He was born Leslie Townes Hope in England on May 29, 1903. He died an American entertainment legend on July 27, 2003.
With his stonemason father, William Henry Hope, and his mother, Avis Townes Hope, an aspiring concert singer, Hope moved to Cleveland at age four. He was the fifth of seven boys born to the couple.
Growing up, he worked at odd jobs, and constantly entered amateur shows where, according to Bob Hope Enterprises, he made extra money to contribute to the family bank account. On the side, he was a newspaper reporter and a pool hustler.
When he left high school, Hope started taking dance lessons, and was such a natural he began to teach the classes. He danced with his girlfriend Mildred Rosequist in vaudeville theatres until her mother caught the act and pulled her out of the show.
Teaming up with his friend Lloyd Durbin, Hope landed a gig on the Fatty Arbuckle Show.
A year later, Hope was off to join George Byrne in New York City where he got his first shot at Broadway, a show called Sidewalks of New York. He went on to perform Ballyhoo in 1932, Roberta in 1933, Say When in 1934 and Ziegfield Follies and Red, Hot and Blue in 1936.
During his stint with Roberta, one of his coworkers took him to a club to introduce him to the woman who would later become his wife. Dolores Reade was singing at the Vogue Club when Hope walked in. As Hope told it on his official Web site, "She had a low, husky voice - soft and sweet. She sang ‘It's Only a Paper Moon’ and ‘Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?’ That did it! From then on I was at the Vogue Club every night, waiting to take Dolores home. A few months later we tied the knot." They married in 1934.
Photo: Bob Hope official Web site |
A few years later, Hope starred in his first major film for Paramount Pictures called The Big Broadcast of 1938. The Library of Congress exhibition on Hope cites this movie as his grand entrance to show business. It was during this picture that he sang Thanks for the Memory which later became his unofficial theme song. After this, Hope began on his "Road to stardom" with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in their seven Road to… pictures made between 1940 and 1962 (to Singapore, Zanzibar, Morocco, Utopia, Rio, Bali and Hong Kong).
The Big Broadcast of 1938 led him to a job hosting the Pepsodent Radio Show which aired for more than 10 years. Here, he brought fame to himself, and to the show. Featured singers on the program included Judy Garland, Frances Langford, Doris Day and Gloria Jean.
It was with the Pepsodent show that Hope began his lifelong commitment to entertaining members of the armed forces. In 1941, a Pepsodent show aired from an Army Air Force Field in Riverside, California. From then on, Hope travelled all over the world to entertain the troops. During the Second World War, he travelled to England, Africa, Sicily and Ireland.
In the summer of 1944, Hope visited the islands of the South Pacific to entertain the troops stationed there. After that summer he wrote a book, I Never Left Home, about his experiences during the Second World War. It sold more than 1.5 million copies.
Hope made his first television appearance in 1947, when he headlined the first broadcast of KTLA, the first West Coast TV station in the United States. He had never been a big fan of television and was convinced that it would fail as a source of entertainment. Instead, it brought Hope into the living rooms of millions of Americans.
On Christmas Day 1948, he flew to Germany to hold a special concert for the armed forces. This began a Christmas tradition that Hope and his wife Dolores would carry on for many years.
Hope with Dinah Shore in 1950 |
Giving in to the success of TV, Hope made his formal NBC debut on Easter Sunday, 1950. After that, he was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and often acted alongside Lucille Ball.
Beginning in 1953, Hope took his Christmas concert tradition to a television audience by hosting an annual Christmas television special, which was broadcast internationally for U.S. troops around the world. In April 1956, he hosted the last official Pepsodent show.
U.S. President John F. Kennedy called Hope "America's most prized ambassador of goodwill throughout the world" while presenting him with the Congressional Gold Medal on June 8, 1962.
Hope went to Vietnam nine times between 1964 until 1972, adding the southeast Asia stop to his Christmas tours. He proclaimed the 1972 program his last Christmas show – then proceeded to put on a show from somewhere in the world every year until 1994.
In 1983, Hope went to Beirut to entertain the troops there and he flew to Saudi Arabia in 1991 to put on a show for the troops massed there for the Gulf War.
In May 1997, Hope was honoured with a dedication of a new fleet of military ships in his name – the USNS Bob Hope, and a month later the Air Force named a C-17 after him. Then, in October of that same year, he became the first honorary veteran in U.S. history.
Milton Berle and Hope cutting a birthday cake |
On his 99th birthday, the Chapel at the Los Angeles National Cemetery was named The Bob Hope Veterans Chapel in honour of his work with the troops.
Hope had more than 2,000 awards and citations, including 54 honorary doctorates, for his humanitarian and artistic efforts.
In 1998, he received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth, in recognition of his contributions to the arts. When Hope received the news, he said, "I'm speechless. Seventy years of ad lib material and I'm speechless."
Hope frequently emceed the Academy Awards, and received five honorary Oscars including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. But the fact he never received an award for his acting, was a favourite joke: "Oscar night at my house is called Passover."
A big sports fan, at one time Hope owned part of both the Cleveland Indians and the Los Angeles Rams.
Golf, however was his favourite. "Golf is my profession," he said. "I tell jokes to pay my green fees."
He wrote a book about the sport called Confessions of a Hooker, which highlights moments from his more than 50 years of golfing, and made the New York Times best-seller list for 53 weeks in a row.
The advancing years took away most of Hope's sight and hearing, but never robbed him of his sense of humour. They only provided more material: "You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake."
