Bob Hope

Comedian Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons of Avis (Townes), light opera singer, and William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. His maternal grandmother was Welsh. Hope moved to Bristol before emigrating with his parents to the USA in 1908.

Wife Dolores Hope was born 27th May 1909. She and Bob celebrated their birthdays on 28th May every year--splitting the difference between their respective real birthdays.

First show-business job was as a dancer in the Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle vaudeville revue at the Bandbox Theater in Cleveland, OH, in 1924. Arbuckle recommended Hope and his partner Lloyd Durbin to producer Fred Hurley, who hired them for his popular revue, "Hurley's Jolly Follies." While on tour with Hurley, Durbin ate a piece of tainted coconut custard pie and died a few days later. Dancer George Byrne replaced him.

According to Hope's biographer Arthur Marx, son of comedian Groucho Marx, Hope married his vaudeville partner of five years, Grace Louise Troxell, on 25 January 1933, although they divorced soon afterwards. Hope denied that they had actually married.

At 69 years, his marriage to Dolores Hope held the record for the longest Hollywood marriage when he passed away in 2003. It has since been passed by the marriage of Art Linkletter to Lois Foerster. They were married November 25, 1935.

After some years onstage as a dancer and comedian, he made his first film appearance in The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) singing "Thanks for the Memory", which became his signature tune. In partnership with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, he appeared in the highly successful "Road to. . .

Hosted the Academy Awards in 1939, 1940, 1943, 1945 (alongside John Cromwell), 1946 (alongside James Stewart), 1953 (alongside Conrad Nagel), 1955 (alongside Thelma Ritter), 1958 (alongside James Stewart, David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Rosalind Russell and "Donald Duck"), 1959 (alongside Jerry Lewis, David Niven, Laurence Olivier, Mort Sahl and Tony Randall), 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1975 (alongside Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra) and finally in 1978.

Served as United Service Organizations, Inc. (USO) Entertainment Coordinator from 1941-2001. Retired his post at age 98 in favor of Wayne Newton.

On his wartime USO tours he had one ironclad rule that he insisted his fellow performers follow: under no circumstances were they allowed to cry when visiting wounded soldiers in military hospitals. This was often difficult given the amount of suffering they saw, but he told his performers that it was their duty to always smile and provide laughs and good cheer for the troops. According to Hope, he broke his own rule only once. While visiting an army hospital in Italy in 1943, he stopped at the bedside of a wounded soldier who had been in a coma for two months. The soldier suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Hey, Bob Hope! When did you get here?" He had to leave the hospital room to keep the troops from seeing his tears, but he returned a few hours later to present the soldier with his Purple Heart medal.

In the 1950s he was a part-owner of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. His guest appearance in I Love Lucy (1951) centered around his attending a Yankees-Indians game at Yankee Stadium.

In 1959 he was awarded the Emmy Trustees' Award "for bringing the great gift of laughter to all peoples of all nations; for selflessly entertaining American troops throughout the world over many years; and for making TV finer by these deeds and by the consistently high quality of his TV programs through the years".

He was the only entertainer to have complete carte blanche to walk on whenever he felt like it on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).

Awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by President John F. Kennedy at the White House on September 11, 1963. Only two other entertainers--George M. Cohan and Irving Berlin--were similarly honored.

Awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson on his last day in office, January 20, 1969.

Was the first honoree of the "'Dean Martin' Celebrity Roasts" series on October 30, 1974. The Celebrity Roasts had begun in the last season (1973-74) of The Dean Martin Show (1965) and were so popular that after that show went off the air, the "Celebrity Roasts" continued as specials.

He and best friend Bing Crosby were planning to make one last "road" picture in early 1977, but Bing died before filming. Bob was so broken up about Bing's death that he couldn't sleep for days on end. He stated that it was one of the worst times of his life and that his wife was his rock who got him through the tough time.

His last TV appearance with Lucille Ball was March 28, 1989 on The 61st Annual Academy Awards (1989). They received a standing ovation upon walking out on stage. Hope and Ball introduced a musical number featuring "The Stars of Tomorrow", which included Johnny Depp, Christian Slater, and Ricki Lake. Lucille Ball passed away 28 days later on April 26, 1989.

He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1990.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 219-222. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

In 1995 he was presented the National Medal of Arts: presented by President Bill Clinton.

In 1997 Congress named Hope an honorary U.S. veteran, citing his decades of entertaining troops around the world. He is the only person to receive that distinction.

In 1998 he was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1999 he became the first to start the tradition of the official lighting of the Christmas Tree in Disneyland. Afterwards, he and wife Dolores Hope drove their own golf cart down Main Street, through Frontier Land to Club 33 for dinner.

Spent his 99th birthday--29 May 2002--at home in Toluca Lake, CA. Wife Dolores Hope's 93rd birthday was just two days before. Los Angeles National Cemetery dedicated veterans' chapel in his name to salute his lifetime of service entertaining U.S. troops.