Kenny Baker (American performer)
Kenny Baker | |
|---|---|
 from the film Stage Door Canteen (1943) | |
| Born | Kenneth Laurence Baker |
| Occupation(s) | Film actor, singer |
Kenneth Laurence "Kenny" Baker (30 September 1912 – 10 August 1985) was an American singer/actor who first gained notice as the featured singer on radio's The Jack Benny Program during the 1930s.
At the height of his radio fame, and after leaving the Benny show in 1939 (succeeded by Dennis Day, whose lilting tenor was similar to Baker's), he appeared in seventeen film musicals including: (Mr Dodd Takes the Air (1937), At the Circus, The Harvey Girls (1946) and later co-starred with Mary Martin in the original Broadway production of Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash's One Touch of Venus. He returned to radio as a regular performer on Fred Allen's Texaco Star Theater program of 1940-1942. Baker also recorded a number of hymn albums for his church. After retiring from performing in the early 1950s, he became a Christian Science practitioner and motivational speaker.
He died of a heart attack in Solvang, California.
Listen to
- Command Performance 1942-03-18_ep004- Fred Allen & Kenny Baker
- JACK BENNY PODCAST - 1939-06-18 - Kenny Baker's finale on Jack Benny with new introduction.
- Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1935-11-03 - Kenny Baker's First Show! with new introduction.
- Fred Allen Podcast 1940-10-02 (ep 01)Grab It Or Leave It - Kenny Baker's First Show with Fred Allen! with new introduction.
External links
- Kenny Baker at IMDb
- Kenny Baker at AllMovie
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