1941, at March Field
March Air Reserve Base
March Joint Air Reserve Base is located in Riverside County, California between the cities of Riverside and Moreno Valley. It is the home to the Air Force Reserve Command's 4th Air Force Headquarters and the 452d Air Mobility Wing , the largest air mobility wing of the 4th Air Force...
, California. He continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II and later during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the third phase of the Lebanon Civil War, the latter years of the Iran–Iraq War, and the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
. 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
Sylvanus Thayer Award
The Sylvanus Thayer Award is an award that is given each year by the United States Military Academy at West Point. Sylvanus Thayer was the fifth superintendent of that academy and in honor of his achievements, the award was created...
by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968.
Of Hope's USO shows in World War II, writer John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
, 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.
A 1997 act of Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
signed by President Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
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."
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
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
carried a golf club on stage each night during his own week-long USO performance and taping of The Colbert Report and explained in his last episode that it was an homage to Hope.
Theater
Hope's first Broadway appearances, in 1927's The Sidewalks of New York and 1928's Ups-a-Daisy, were minor walk-on parts. He returned to Broadway in 1933 to star as Huckleberry Haines in the Jerome KernJerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
/Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields was an American librettist and lyricist.She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films...
musical Roberta
Roberta
Roberta is a musical from 1933 with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach. The musical is based on the novel Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller...
. Stints in the musicals Say When
Say When
Say When is an American musical with music by Ray Henderson, lyrics by Ted Koehler, and a musical book by Jack McGowan. Directed by Bertram Harrison, the production opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre where it ran from November 8, 1934 through January 12, 1935 for a total of 76 performances....
, the 1936 Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
(with Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice was a popular and influential American illustrated song "model," comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show...
), and Red, Hot and Blue
Red, Hot and Blue
Red, Hot and Blue is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and the book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1936 and introduced the popular song, "It's De-Lovely" sung by Ethel Merman.-Synopsis:...
with Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
and Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
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
The Muny
The Muny, short for The Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, is an outdoor musical theatre, located in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri...
Theater in Forest Park
Forest Park
-Towns and villages:*Forest Park, Ontario, Canada*Forest Park, Georgia, USA*Forest Park, Illinois, USA*Forest Park, Ohio, Hamilton county, Ohio, USA*Forest Park, Ottawa County, Ohio, USA*Forest Park, Oklahoma, USA...
, St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
.
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.
Sports
Hope was an avid golfer. He was introduced to the game in the 1930s, and eventually played to a four handicapGolf handicap
A handicap is a numerical measure of an amateur golfer's playing ability based on the tees played for a given course. It is used to calculate a net score from the number of strokes actually played, thus allowing players of different proficiency to play against each other on somewhat equal terms...
. His love for the game, and the humor he could find in it, made him a much sought-after foursome
Foursome (golf)
A foursome, also known as alternate shot, is a type of match in the sport of golf.Golfers compete in teams of two, using one ball, and taking alternate shots until the hole is completed. Team members also take turns in teeing off on each hole, i.e...
member. He once remarked that President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
gave up golf for painting – "fewer strokes, you know." Throughout his career, a golf club became an integral prop
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...
for Hope during the stand-up
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
segments of his television specials and USO Shows. In 1978, he putted against a then two-year-old Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
in a television appearance with James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
on The Mike Douglas Show
The Mike Douglas Show
The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that aired in syndication from 1961 to 1982, distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations.The program featured light banter with...
. The Bob Hope Classic was founded in 1960, and is currently the only FedEx Cup
FedEx Cup
The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007 after a NASCAR-like points race. Bill Haas is the current champion...
tournament that takes place over five 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
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
– the only time ever that three presidents participated in a golf foursome.
Hope would frequently use his television specials to promote the annual College Football All-America Team
College Football All-America Team
The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best American college football players at their respective positions. The original usage of the term All-America seems to have been to the 1889 College Football All-America Team selected by Casper Whitney and published in This...
. 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
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
in 1946 and owned it for most of the rest of his life. In 1993, he sang "Thanks for the Memory" after the Indians' last game at Cleveland Stadium
Cleveland Stadium
Cleveland Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in Cleveland, Ohio. In its final years, the stadium seated 74,438, for baseball and 81,000, for football. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball and football...
. Hope also bought a share of the Los Angeles Rams football team in 1947 with Bing Crosby and sold it in 1962.
Marriages
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 frugalityFrugality
Frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the use of consumable resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance....
. In 1934, Bob Hope married Dolores (DeFina) Reade
Dolores Hope
Dolores Hope, DC*SG was an American singer, philanthropist and wife of actor/comedian Bob Hope.-Early life and career:...
, and adopted four children at The Cradle in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
: Linda, Tony, Kelly and Nora. 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.
Extramarital affairs
Hope's "endless extramarital flings had been an open secret in Hollywood for years." In 1949, while Hope was in Dallas on a publicity tour for his radio show, he met starlet Barbara PaytonBarbara Payton
Barbara Payton was an American film actress best known for her stormy social life and eventual battles with alcohol and drug addiction. Her life has been the subject of several books including Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story , by John O'Dowd, and L.A...
