12/17/2017 Bob Hope - Wikipedia Bob Hope Leslie Towns "Bob" Hope, KBE, KC*SG, KSS (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, Bob Hope dancer, athlete and author. With a career that spanned nearly 80 KBE, KC*SG, KSS years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, including a series of "Road" movies. In addition to hosting the Academy Awards show nineteen times, more than any other host, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles, and was the author of 14 books. The song "Thanks for the Memory" is widely regarded as his signature tune. Hope was born in Eltham, County of London, arrived in America with his family at the age of four, and grew up in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. He began his career in show business in the early 1920s, initially on stage, then began appearing on the radio and in films in 1934. He was praised for his comedy timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes which often were self-deprecating. Celebrated for his long career performing United Service Organizations (USO) shows to entertain active duty American military personnel—he made 57 tours for the USO between 1941 and 1991—Hope was declared an honorary veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces in 1997 by act of the Congress.[2] He Hope in 1978 also appeared in numerous specials for NBC television, starting in Born Leslie Towns 1950, and was one of the first users of cue cards. He participated in the sports of golf and boxing and owned a small stake in his hometown Hope baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. He died at age 100 at his home May 29, 1903 in Toluca Lake, California. Eltham, County of Contents London,[1] Early years England Career Film Died July 27, 2003 Broadcasting (aged 100) NBC comedy specials USO Involvement Toluca Lake, Theater California, Critical reception Personal life U.S. Marriages Extramarital affairs Resting San Fernando Vision philanthropy place Mission His later years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hope 1/19 12/17/2017 Bob Hope - Wikipedia Illness and death Cemetery, Estate Awards and honors U.S. Academy Awards Other names Les Hope Discography Singles Packy East Bibliography Occupation Actor, See also References comedian, Bibliography singer, author, Further reading External links athlete Years active 1919–1997 Early years Spouse(s) Grace Louise Troxell (m. 1933; div. 1934) Dolores Reade (m. 1934) Writer Hal Block (far left) and Hope (second from left) meet George Children 4 Patton in Sicily during World War II Relatives Jack Hope (brother) Hope was born in Eltham, Kent[1] (now part of the London Borough of Greenwich), the fifth of seven sons. His English father, William Henry Awards List of awards Hope, was a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and his Welsh mother, Avis (née Towns), was a light opera singer from Barry, and Vale of Glamorgan,[3] who later worked as a cleaner. William and Avis nominations married in April 1891 and lived at 12 Greenwood Street in Barry before moving to Whitehall, Bristol, and then to St George, Bristol. In 1908, received by the family emigrated to the United States, sailing aboard the SS Bob Hope Philadelphia. They passed through Ellis Island, N.Y., on March 30, 1908, before moving on to Cleveland, Ohio.[4] Website bobhope.com From age 12, Hope earned pocket money by busking—public (http://bobhop performing to solicit contributions (frequently on the streetcar to e.com) Luna Park), singing, dancing, and performing comedy.[5] He entered numerous dancing and amateur talent contests as Lester Hope, and Boxing career won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin.[6] For a time, he attended the Boys' Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio, and Statistics as an adult donated sizable sums of money to the institution.[7] Hope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hope 2/19 12/17/2017 Bob Hope - Wikipedia had a brief career as a boxer in 1919, fighting under the name Packy Weight(s) Super East. He had three wins and one loss, and he participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life.[8] Featherweight Hope worked as a butcher's assistant and a lineman in his teens and (128 lb) early twenties. He also had a brief stint at Chandler Motor Car Height 5 ft 10 in Company. But, deciding on a show business career, he and his girlfriend at the time signed up for dancing lessons. Encouraged after (178 cm) they performed in a three-day engagement at a club, Hope formed a Reach 72 in partnership with Lloyd Durbin, a friend from the dancing school.