George Burns
| George Burns | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Nathan Birnbaum January 20, 1896 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | March 9, 1996 (aged 100) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Cardiac arrest |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), California |
| Other names | Nattie, Nate |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, writer, singer |
| Years active | 1902–1994 |
| Spouse(s) |
Hannah Siegel (m. 1917; div. 1921) Gracie Allen (m. 1926; d. 1964) |
| Children | Sandra Jean Burns (1934–2010) Ronald Jon Burns (1935–2007) |
| Parent(s) | Louis and Dorah (née Bluth) Birnbaum |
George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and writer. He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century. He and his wife, Gracie Allen, appeared on radio, television, and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen.
When Burns was 79, he had a sudden career revival as an amiable, beloved and unusually active comedy elder statesman in the 1975 film The Sunshine Boys, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Burns, who became a centenarian in 1996, continued to work until just weeks before his death of a cardiac arrest at his home in Beverly Hills.
George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum on January 20, 1896 in New York City, the ninth of 12 children born to Hadassah "Dorah" (née Bluth; 1857–1927) and Eliezer Birnbaum (1855–1903), known as Louis or Lippe, Jewish immigrants who had come to the United States from Kolbuszowa, Galicia. Burns was a member of the First Roumanian-American Congregation.
His father was a substitute cantor at the local synagogue but usually worked as a coat presser. During the influenza epidemic of 1903, Lippe Birnbaum contracted the flu and died at the age of 47. Nattie (as George was then called) went to work to help support the family, shining shoes, running errands and selling newspapers.
When he landed a job as a syrup maker in a local candy shop at age seven, "Nate" as he was known, was "discovered", as he recalled long after:
We were all about the same age, six and seven, and when we were bored making syrup, we used to practice singing harmony in the basement. One day our letter carrier came down to the basement. His name was Lou Farley. Feingold was his real name, but he changed it to Farley. He wanted the whole world to sing harmony. He came down to the basement once to deliver a letter and heard the four of us kids singing harmony. He liked our style, so we sang a couple more songs for him. Then we looked up at the head of the stairs and saw three or four people listening to us and smiling. In fact, they threw down a couple of pennies. So I said to the kids I was working with: no more chocolate syrup. It's show business from now on.
We called ourselves the Pee-Wee Quartet. We started out singing on ferryboats, in saloons, in brothels, and on street corners. We'd put our hats down for donations. Sometimes the customers threw something in the hats. Sometimes they took something out of the hats. Sometimes they took the hats.
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