Bob Hope

For other uses, see Bob Hope (disambiguation).

Bob Hope
Hope in 1986
Born	Leslie Townes Hope (1903-05-29)May 29, 1903 Eltham, London, England, UK
Died	July 27, 2003(2003-07-27) (aged 100) Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, California, USA
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Nationality	English-born American
Occupation(s)	Actor, comedian, author, athlete
Years active	1919–1997
Spouses	Grace Louise Troxell (1933–1934) Dolores Hope (1934–2003; his death)
Children	Eleanora (born 1930) Linda (born 1933) William Kelly Francis (born 1937) Anthony (1940–2004)
Family	Jack Hope (brother)
Awards	List of awards and nominations received by Bob Hope
Website	http://bobhope.com

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS, born Leslie Townes Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003), was an English-born American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, author, and athlete who appeared on Broadway, in vaudeville, movies, television, and on the radio. He was noted for his numerous United Service Organizations (USO) shows entertaining American military personnel—he made 57 tours for the USO between 1941 and 1991. Throughout his long career, he was honored for this work. In 1997, the U.S. Congress declared him the "first and only honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces."

With a career spanning over 60 years, Hope appeared in over 70 films and shorts, including a series of "Road" movies co-starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. In addition to hosting the Academy Awards fourteen times, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles, and was the author of fourteen books. He participated in the sports of golf and boxing, and owned a small stake in his hometown baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. He was married to performer Dolores Hope (née DeFina) for 69 years.

Early years

Writer Hal Block (left) and Hope meet George Patton in Sicily during World War II

Hope was born in Eltham, London, UK, the fifth of seven sons. 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 from Barry who later worked as a cleaning woman. She married William Hope in April 1891 and the couple lived at 12 Greenwood Street in the town, then moved to Whitehall and St George in Bristol. In 1908 the family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia, and passed inspection at Ellis Island on March 30, 1908, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio.

From the age of 12, Hope earned pocket money by busking (frequently on the streetcar to Luna Park), singing, dancing, and performing comedy patter. He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests (as Lester Hope), and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. For a time Hope attended the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. As an adult, Hope donated sizable sums of money to the institution.

Hope worked as a butcher's assistant and a lineman in his teens and early twenties. Deciding to try a show business career, he and his girlfriend, Millie Rosequist, signed up for dance lessons. Encouraged after they performed in a three-day engagement at a club, Hope then formed a partnership with Lloyd Durbin, a fellow pupil from the dance school. Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw them perform in 1925 and obtained them steady work with a touring troupe called 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 performed a tap dancing routine in the vaudeville circuit. Hope and Byrne had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well, and danced and sang while wearing blackface, before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself. In 1929, he informally 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. In a 1942 legal document, Hope's legal name is given as Lester Townes Hope; it is unknown if this reflects a legal name change from Leslie. (The document also states that he is "Known as Bob Hope.") |- ! scope="row" | 1938 |"Thanks for the Memory" (A-side) (Bob Hope & Shirley Ross) |align="center"|— |- ! scope="row" | 1939 |"Two Sleepy People" (B-side) (Bob Hope & Shirley Ross) |align="center"|15 |- ! scope="row" | 1945 |"The Road to Morocco" (Bing Crosby & Bob Hope) |align="center"|21 |- ! scope="row" | 1950 |"Blind Date" (Margaret Whiting & Bob Hope) |align="center"|16 |- |}

Bibliography

Main article: Bob Hope bibliography

See also

• Biography portal
• Bob Hope television appearances

References

Citations

Sources

• Faith, William Robert (2003). Bob Hope: A Life in Comedy. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81207-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Friedrich, Otto (1986). City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in 1940s. Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20949-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Grudens, Richard (2002). The Spirit of Bob Hope: One Hundred Years, One Million Laughs. Soiux Falls, SD: Pine Hill Press. ISBN 978-1-57579-227-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Lahr, John (December 21, 1998). "Profiles: The CEO of Comedy". The New Yorker: 62–79. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Maltin, Leonard (1972). The Great Movie Shorts. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-517-50455-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• McCaffrey, Donald W. (2005). The Road to Comedy: The films of Bob Hope. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-98257-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mikailian, Arin (December 5, 2012). "Bob Hope's Toluca Lake Home Hitting the Market". North Hollywood-Toluca Lake Patch. Retrieved June 8, 2013. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Moreno, Barry (2008). Ellis Island's Famous Immigrants. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. ISBN 978-0-7385-5533-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• O'Dowd, John (2006). Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-063-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Quirk, Lawrence J. (1998). Bob Hope: The Road Well-Traveled. New York: Applause. ISBN 978-1-55783-353-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Steinbeck, John (1958). Once There Was A War. New York: Viking Press. OCLC 394412. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• Mills, Robert L. (2009). The Laugh Makers: A Behind the Scenes Tribute to Bob Hope's Incredible Gag Writers. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-323-4.
• Young, Jordan R. (1999). The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV's Golden Age. Beverly Hills, CA: Past Times Publishing. ISBN 978-0-940410-37-4.

External links

• Bob Hope at AllMovie
• Bob Hope at the Internet Broadway Database
• Bob Hope at IMDb
• Bob Hope at the National Radio Hall of Fame
• MSNBC tribute series:
  • "Hope-ful Century of Wit and Laughter"
  • "100 Years of Hope: The Early Years"
  • "100 Years of Hope: Slapstick and the Great Divide"
• Congressional Gold Medal Recipients
• Literature on Bob Hope
• Bob Hope's 1967 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.