, 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. The arrangement soured as Hope was not able to satisfy Payton’s definition of generosity and her insatiable need for attention. Hope paid her off to end the affair quietly. Payton later revealed the affair with a tell-all printed in July 1956 in Confidential
Confidential (magazine)
Confidential was a periodical published quarterly from December 1952 to August 1953, and then bi-monthly until 1978. It was founded by Robert Harrison and is considered a pioneer in scandal, gossip, and exposé journalism. Newsweek said it featured "sin and sex with a seasoning of right wing...
. "Hope was...at times a mean-spirited individual with the ability to respond with a ruthless vengeance when sufficiently provoked." His advisors counseled him to ignore the Confidential expose in order to avoid further publicity. "Barbara's ...revelations caused a minor ripple...and then quickly sank without causing any appreciable damage to Bob Hope's legendary career."
Activism
Hope served as an active honorary chairman on the board of Fight for SightFight for Sight (U.S.)
Fight for Sight is a nonprofit organization in the United States which funds medical research in vision and ophthalmology. It was formed in 1946 as the National Council to Combat Blindness , the first non-profit in the United States to fund vision research; 2011 marked its 65th anniversary.Based in...
. He recruited numerous top celebrities for the annual "Lights On" fundraiser, 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.
Later years
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...
. He was presented with the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award
Ronald Reagan Freedom Award
The Ronald Reagan Freedom Award is the highest civilian honor bestowed by the private Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The award is given to "those who have made monumental and lasting contributions to the cause of freedom worldwide."...
in 1997 by Nancy Reagan
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989....
. The following year, Hope was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
by Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
. Upon accepting the appointment, Hope quipped, "I'm speechless. 70 years of ad lib material and I'm speechless."
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
and Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
. Two years later, Hope was present at the opening of the Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. 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."
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
Hollywood and Vine
Hollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, became famous in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered on the intersection.Today, not many production...
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
Blood type
A blood type is a classification of blood based on the presence or absence of inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells . These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates, glycoproteins, or glycolipids, depending on the blood group system...
." He converted to Roman Catholicism.
Death
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. In 2003 he was among several famous figures whose pre-written obituaries were published on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's website because of a lapse in password protection.
Beginning in 2000, Hope's health steadily declined and he was hospitalized several times before his death. In June 2000, he spent nearly a week in a California hospital after being hospitalized for gastrointestinal bleeding
Gastrointestinal bleeding
Gastrointestinal bleeding or gastrointestinal hemorrhage describes every form of hemorrhage in the gastrointestinal tract, from the pharynx to the rectum. It has diverse causes, and a medical history, as well as physical examination, generally distinguishes between the main forms...
. In August 2001, he spent close to two weeks in the hospital recovering from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
.
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." He was interred in the Bob Hope Memorial Garden at San Fernando Mission Cemetery
San Fernando Mission Cemetery
The San Fernando Mission Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery located at 11160 Stranwood Avenue in the Mission Hills community of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, near the San Fernando Mission....
in Los Angeles, where his mother is also buried.
Honors
- In 1962, Bob Hope was presented with the United States Congressional Gold Medal.
- In 1969, President Lyndon Johnson bestowed the Presidential Medal of FreedomPresidential Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
on Bob Hope for his service to the men and women of the armed forces through the USO. - Inducted into the World Golf Hall of FameWorld Golf Hall of FameThe World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site serves both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 golf organizations from all over the world.The Hall of...
in 1983. - He was a member of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of FameNational Association of Broadcasters Hall of FameThe NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame is a yearly honor from the National Association of Broadcasters. One inductee from radio and one from television are named at the yearly NAB conference.-Radio:*2011 * 2010 Ron Chapman* 2009 Vin Scully* 2008 Larry Lujack...
in the radio division. - Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the GreatOrder of St. Gregory the GreatThe Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
(KCSG) – 1989 - In 1995, Bob Hope was presented with the National Medal of ArtsNational Medal of ArtsThe National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
. - Hope received the Ronald Reagan Freedom AwardRonald Reagan Freedom AwardThe Ronald Reagan Freedom Award is the highest civilian honor bestowed by the private Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The award is given to "those who have made monumental and lasting contributions to the cause of freedom worldwide."...
in 1997. - Honorary Knight CommanderKnight CommanderKnight Commander is the second most senior grade of seven British orders of chivalry, three of which are dormant . The rank entails admission into knighthood, allowing the recipient to use the title 'Sir' or 'Dame' before his or her name...
of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(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 BandThe Ohio State University Marching BandThe Ohio State University Marching Band performs at Ohio State football games and other events during the fall quarter...
. - The historic chapel at the Los Angeles National CemeteryLos Angeles National CemeteryThe Los Angeles National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in West Los Angeles, at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard. The cemetery was dedicated in 1889. Interred there are war veterans, from the Spanish-American war, World War I, World War II, Korean War,...
