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Jack Benny
Age: 80 (passed away Dec. 26th, 1974)
Height: 5' 8"
Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Born: Dec. 31st, 1969
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Jack Benny's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: The son of a saloonkeeper, Jack Benny (born Benny Kubelsky) began to study the violin at the age six, and his "ineptness" at it later become his trademark (in reality, he was a very accomplished player). When given the opportunity to play in live theatre professionally, Benny quit school and joined vaudeville. In the same theatre that Benny was working with were the very young Marx Brothers. Their mother, Minnie, wanted Benny to go on the road with them. However, this plan was foiled by his parents who would not let their 17-year-old son on the road.
Having a successful vaudeville career, Benny also had a greater career on radio for "The Jack Benny Program". The show was one of the few successful radio programs that also became a successful television show.
Benny also starred in several movies including The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929), Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) and George Washington Slept Here (1942), although he had much greater success on radio and on TV than he did on the big screen.
He was good friends with Fred Allen (I), with whom he had a long-standing comic "feud".
TRIVIA:
- When he died in 1974, he left an estate estimated at $4 million.
- Hosted the Academy Awards in 1944 and 1947
- His most famous gag was on his radio show when, in his usual character as a comical miser, he's confronted by a robber who says, "Your money or your life." That's followed by two to three minutes of dead silence, except for the audience which laughed with increasing volume as the silence continued. Finally the robber prodded Jack by saying, "Well?" to which Benny responded, "I'm thinking it over!"
- One of Benny's best-known schticks as a radio star was his long-standing feud with fellow radio comedian 'Fred Allen (I)' (qv). The two often appeared on each other's radio programs to trade barbs. Sadly, other than an appearance on _"The Jack Benny Program" (1950)_ (qv), in which Allen tries to steal Jack's sponsor, this did not carry over into television, as Allen died shortly after beginning his own TV show. In real life, of course, Benny and Allen were great friends, and Benny even took time on his radio program to eulogize Allen after his death.
- He was actually a very competent violin player, although not an expert, and performed a series of benefit concerts with an orchestra. He was similarly generous with money in real life. The bad violin playing and the miserliness was just a part of his act.
- Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. pg. 42-44. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
- 1933-34: Star of NBC Radio's "The Chevrolet Show".
- At his funeral 'George Burns' (qv) began the eulogy but broke down. 'Bob Hope (I)' (qv) rose to the podium in a shaky voice and honored the comedian by reading, "for a man who was the undisputed master of comedy timing, you'd have to say that this was the only time when Jack Benny's timing was all wrong. He left us much too soon."
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