Bob Hope 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 . " Over a career spanning 60 years ( 1934 to 1994 ) , 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 his wife , fellow performer Dolores Hope ( née DeFina ) , for 69 years . Early years . 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 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 . After five years on the vaudeville circuit , Hope was surprised and humbled when he failed a 1930 screen test for the French film production company Pathé at Culver City , California . Career . In the early days , Hope ' s career included appearances on stage in Vaudeville shows and Broadway productions . He began performing on the radio in 1934 and switched to television when that medium became popular in the 1950s . He began doing regular TV specials in 1954 , and hosted the Academy Awards fourteen times in the period from 1941 to 1978 . Overlapping with this was his movie career , spanning the years 1934 to 1972 , and his USO tours , which he did from 1941 to 1991 . Film . Hope signed a contract for six short films with Educational Pictures of New York . The first was a comedy , " Going Spanish " ( 1934 ) . He was not happy with the film , and told Walter Winchell , " When they catch John Dillinger , they ' re going to make him sit through it twice . " Educational dropped his contract , but he soon signed with Warner Brothers . He made movies during the day and performed Broadway shows in the evenings . Hope moved to Hollywood when Paramount Pictures signed him for the 1938 film " The Big Broadcast of 1938 " , also starring W . C . Fields . The song " Thanks for the Memory " , which later became his trademark , was introduced in this film as a duet with Shirley Ross as accompanied by Shep Fields and his orchestra . The sentimental , fluid nature of the music allowed Hope ' s writers ( he depended heavily upon joke writers throughout his career ) to later create variations of the song to fit specific circumstances , such as bidding farewell to troops while on tour . As a movie star , he was best known for comedies like " My Favorite Brunette " and the highly successful " Road " movies in which he starred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour . The series consists of seven films made between 1940 and 1962 . Hope had seen Lamour as a nightclub singer in New York , and invited her to work on his United Service Organizations ( USO ) tours . Lamour sometimes arrived for filming prepared with her lines , only to be baffled by completely re - written scripts or ad - lib dialogue between Hope and Crosby . Hope and Lamour were lifelong friends , and she remains the actress most associated with his film career . Hope made movies with dozens of other leading ladies , including Katharine Hepburn , Hedy Lamarr , Lucille Ball , Rosemary Clooney , Jane Russell and Elke Sommer . Hope teamed with Crosby for the " Road " pictures and countless stage , radio , and television appearances over the decades , from their first meeting in 1932 until Crosby ' s death in 1977 . The two invested together in oil leases and other business ventures , but did not see each other socially . After the release of " Road to Singapore " ( 1940 ) , Hope ' s screen career took off , and he had a long and successful career in the movies . After an 11 - year hiatus , Hope and Crosby teamed up for the last " Road " movie , " The Road to Hong Kong " ( 1962 ) , starring 28 - year old Joan Collins in place of Lamour , who Hope and Crosby thought was too old for the part . They had planned one more movie together in 1977 , " The Road to the Fountain of Youth " . Filming was postponed when Crosby was injured in a fall , and the production was cancelled when he suddenly died of heart failure that October . Hope starred in 54 theatrical features between 1938 and 1972 , as well as cameos and short films . Most of Hope ' s later movies failed to match the success of his 1940s efforts . He was disappointed with his appearance in " Cancel My Reservation " ( 1972 ) , his last film , and the movie was poorly received by critics and filmgoers . Hope was host of the Academy Awards ceremony fourteen times between 1939 and 1977 . His feigned desire for an Academy Award became part of his act . Although he was never nominated for an Oscar , the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him with four honorary awards , and in 1960 , the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award . While introducing the 1968 telecast , he quipped , " Welcome to the Academy Awards , or , as it ' s known at my house , Passover . " Broadcasting . Hope ' s career in broadcasting began on radio in 1934 . His first regular series for NBC Radio was the " Woodbury Soap Hour " in 1937 , a 26 - week contract . A year later , " The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope " began , and Hope signed a ten - year contract with the show ' s sponsor , Lever Brothers . The show became the top radio program in the country . Regulars on the series included Jerry Colonna and Barbara Jo Allen as spinster Vera Vague . Hope continued his lucrative career in radio through to the 1950s , when radio ' s popularity was overshadowed by television . Hope did many specials for the NBC television network in the following decades , beginning in April 1950 . He was one of the first people to use cue card s . The shows were often sponsored by General Motors ( 1955 – 1961 ) , Chrysler ( 1963 – 73 ) , and Texaco ( 1975 – 1985 ) . Hope ' s Christmas specials were popular favorites and often featured a performance of " Silver Bells " ( from his 1951 film " The Lemon Drop Kid " ) done as a duet with an often much younger female guest star ( such as Olivia Newton - John , Barbara Eden , and Brooke Shields ) , or with his wife Dolores , with whom he dueted on two specials . Hope ' s 1970 and 1971 Christmas specials for NBC — filmed in Vietnam in front of military audiences at the height of the war — are on the list of the Top 46 U . S . network prime - time telecasts . Both were seen by more than 60 per cent of the U . S . households watching television . In 1992 , Hope made a guest appearance as himself on " The Simpsons " , in the episode " Lisa the Beauty Queen " ( season 4 , episode 4 ) . Towards the end of his career , eye problems left him unable to read his cue cards . His 90th birthday television celebration in May 1993 , " Bob Hope : The First 90 Years " , won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety , Music Or Comedy Special . In October 1996 Hope announced that he was ending his 60 - year contract with NBC , joking that he " decided to become a free agent " . His final television special , " Laughing with the Presidents " , was broadcast in November 1996 , with host Tony Danza helping him present a personal retrospective of presidents of the United States known to the comedian . The special received poor reviews . Following a brief appearance at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1997 , Hope ' s last TV appearance was in a 1997 K - Mart commercial directed by Penny Marshall . USO . While aboard the RMS " Queen Mary " when World War II began in September 1939 , Hope volunteered to perform a special show for the passengers , during which he sang " Thanks for the Memory " with rewritten lyrics . He performed his first USO show on May 6 , 1941 , at March Field , California , and continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II , later during the Korean War , the Vietnam War , the third phase of the Lebanon Civil War , the latter years of the Iran – Iraq War , and the 1990 – 1991 Persian Gulf War . His USO career lasted half a century , during which he headlined 57 tours . He had a deep respect for the men and women who served in the military , and this was reflected in his willingness to go anywhere in order to entertain them . During the Vietnam War , Hope had trouble convincing some performers to join him on tour . Anti - war sentiment was high , and Hope ' s pro - war stance made him a target of criticism . Some shows were drowned out by boos and others were listened to in silence . The tours were funded by the United States Department of Defense , his television sponsors , and by NBC , the network which broadcast the television specials that were created after each tour . Many people considered him as an enabler of the war and a member of the system that made it possible . Hope recruited his own family members for USO travel . His wife , Dolores , sang from atop an armored vehicle during the Desert Storm tour , and his granddaughter , Miranda , appeared alongside Hope on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean . Of Hope ' s USO shows in World War II , writer John Steinbeck , who was then working as a war correspondent , wrote in 1943 : For his service to his country through the USO , he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968 . A 1997 act of Congress signed by President Bill Clinton named Hope an " Honorary Veteran . " He remarked , " I ' ve been given many awards in my lifetime — but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most — is the greatest honor I have ever received . " In homage to Hope , Stephen Colbert carried a golf club on stage each night during his own week of USO performances , which were taped for his TV show , " The Colbert Report " , during the 2009 season . Theater . Hope ' s first Broadway appearances , in 1927 ' s " The Sidewalks of New York " and 1928 ' s " Ups - a - Daisy " , were minor walk - on parts . He returned to Broadway in 1933 to star as Huckleberry Haines in the Jerome Kern / Dorothy Fields musical " Roberta " . Stints in the musicals " Say When " , the 1936 Ziegfeld Follies ( with Fanny Brice ) , and " Red , Hot and Blue " with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante followed . Hope reprised his role as Huck Haines in a 1958 production of " Roberta " at The Muny Theater in Forest Park , St . Louis , Missouri . Hope rescued Eltham Little Theatre from closure by providing funds to buy the property . He continued his interest and support and regularly visited when in London . The Theatre was renamed in his honor in 1982 . Critical reception . Hope was praised for his comedic timing , specializing in one - liner s and rapid - fire delivery of jokes . His style of delivery of self - deprecating jokes , first building himself up and then tearing himself down , was unique . Working tirelessly , he performed hundreds of times per year . Early films such as " The Cat and the Canary " ( 1939 ) and " The Paleface " ( 1948 ) were financially