George Burns, born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.His career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century. He enjoyed a career resurrection that began at age 79 and ended shortly before his death at 100.
As a child, he attended P.S. 22 and left after the fourth grade due to economic reasons.
Interred along with wife Gracie Allen at Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA, in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Heritage.
Uncle of Lou Weiss, chairman emeritus of William Morris Agency, who got his mailroom start in the agency business with help of "Uncle Nate".
Was a regular on the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts". He was even a guest of honor in 1978.
"The Burns & Allen Show" (on CBS and NBC from 1934 to 1950) was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1994.
At the time of his Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor for The Sunshine Boys (1975/I) at 80 years old, he was the oldest recipient of an Academy Award. This record was surpassed by Jessica Tandy in 1990 and later by Christopher Plummer in 2012, who received his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 82.
Best friends with fellow comedian Jack Benny , who also served as best man at his and Gracie Allen s wedding. Burns loved playing jokes on Benny, almost as much as watching him laugh (and pound the floor) afterward.
Actually wore a hairpiece for most of his performing career; appears briefly without it in The Sunshine Boys (1975/I) and in Two of a Kind .
He and Gracie Allen continued to play single, even years after they were married; declining ratings prompted George to "update" the act on-air. He said later, "We were the only couple on radio who got married because we had to".
Took the name "Burns" from the Burns Brothers Coal Company, whose trucks hed stolen lumps from growing up, to help heat the family home. "George" was a sobriquet his brother occasionally used.
Until his death, he smoked as many as ten cigars a day.
Biography in: "Whos Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 78-80. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
His first marriage was in name only. In the early 1920s he was doing a ballroom dancing act with Hannah Siegal, and they were offered a 36-week contract to go out on the road. When her father objected to her traveling with a young man outside the bonds of matrimony, George and Hannah got married so as not to turn down the offer. When they returned from their three-month engagement, they divorced.
In the beginning of their partnership Gracie Allen played the straight character and Burns had the funny lines. When he realized Gracie got more laughs, he switched their roles.
Daughter Sandra Burns adopted 1934, son Ronnie Burns adopted 1935.
Discovered Ann-Margret and made her his opening act in Las Vegas, Nevada.
He was in very fragile health and could not attend his 100th birthday celebration in person.
Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 82-84. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Was originally supposed to deliver the eulogy at the funeral of his best friend Jack Benny , but he was so overcome with emotion after trying that he let someone else do it.
In 18 Again! his character celebrates his 81st birthday, although Burns himself was already 92 years old.
In the early 1940s, during the height of their popularity, he had a brief extramarital affair. He apologized to Gracie Allen by giving her a new coffee table, and nothing more was said about it. However, years later, when Gracie was serving coffee to a friend in their living room, George overheard her say, "You know, I wish George would have another affair. I really need a new coffee table".
Interviewed around the time of the death of wife Gracie Allen in the summer of 1964, he described her as being his "next breath".
The whales in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home were named George and Gracie after Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen.
Although Gracie Allen was in love with another man when they first met, he carried a ring in his pocket until she finally agreed to marry him.
According to Phyllis Diller s autobiography "Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse", in the late 1960s Broadway producer David Merrick approached Burns with the idea of him playing Horace Vandergelder in "Hello, Dolly!" with his good friend Jack Benny in drag as Dolly Levi. The intention was to turn Broadway on its ear and revive flagging interest in the show, which had been running since 1964, originally with Carol Channing as Dolly Levi. This idea never came to fruition (Diller did appear in the show for three months in 1970).
He was awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theatre at 6672 Hollywood Blvd., for Motion Pictures at 1639 Vine St. and for Television at 6510 Hollywood Blvd.
Pictured with wife Gracie Allen on a 44 USA commemorative postage stamp, issued 11 August 2009, in the Early TV Memories issue honoring "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" .
Brother of William Burns.
At age 13 he charged immigrants coming by boat from Ellis Island $5 for dance lessons, telling his clients that this was a necessary prerequisite for becoming a U.S. citizen.
Was a struggling vaudevillian in his early youth, often appearing as a trick roller skater and in ballroom dance acts. Some of his acts were pretty bad and work was hard to come by, so he was forced to frequently change his stage name, appearing variously as Willy Delight, Captain Betts and Buddy Links.
Interviewed in "The Great Comedians Talk About Comedy" by Larry Wilde.
His father was an Austrian Jewish immigrant and his mother was a Polish Jewish immigrant.
Along with Bob Hope and Seor Wences , he is one of three "The Muppet Show" guest stars to live to be 100 years old.
Smartness runs in my family. When I went to school I was so smart my,teacher was in my class for five years.
[on appearance] Take care not to wear stripes that are out of sync with,your wrinkles.
I did go to school--my kind of school. When I was a kid I went out . . .
and you meet people. You talk to them. Anybody says something that,makes sense, it stays with you, rubs off on you. That kind of school.
[on his age] I get a standing ovation just standing.
In what other business can a guy my age drink martinis, smoke cigars and,sing? I think all people who retire ought to go into show business.
I would go out with women my age, but there are no women my age.
Bridge is a game that separates the men from the boys. It also separates,husbands and wives.
A young mind in a healthy body is a wonderful thing. Especially for an,old man with an open night.
If you stay in the business long enough and get to be old enough, you,get to be new again.
I use the cigar for timing purposes. If I tell a joke, I smoke as long,as they laugh and when they stop laughing I take the cigar out of my,mouth and start my next joke.
There are many ways to die in bed, but the best way is not alone.
Happiness is: A good martini, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman,. . . or a bad woman, depending on how much happiness you can stand.
[interviewed in his old age about sex scenes] What actresses do today,when they appear on the screen is what they did once upon a time for,getting to appear on the screen.
At my age, the only thing hot waiting for me in my dressing room is a,bowl of soup.
[discussing his role in Going in Style (1979) ] I had to learn how,to act old.
[when asked how he got the title role in Oh, God! (1977) ] I was,the closest to Him in age.
If you live to the age of 100, you have it made, because very few people,die past the age of 100.
Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in,another city.
You just had to cheer him for breakfast, applaud wildly for lunch and,give him a standing ovation for dinner.
[sitting in an empty movie theater] The first movie I ever saw was the,first movie I was ever in. I was sitting alone in the theater then like,I am now.
[as he was about to sing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" during the 1983,All-Star Game at Comiskey Park in Chicago] I not only sang this song at,the first All-Star Game, I also sang it at the first ballgame.
[on vaudeville] When we played the back end of a horse we always knew,that if we worked hard and did a good job we could become the front,end.
At home we ate fish every Friday, as Catholics were then supposed to do.
Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.
Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.
When I was a boy the Dead Sea was only sick.
The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending and to have the two as close together as possible.
I can remember when the air was clean and sex was dirty.
Sex at age 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope.
I stay away from natural foods. At my age I need all the preservatives I can get.
Happiness is having a large loving caring close-knit family in another city.
Happiness is having a large loving caring close-knit family . . . in another city.
Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.
Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.
I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.
At my age flowers scare me.
Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples.
I smoke ten to fifteen cigars a day. At my age I have to hold on to something.
I would go out with women my age, but there are no women my age.
Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.
The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible.
I spent a year in that town, one Sunday.
