Bio of actor comedian jackie gleason

By the mids he had turned to writing original music and recording a series of popular and best-selling albums with his orchestra for Capitol Records. Jackie Gleason's paternal grandfather, William Walton Gleason, was an Irish immigrant, and his paternal grandmother, who was U. His mother was also an Irish immigrant, from Farranree, Cork. His father, Herb Gleasonwas a henpecked insurance clerk who took his myriad disappointments in life out in drink.

He deserted the family when Jackie was nine. His mother d. His older brother and only sibling, Clement sometimes called Clemence Gleason, died probably of tuberculosis at the age of 14, when Jackie was three years old. Spouses Marilyn Gleason December 16, - June 24, his death. Beverly Gleason July 4, - November 24, divorced. Genevieve Halford September 20, - June 24, divorced, 2 children.

Linda Miller. Geraldine Chutuk. Add to list. Photos Known for. The Hustler.

Bio of actor comedian jackie gleason: John Herbert Gleason, known

Minnesota Fats. The Honeymooners. Music Department theme music. Smokey and the Bandit. Sheriff Buford T. Justice of Portague County.

Bio of actor comedian jackie gleason: John Herbert Gleason (February

Smokey and the Bandit II. Credits Edit. Expand below. Music Department. Previous Toen was geluk heel gewoon 6. The Break-Up 5. The Honeymooners 8. The Honeymooners 7. The Jackie Gleason Show 7. Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine 8. He watched his father work at the family's kitchen table, writing insurance policies in the evenings. On the night of December 14,Gleason's father disposed of any family photos in which he appeared; just after noon on December 15, he collected his hat, coat, and paycheck, and permanently left his family and job at the insurance company.

After his father abandoned the family, young Gleason began hanging around with a local gang, hustling pool. Other jobs he held at that time included pool hall worker, stunt driver, and carnival barker. He performed the same duties twice a week at the Folly Theater. Gleason was 19 when his mother died in from complications of sepsis from a large neck carbuncle that young Jackie had tried to lance.

The family of his first girlfriend, Julie Dennehy, offered to take him in; Gleason, however, was headstrong and insisted that he was going into the heart of the city. The booking agent advanced his bus fare for the trip against his salary, granting Gleason his first job as a professional comedian. Following this, he would always have regular work in small clubs.

Gleason worked his way up to a job at New York's Club 18, where insulting its patrons was the order of the day. Gleason greeted noted skater Sonja Henie by handing her an ice cube and saying, "Okay, now do something. He also had a small part as a soda shop clerk in Larceny, Inc. Robinson and a modest part as an actor's agent in the Betty Grable — Harry James musical Springtime in the Rockies.

During World War IIGleason was initially exempt from military service since he was a father of two. However, inthe US started drafting men with children. When Gleason reported to his induction, doctors discovered that his broken left arm had healed crooked the area between his thumb and forefinger was nerveless and numbthat a pilonidal cyst existed at the end of his coccyxand that he was pounds overweight.

Gleason was, therefore, classified 4-F and rejected for military service. Gleason did not initially make a strong impression on Hollywood; at the time, he developed a nightclub act that included comedy and music. At the end ofGleason and Lew Parker led a large cast of entertainers in the road show production of Olsen and Johnson 's New Hellzapoppin.

His pals at Lindy's watched him spend money as fast as he soaked up the booze. Gleason's first significant recognition as an entertainer came on Broadway when he appeared in the hit musical Follow the Girls Gleason's big break occurred in when, while working at Slapsy Maxie's and earning the attention of New York City's inner circle, he landed work with the fledgling DuMont Television Network.

Riley for the first television version of the radio comedy The Life of Rileyreplacing William Bendixwho was unable to take the role due to contractual issues. Despite positive reviews, the show was canceled after one year, in part to DuMont's substantial disadvantages. Bendix did resume the role beginning in for a more successful five-year series.

The offer was extended to four weeks when he responded that this arrangement would not be worth the train trip to New York. Gleason returned to New York for the show and soon became permanent host. Renamed The Jackie Gleason Showthe program became the country's second-highest-rated television show during the —55 season. Following the dance performance, he would do an opening monolog.