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 ChargersSan Diego ChargersThe San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
owner and friend, Alex SpanosAlex SpanosAlexander Gus Spanos is an American real estate developer and self-made billionaire of Greek origin who founded the A. G. Spanos Companies and owns the San Diego Chargers.-Early life:...
donated $500,000 to the historic Fox Theater in downtown Stockton, CaliforniaStockton, CaliforniaStockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
to rename the theater, it was later approved from the city to change it to "The Bob Hope Theater". - The Burbank, CaliforniaBurbank, CaliforniaBurbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, public airport was renamed Bob Hope AirportBob Hope AirportBob Hope Airport is a public airport located 3 miles northwest of the central business district of Burbank, a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States...
in 2003. - The historic Bob Hope Patriotic HallBob Hope Patriotic HallBob Hope Patriotic Hall is a 10 story building that was dedicated as Patriotic Hall by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors in 1925 and was built to serve veterans of Indian Wars, Spanish American War, World War I and to support the Grand Army of the Republic...
building on Figueroa StreetFigueroa StreetFigueroa Street is a street in Los Angeles County, California named for General José Figueroa , governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835, who oversaw the secularization of the missions of California...
in Los Angeles County was named in his honor on August 3, 2003, by the Board of SupervisorsLos Angeles County Board of SupervisorsThe Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five-member nonpartisan governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district. They were as of December 2, 2008:*District 1: Gloria Molina...
. of the U.S. Military Sealift CommandMilitary Sealift CommandThe Military Sealift Command is a United States Navy organization that controls most of the replenishment and military transport ships of the Navy. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's...
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 IIIC-17 Globemaster IIIThe Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft. Developed for the United States Air Force from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas, the C-17 is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward operating bases throughout...
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 IslandEllis IslandEllis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
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 FameHollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
. - At the U.S. Naval Academy, Alumni HallAlumni Hall (Navy)Alumni Hall is an indoor stadium at the United States Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. Completed in 1991, it seats 5,710 and serves as the primary assembly hall for the Brigade of Midshipmen. It is used for athletic contests — including basketball and wrestling — and is home for the Naval...
is home to the Bob Hope Performing Arts Center. - The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate ConceptionBasilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate ConceptionThe Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is a prominent Latin Rite Catholic basilica located in Washington, D.C., honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the Patroness of the United States...
in Washington, D.C. has a wing funded by Dolores and Bob Hope in memory of his mother. It is dedicated to a miracle in PontmainPontmainPontmain is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France.-History:On 17 January 1871, some children from the village claimed to see an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the sky. February 2 1872, Mgr. Wicart, bishop of Laval, recognised the apparition...
, France. - The municipal clock tower of Utica, New YorkUtica, New YorkUtica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
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, CaliforniaSan Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. - 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 AntiheroAudio AntiheroAudio Antihero is an independent record label formed in October 2009 and based in South East London. The label gained immediate attention with their first two releases Nosferatu D2's "We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise" and Benjamin Shaw's "I Got the...
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 MiramarMarine Corps Air Station MiramarMarine Corps Air Station Miramar , formerly Naval Air Station Miramar is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the aviation element of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force...
, the base theater is named the Bob Hope Theater. - In 1996 TV GuideTV GuideTV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
ranked Hope number 25 on it's '50 Greatest TV Stars' of All Time' list.
Books by Bob Hope
(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 0-74326-103-8.
- Hope, Bob. I Owe Russia $1200. New York: Doubleday, 1963. ISBN 978-0017450395.
- Hope, Bob. Five Women I Love: Bob Hope's Vietnam Story. Amarillo , Texas: Hale Publishing, 1967. ISBN 978-0517504550.
- Hope, Bob and Pete Martin. The Last Christmas Show. New York: Doubleday, 1974. ISBN 0-70915-660-X.
- Hope, Bob and Bob Thomas. The Road to Hollywood: My 40-year Love Affair with the Movies. New York: Doubleday, 1977. ISBN 0-38502-292-1.
- Hope, Bob and Dwayne Netlund. Bob Hope's Confessions of a Hooker: My Lifelong Love Affair with Golf. New York: Doubleday, 1985. ISBN 0-38517-442-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 0-39913-518-9.
- 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 0-92926-484-3.
- Hope, Bob and Ward Grant. Bob Hope Remembers World War II: The European Theater and D-Day. Hollywood, California: Hope Enterprises, 1994. ISBN 1-88599-701-9.
- 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. Greater Late Than Never: Fulfilling Your Dreams After 50. Atlanta, Georgia: Longstreet Press, 1998. ISBN 1-56352-470-8.
- Hope, Bob and Linda Hope. Bob Hope: My Life in Jokes. New York: Hyperion Books, 2004. ISBN 1-40130-742-6.
External links
- 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"
- MSNBCMSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
tributes: - CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
: 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)
- 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.