Leslie Townes Bob Hope KBE KCSG KSS May 29 1903 July 27 2003 was an American comedian actor and entertainer With a career that spanned nearly 80 years Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films54 in which he starred These included a series of seven Road to musical comedy films with Bing Crosby as Hopes topbilled partner In addition to hosting the Academy Awards show 19 times more than any other host Hope appeared in many stage productions and television roles and wrote 14 books The song Thanks for the Memory was his signature tune Hope was born in the Eltham district of southeast London He arrived in the United States with his family at the age of four and grew up near Cleveland Ohio After a brief stint in the late 1910s as a boxer Hope began his career in show business in the early 1920s initially as a comedian and dancer on the vaudeville circuit before acting on Broadway Hope began appearing on radio and in films starting in 1934 He was praised for his comedic timing specializing in oneliners and rapidfire delivery of jokes that were often selfdeprecating He helped establish modern American standup comedy Between 1941 and 1991 Hope made 57 tours for the United Service Organizations USO entertaining active duty US military personnel around the world In 1997 the United States Congress passed a bill that made Hope an honorary veteran of the US Armed Forces Hope appeared in numerous television specials for NBC during his career and was one of the first users of cue cards Hope retired from public life in 1998 and died on July 27 2003 at the age of 100 Description above from the Wikipedia article Bob Hope licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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