Name: Bob Hope Age: Almost 100! Nationality: American Claim to fame: Hollywood’s Citizen of the Century
LEGENDARY comedian and entertainer Bob Hope, with his ski-slope nose, has been given the unique title of Hollywood’s Citizen of the Century, in a star-studded ceremony held this past week to mark his upcoming 100th birthday next month, May 29, to be precise.
While the birthday is still more than a month away, Hollywood got the party started with Universal Studios Home Video release of The Bob Hope 100th Birthday Tribute Collection, the NBC special, 100 Years of Hope and Humour, and the unveiling of a plaque on one of the actor’s four Walk of Fame stars in Hollywood.
To honour the veteran star of US movies, television, stage and radio, who earned much fame with his one-liners and innuendo-laced banter, a horde of celebrities and his daughter Linda turned up at a ceremony that was held on the tinseltown’s prestigious Walk of Fame. But the birthday boy was missing due to frail health. His daughter had to convey his love and gratitude to his co-stars and admirers for the tribute.
Cited by the Guinness Book of Records as the ‘Most honoured entertainer in the world’, Hope has been a Hollywood icon for seven decades. He made his first film appearance in 1938 in The Big Broadcast singing what became his signature tune, Thanks for the Memories, and the last one being Spies Like Us in 1985. But more than films, Hope became a superstar on the radio and television, celebrating an unprecedented 60 years with NBC in 1996!
He has more than two thousand awards and citations for professional and humanitarian efforts, including 54 honorary doctorates. But, interestingly, Hope has never won an Oscar. In his usual witty style, he once made light of the fact, saying, “Oscar night in my house is called Passover.” However, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has honoured him five times, including two honorary Oscars. The British-born Hope, who migrated to America with his parents in 1907, was awarded an honour knighthood by Queen Elizabeth in 1998.
Rightly dubbed by the media as ‘America’s No. 1 Soldier in Greasepaint’, Hope spent much of the World War II travelling all over the world to entertain Allied and American troops, a service he has also performed during the later wars in Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War in 1991. His daughter disclosed that he wishes he could do the same for the US troops in Iraq.
An avid golfer, Bob Hope described his love for the game thus, “Golf is my profession. I tell jokes to pay my green fees.” His Golf tournament, the Bob Hope Desert Classic, is a pro-am event held annually in Palm Springs, California.
Hope and Dolores, his wife of 65 years, plan a quite 100th birthday celebration at home with the family.
LEGENDARY comedian and entertainer Bob Hope, with his ski-slope nose, has been given the unique title of Hollywood’s Citizen of the Century, in a star-studded ceremony held this past week to mark his upcoming 100th birthday next month, May 29, to be precise.
