American postcard by Coral-Lee, Rancho Cordova, CA, no. Personality # 14, 1978, no. C32305. Photo: Douglas Kirkland / Contact. Caption: George Burns - Eighty-two year old star of "Oh God" still has it all together after a lifetime of success on stage and screen. An immortal still active on this earth! October, 1975.
George Burns (1896-1996) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and published author. He formed a comedy duo with his wife Gracie Allen and typically played the straight man to her zany roles. At the age of 79, Burns won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Sunshine Boys (1975) and then played the title role in Oh, God! (1977). The remarkably active, amiable old comedian continued performing until his 90s.
George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum in 1896 in New York City. He was the ninth of 12 children and his family nicknamed him "Nattie". His father was Eliezer 'Louis' Birnbaum, a coat presser who also was a substitute cantor at a local synagogue. His mother was Hadassah "Dorah" Bluth, a homemaker. Both parents were Jewish immigrants, originally from the small town of Kolbuszowa in Austrian Galicia (currently part of Poland). Kolbuszowa had a large Jewish population until World War II when the German occupation forces in Poland relocated the local Jews to a ghetto in Rzeszów. In 1903, Louis Birnbaum caught influenza and died. Orphaned when 7-year-old, Burns had to work to support his family. He shined shoes, ran errands, sold newspapers, and worked as a syrup maker in a local candy shop. Burns liked to sing while working and practised singing harmony with three co-workers. They were discovered by letter carrier Lou Farley, who gave them the idea to perform singing in exchange for payment. The four children soon started performing as the "Pee-Wee Quartet", singing in brothels, ferryboats, saloons, and street corners. They put their hats down for donations from their audience, though their audience was not always generous. In Burns' words: "Sometimes the customers threw something in the hats. Sometimes they took something out of the hats. Sometimes they took the hats." Burns started smoking cigars around 1910, when 14-years-old. It became a lifelong habit for him. Burns' performing career was briefly interrupted in 1917 when he was drafted for service in World I. He eventually failed his physical exams, due to his poor eyesight. By the early 1920s, he adopted the stage name "George Burns", though he told several stories of why he chose the name. He supposedly named himself after then-famous baseball player George Henry Burns, or another famous baseball player George Joseph Burns. In another version, he named himself after his brother Izzy "George" Birnbaum and took the last name "Burns" in honour of the Burns Brothers Coal Company.
George Burns performed dance routines with various female partners until he eventually married his partner Gracie Allen in 1926. Burns and Allen began their career in motion pictures with a series of comic short films in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Their debut was the short comedy Lambchops (Murray Roth, 1929), which was distributed by Vitaphone. The film simply recorded one of Burns and Allen's comedy routines from Vaudeville. Burns made his feature film debut in a supporting role in the musical comedy The Big Broadcast (Frank Tuttle, 1932) with Bing Crosby. In International House (A. Edward Sutherland, 1933) and Six of a Kind (Leo McCarey, 1934) they appeared with W.C. Fields. Burns appeared regularly in films throughout the 1930s, with his last film role for several years in the musical Honolulu (Edward Buzzell, 1939) starring Eleanor Powell. Burns was reportedly considered for a leading role in Road to Singapore (Victor Schertzinger, 1940), but the studio replaced him with Bob Hope. Burns and Allen started appearing as comic relief for a radio show featuring bandleader Guy Lombardo. By February 1932, they received their own sketch comedy radio show. The couple portrayed younger singles until the show was retooled in 1941 and started featuring them as a married couple. By the fall of 1941, the show had evolved into a situational comedy about married life. Burns and Allen's supporting cast included notable voice actors Mel Blanc, Bea Benaderet, and Hal March. The radio show finally ended in 1949, reworked into the popular television show The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950-1958). Allen would typically play the "illogical" housewife, while Burns played the straight man and broke the fourth wall to speak to the audience. The couple formed the production company McCadden Corporation to help produce the show. Gracie Allen developed heart problems during the 1950s, and by the late 1950s was unable to put up the energy needed for the show. She fully retired in 1958. The show was briefly retooled to "The George Burns Show" (1958-1959), but Burns' comedy style was not as popular as that of his wife. The new show was cancelled due to low ratings.
Following Allen's death in 1964, George Burns attempted a television comeback by creating the sitcom Wendy and Me (1964-1965) about the life of a younger married couple. The lead roles were reserved for Ron Harper and Connie Stevens, while Burns had a supporting role as their landlord. He also performed as the show's narrator. As a television producer, Burns produced the military comedy No Time for Sergeants, and the sitcom Mona McCluskey. As an actor, he mostly appeared in theatres and nightclubs. Burns had a career comeback with the comedy The Sunshine Boys (Herbert Ross, 1975), his first film appearance since World War II. He played faded vaudevillian Al Lewis, who has a difficult relationship with his former partner Willy Clark (played by Walter Matthau). The role was met with critical success, and Burns won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. At age 80, Burns was the oldest Oscar winner at the time. His record was broken by Jessica Tandy in 1989. Burns had his greatest film success playing God in the comedy Oh, God! (Carl Reiner, 1977). The film brought in 51 million dollars at the domestic box office and was one of the greatest hits of 1977. Burns returned to the role in the sequels Oh, God! Book II (Gilbert Cates, 1980) and Oh, God! You Devil (Paul Bogart, 1984). He had a double role as both God and the Devil in the last film. Burns had several other film roles until the 1990s. His most notable films in this period were the musical comedy Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Michael Schultz, 1978), the comedy Just You and Me, Kid (Leonard Stern, 1979) opposite Brooke Shields, the caper Going in Style (Martin Brest, 1979) with Art Carney and Lee Strasberg, and the fantasy-comedy 18 Again! (Paul Flaherty, 1988). The latter featured him as a grandfather who changes souls with his grandson (Charlie Schlatter). Burns' last film role was a bit part in the mystery film Radioland Murders (Mel Smith, 1994), which was a box office flop. In July 1994, Burns fell in his bathtub and underwent surgery to remove fluid in his skull. He survived, but his health never fully recovered. He was forced to retire from acting and stand-up comedy. On 20 January 20 1996, Burns celebrated his 100th birthday, but was in poor health and had to cancel a pre-arranged comeback performance. In March 1996, he suffered from cardiac arrest and died in Beverley Hills. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, next to Gracie Allen. George and Gracie adopted two children as infants: Sandra Burns (1934) and Ronnie Burns (1935).
Source: Dimos I (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.
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