successful and were praised by critics , and by the mid - 1940s , with his radio program getting good ratings as well , he became one of the most popular entertainers in the United States . When Paramount threatened to stop production of the Road pictures in 1945 , they received 75 , 000 letters in protest . He had no faith in his skills as a dramatic actor , and his performances of that type were not as well received . Hope had been a leader in the radio genre until the late 1940s , but as his ratings began to slip , he switched to television in the 1950s , an early pioneer of that medium . He published several books — written with ghostwriter s — about his wartime experiences . Although he made an effort to keep his material up - to - date , he never adapted his comic persona or his routines to any great degree . By the 1970s his popularity was beginning to wane with soldiers and with the movie - going public . However , he continued doing USO tours into the 1980s , and he continued to appear on television into the 1990s . Nancy Reagan called him " America ' s most honored citizen and our favorite clown . " Sports . Hope had a brief career as a boxer in 1919 fighting under the name Packy East . He had three wins and one loss , and participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life . Hope was an avid golfer , playing in as many as 150 charity tournaments a year . Introduced to the game in the 1930s while performing in Winnipeg , he eventually played to a four handicap . His love for the game — and the humor he could find in it — made him a sought - after foursome member . He once remarked that President Dwight D . Eisenhower gave up golf for painting – " fewer strokes , you know . " " It ' s wonderful how you can start out with three strangers in the morning , play 18 holes , and by the time the day is over you have three solid enemies , " he once said . A golf club became an integral prop for Hope during the standup segments of his television specials and USO shows . In 1978 , he putted against a then two - year - old Tiger Woods in a television appearance with James Stewart on " The Mike Douglas Show " . The Bob Hope Classic , founded in 1960 , made history in 1995 when Hope teed up for the opening round in a foursome which included Presidents Gerald Ford , George H . W . Bush , and Bill Clinton – the only time when three presidents played in the same golf foursome . Now known as the Humana Challenge , it was the only PGA Tour tournament that took place over five rounds , until the 2012 tournament , when it was cut back to the conventional four rounds . Hope bought a small stake in the Cleveland Indians baseball team in 1946 and owned it for most of the rest of his life . He appeared on the June 3 , 1963 , cover of " Sports Illustrated " magazine wearing an Indians uniform , and sang a special version of " Thanks for the Memory " after the Indians ' last game at Cleveland Stadium . Hope bought a share of the Los Angeles Rams football team in 1947 with Bing Crosby and sold it in 1962 . He would frequently use his television specials to promote the annual College Football All - America Team . The players would enter the stage one - by - one and introduce themselves , and Hope , often dressed in a football uniform , would give a one - liner about the player or his school . Personal life . Marriages . Hope ' s first short - lived marriage was to his vaudeville partner , Grace Louise Troxell , whom he married in January 1933 . In 1934 , Hope married Dolores ( DeFina ) Reade , who had been one of his costars on Broadway in " Roberta " . They adopted four children at an adoption agency called The Cradle , in Evanston , Illinois : Linda ( 1939 ) , Tony ( 1940 ) , Kelly ( 1946 ) , and Nora ( 1946 ) . From them he had several grandchildren , including Andrew , Miranda , and Zachary Hope . Tony ( as Anthony J . Hope ) served as a presidential appointee in the George H . W . Bush and Clinton administrations and in a variety of posts under Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan . Extramarital affairs . Hope had a reputation as a womanizer and continued to see other women in spite of his marriage . In 1949 , while Hope was in Dallas on a publicity tour for his radio show , he met starlet Barbara Payton , a contract player at Universal Studios , who at the time was on her own public relations jaunt . Shortly thereafter , Hope set Payton up in an apartment in Hollywood . The arrangement soured as Hope was not able to satisfy Payton ' s definition of generosity and her need for attention . Hope paid her off to end the affair quietly . Payton later revealed the affair in an article printed in July 1956 in " Confidential " . " Hope was . . . at times a mean - spirited individual with the ability to respond with a ruthless vengeance when sufficiently provoked . " His advisors counseled him to avoid further publicity by ignoring the " Confidential " exposé . " Barbara ' s . . . revelations caused a minor ripple . . . and then quickly sank without causing any appreciable damage to Bob Hope ' s legendary career . " According to Arthur Marx ' s Hope biography , " The Secret Life of Bob Hope " , Hope ' s subsequent long - term affair with actress Marilyn Maxwell was so open that the Hollywood community routinely referred to her as " Mrs . Bob Hope " . Activism . Hope served as an active honorary chairman on the board of Fight for Sight . He hosted their " Lights On " telecast in 1960 and donated $ 100 , 000 to establish the Bob Hope Fight for Sight Fund . He recruited numerous top celebrities for the annual " Lights On " fundraiser ; as an example , he hosted Joe Frazier , Yvonne DeCarlo , and Sergio Franchi as headliners for the show at Philharmonic Hall in Milwaukee on April 25 , 1971 . Later years . Hope continued an active career past his 75th birthday , concentrating on his television specials and USO tours . Although he had given up starring in movies after " Cancel My Reservation " , he made several cameos in various films and co - starred with Don Ameche in the 1986 TV movie " A Masterpiece of Murder " . A television special created for his 80th birthday in 1983 at the Kennedy Center in Washington featured President Ronald Reagan , Lucille Ball , George Burns , and many others . In 1985 , he was presented with the Life Achievement Award at the Kennedy Center Honors , and in 1998 he was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II . Upon accepting the appointment , Hope quipped , " I ' m speechless . 70 years of ad lib material and I ' m speechless . " At the age of 95 , Hope made an appearance at the 50th anniversary of the Primetime Emmy Awards with Milton Berle and Sid Caesar . Two years later , he was present at the opening of the Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment at the Library of Congress . The Library of Congress has presented two major exhibitions about Hope ' s life – " Hope for America : Performers , Politics and Pop Culture " and " Bob Hope and American Variety . " Hope celebrated his 100th birthday on May 29 , 2003 . He is among a small group of notable centenarians in the field of entertainment . To mark this event , the intersection of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles was named " Bob Hope Square " and his centennial was declared " Bob Hope Day " in 35 states . Even at 100 , Hope maintained his self - deprecating sense of humor , quipping , " I ' m so old , they ' ve canceled my blood type . " He converted to Roman Catholicism late in life . Death . In 1998 , a prepared obituary by The Associated Press was inadvertently released on the Internet , prompting Hope ' s death to be announced in the U . S . House of Representatives . Hope remained in good health until old age , though he became a bit frail . In June 2000 he spent nearly a week in a California hospital after being hospitalized for gastrointestinal bleeding . In August 2001 , he spent close to two weeks in the hospital recovering from pneumonia . On July 27 , 2003 , two months after his 100th birthday , Bob Hope died at his home in Toluca Lake , Los Angeles . His grandson , Zach Hope , told Soledad O ' Brien that when asked on his deathbed where he wanted to be buried , Hope had told his wife , " Surprise me . " His remains were interred in the Bob Hope Memorial Garden at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles . After Hope ' s death , many newspaper cartoonists worldwide paid tribute to his work for the USO or featured Bing Crosby ( who died on October 14 , 1977 ) welcoming Hope into heaven . Awards and honors . Hope was awarded over two thousand honors and awards , including 54 honorary doctorates . In 1963 President John F . Kennedy awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal for service to his country . President Lyndon Johnson bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Hope in 1969 for his service to the men and women of the armed forces through the USO . In 1982 , he received the S . Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen , an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards . He was presented with the National Medal of Arts in 1995 and received the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award in 1997 . Hope became the 64th and only civilian recipient of the United States Air Force Order of the Sword on June 10 , 1980 . The Order of the Sword recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the enlisted corps . Several buildings and facilities were renamed after Hope , including the historic Fox Theater in downtown Stockton , California , and the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank . of the U . S . Military Sealift Command was named after the performer in 1997 . It is one of very few U . S . naval ships that were named after living people . The United States Air Force named a C - 17 Globemaster III transport aircraft the " Spirit of Bob Hope " . Academy Awards . Hope was awarded five honorary awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences : Estate . Hope ' s Modernist 23 , 366 - square - foot home , built to resemble a volcano , was designed in 1973 by John Lautner . Located above Palm Springs , it has panoramic views of the Coachella Valley and the San Jacinto Mountains . The house was placed on the market for the first time in February 2013 with an asking price of $ 50 million . Hope also owned a home which had been custom built for him in 1939 on an 87 , 000 - square - foot lot in Toluca Lake , California , a suburb of Los Angeles . The house was placed on the market in late 2012 . References . Citations Sources