Name: Bob Hope Age: 100 Nationality: American Claim to fame: The oldest entertainer around
HIS health may slowly be evading him, but like an aging bottle of wine, his popularity is as fresh as it was in his prime. Bob Hope, that deaf and slowly-going-blind entertainer whose professional career spanned more than 75 years in radio, theatre, television and film, is still alive, though not kicking as much as he would have liked to. And though he was a little late for the Internet era, web sites around the globe have kept his wit online and alive.
Son of English immigrants, Bob Hope grew up to be Hollywood’s wittiest comic around. He never completed his schooling, and left his academic career at 12. Hope became a newspaper seller, poolroom gambler, shoe-shine boy and amateur boxer, before discovering his magic for making people laugh.
The reputed inventor of seven million jokes, Bob Hope’s Hollywood career had him star in the On the Road movies with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. He is even reputed to have hosted more Academy Award ceremonies than anyone else.
But his biggest contribution to America is that he entertained nearly 10 million US troops in conflicts as wide-ranging as the Second World War, the Korean, Vietnam and the 1991 Gulf wars. It is this effort that Americans honoured recently after nearly 35 US states declared his birth day, Bob Hope Day, while a Hollywood intersection was renamed the Bob Hope Square.
Even at 100, the comedian’s sense of good humour has not deserted him. Reportedly, during his birthday celebrations, he cracked one with his family when he said, “I am so old, they have cancelled my blood type.” His professional enthusiasm for a career that he developed himself, had him doing 75 shows a year, even at the age of 91.
Hope is even rumored to be one of the richest entertainers, with a fortune that probably exceeds a billion dollars. And his list of friends includes eleven US presidents. However, Hope’s longevity means that he has outlived most of his contemporaries. Bing Crosby, his buddy from their famed ... Road movies, died in 1977 aged 74, while comedian George Burns died shortly after his 100th birthday in 1996, and Dorothy Lamour died the same year aged 81.
Another thing, other than his age, that is very much anti-Hollywood about Hope, is his marriage. He has been married to the same woman for 69 years. His wife Dolores, who is 94, was with him on his centenary birthday. Maybe laughter is after all the best medicine.
HIS health may slowly be evading him, but like an aging bottle of wine, his popularity is as fresh as it was in his prime. Bob Hope, that deaf and slowly-going-blind entertainer whose professional career spanned more than 75 years in radio, theatre, television and film, is still alive, though not kicking as much as he would have liked to. And though he was a little late for the Internet era, web sites around the globe have kept his wit online and alive.