[9] Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw them perform in 1925 and (183 cm) found them work with a touring troupe called Hurley's Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with Signature George Byrne and the Hilton Sisters, conjoined twins who performed a tap dancing routine in the vaudeville circuit. Hope and Byrne had an act as Siamese twins as well, and danced and sang while wearing blackface until friends advised Hope he was funnier as himself.[10] In 1929, Hope informally changed his first name to "Bob." In one version of the story, he named himself after race car driver Bob Burman.[11] In another, he said he chose the name because he wanted a name with a "friendly 'Hiya, fellas!' sound" to it.[12] In a 1942 legal document, his legal name is given as Lester Towns Hope; it is unknown if this reflects a legal name change from Leslie.[13] After five years on the vaudeville circuit, Hope was "surprised and humbled" when he failed a 1930 screen test for the French film production company Pathé at Culver City, California.[14] Career In the early days, Hope's career included appearances on stage in vaudeville shows and Broadway productions. He began performing on the radio in 1934, and switched to television when that medium became popular in the 1950s. He began doing regular TV specials in 1954,[15] and hosted the Academy Awards nineteen times from 1939 through 1977.[16] Overlapping with this was his movie career, spanning 1934 to 1972, and his USO tours, which he conducted from 1941 to 1991.[17][18] Film Hope signed a contract with Educational Pictures of New York for six short films. The first was a comedy, Going Spanish (1934). He was not happy with it, and told newspaper gossip columnist Walter Winchell, "When they catch [bank robber] John Dillinger, they're going to make him sit through it twice."[19] Although Educational Pictures dropped his contract, he soon signed with Warner Brothers, making movies during the day and performing in Broadway shows in the evenings.[20] Hope moved to Hollywood when Paramount Pictures signed him for the 1938 film The Big Broadcast of 1938, also starring W. C. Fields. The song "Thanks for the Memory", which later became his trademark, was introduced in the film as a duet with Shirley Ross, accompanied by Shep Fields and his orchestra.[21] The sentimental, fluid nature of the music allowed Hope's writers—he depended heavily upon joke writers throughout his career[22]—to later create variations of the song to fit specific circumstances, such as bidding farewell to troops while on tour or mentioning the names of towns in which he was performing.[23] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hope 3/19 12/17/2017 Bob Hope - Wikipedia As a movie star, Hope was best known for such comedies as My Favorite Brunette and the highly successful "Road" movies in which he starred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. The series consists of seven films made between 1940 and 1962 -- Road to Singapore Bob Hope in The Ghost Breakers (1940), Road to Zanzibar Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy trailer (1940) Lamour in Road to Bali (1952) (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 had seen Lamour performing as a nightclub singer in New York,[24] and invited her to work on his United Service Organizations (USO) tours of military facilities. Lamour sometimes arrived for filming prepared with her lines, only to be baffled by completely rewritten scripts or ad lib dialogue between Hope and Crosby.[25] Hope and Lamour were lifelong friends, and she remains the actress most associated with his film career although he made movies with dozens of leading ladies, including such luminaries as Katharine Hepburn, Paulette Goddard, Hedy Lamarr, Lucille Ball, Rosemary Clooney, Jane Russell, and Elke Sommer.[26] From their first meeting in 1932, Hope and Crosby teamed not only for the "Road" pictures, but for countless stage, radio, and television appearances over the decades [27] until Crosby's death in 1977. Although the two invested together in oil leases and other business ventures, worked together frequently, and lived near each other, they rarely saw each other socially.[28] After the release of Road to Singapore (1940), Hope's screen career took off, and he had a long and successful run. After an 11-year hiatus from the "Road" genre, he and Crosby reteamed for The Road to Hong Kong (1962), starring the 28-year-old Joan Collins in place of Lamour, who Hope and Crosby thought was too old for the part.[29] They had planned one more movie together in 1977, The Road to the Fountain of Youth, but filming was postponed when Crosby was injured in a fall, and the production was cancelled when he suddenly died of heart failure that October.[30] Hope starred in 54 theatrical features between 1938 and 1972,[31] as well as cameos and short films.