George Burns (January 20, 1896-March 9, 1996) was born as Nathan Birnbaum to Eliezer Birnbaum and his wife Hadassah Bluth. Eliezer, a coat presser and cantor at the local synagogue, came from Ropczyce, Poland. Burns sang harmony with other elementary school-aged students in the Pee-Wee Quartet. He picked the stage name George Burns to guard against antisemitism. His first wife was a dance partner Hannah Sigel, who danced under the stage name Hermosa Jose. The marriage lased only 26 weeks. In 1926, he married Gracie Allen, who was Catholic, and subsequently appeared with her in comic short films which had such stars as Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Jack Benny, Frest Astaire, Joan Fontaine, Bob Hope, Martha Raye, Eleanor Powell, and Robert Young.
Burns and Allen became famous on their own radio show, which initially featured sketch comedy bit later evolved into continuing situation comedy. Their music director was Meredith Willson, who later composed the Broadway musical The Music Man. In 1950, the married couple moved to television, with their program running until 1958, when Gracie needed a respite. Gracie died in 1964, and Burns threw himself into playing nightclubs and theatre engagements. When illness forced Jack Benny to forego a role in the movie version of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, Burns on Benny’s recommendation replaced him. He won the 1975 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. At 80, he was the oldest actor to win an Academy Award up to then.
In 1977, Burns played the title row in the movie Oh, God! that starred John Denver. He appeared as the Omnipotent One in two sequels. In 1995, Burns was presented with the very first Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achieveent Award. It came one month before his 100th birthday. A one-act play by Rupert Holmes bore the title of “Say Goodnight, Gracie” which was a tagline on Burns’ television shows. His wife would always respond, “Goodnight Gracie!”
Tomorrow, January 21, Israel Zangwill
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SDJW condensation of a Wikipedia article