Then, accompanied by "a little travelin' music" " That's a Plenty ", a Dixieland classic fromhe would shuffle toward the wings, clapping his hands and shouting, "And awaaay we go! Ray Bloch was Gleason's first music director, followed by Sammy Spearwho stayed with him through the s; Gleason often kidded with his music directors during his opening monologs.

He continued developing comic characters, including:. In a interview, Gleason explained how some of his invented comic characters were associated with his youth in Brooklyn. The Mr. The character of The Poor Soul was drawn from an assistant manager of an outdoor theater he frequented. Gleason disliked rehearsing. Using photographic "bio of actor comedian jackie gleason" [ 28 ] he read the script once, then watched a rehearsal with his co-stars and stand-in and shot the show later that day.

When he made mistakes, he often blamed the cue cards. Gleason's bio of actor comedian jackie gleason famous character by far was blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden. The show was based on Ralph's many get-rich-quick schemes, his ambition, his antics with his best friend and neighbor, scatterbrained sewer worker Ed Norton, and clashes with his sensible wife, Alice, who typically pulled Ralph's head down from the clouds.

Gleason developed catchphrases he used on The Honeymoonerssuch as threats to Alice: "One of these days, Alice, pow! To the Moon, Alice, to the Moon! The Honeymooners originated from a sketch Gleason was developing with his show's writers. He said he had an idea he wanted to enlarge: a skit with a smart, quiet wife and her very vocal husband. He described that while the couple had their fights, underneath it all, they loved each other.

Titles for the sketch were tossed around until someone came up with The Honeymooners. The Honeymooners first appeared on Cavalcade of Stars on October 5,with Carney in a guest appearance as a cop Norton did not appear until a few episodes later and character actress Pert Kelton as Alice. Darker and fiercer than the milder later version with Audrey Meadows as Alice, the sketches proved popular with critics and viewers.

In these early episodes with Kelton playing Alice, Gleason's frustrated bus driver character had a battleaxe of a wife, and the arguments between them were harrowingly realistic; when Meadows who was 15 years younger than Kelton took over the role after Kelton was blacklistedthe tone of the episodes softened considerably. When Gleason moved to CBS, Kelton was left behind; her name had been published in Red Channelsa book that listed and described reputed communists and communist sympathizers who worked in television and radio, and CBS did not want to hire her.

Gleason reluctantly let her be removed from the cast; the reason was covered up by telling the media that she had "heart trouble". At first, Gleason turned down Meadows as Kelton's replacement. Meadows wrote in her memoir that after her unsuccessful audition, she frumped herself up and slipped back in to audition again to convince Gleason that she could handle the role of a frustrated but loving working-class wife.

Elaine Stritch had played the role of a tall and attractive blonde in the first sketch but was quickly replaced by Randolph. Comedy writer Leonard Stern always felt The Honeymooners was more than sketch material and persuaded Gleason to make it into a full-hour-long episode. InGleason gambled on making it a separate series entirely. The result was the "Classic 39" episodes, which finished 19th in the ratings during their only season.

Like kinescopesit preserved a live performance on film; unlike kinescopes which were screenshotsthe film was of higher quality and comparable to a motion picture. A decade later, he aired the half-hour Honeymooners in syndicated reruns that began to build a loyal and growing audience, making the show a television icon. Gleason returned to a live show format for —57, with short and long versions, including hour-long musicals.

Audrey Meadows reappeared for one black-and-white remake of the '50s sketch "The Adoption," telecast January 8, The Jackie Gleason Show ended in June InGleason discussed the possibility of bringing back The Honeymooners in new episodes; his dream was partially realized with a Kramden-Norton sketch on a CBS variety show in lateand two more sketches on his hour-long CBS show The American Scene Magazine in Throughout the s and s, Gleason enjoyed a prominent secondary music career, producing a series of bestselling " mood music " albums with jazz overtones for Capitol Records.

Gleason believed there was a ready market for romantic instrumentals. His goal was to make "musical wallpaper that should never be intrusive, but conducive". Gleason reasoned, "If Gable needs music, a guy in Brooklyn must be desperate! Gleason's first album, Music for Lovers Onlystill holds the record for the longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten Charts weeksand his first ten albums sold over a million copies each.

Gleason could not read or write music; he was said to have conceived melodies in his head and described them vocally to assistants who transcribed them into musical notes. Biographer William A. Henry wrote in his book, The Great One: The Life and Legend of Jackie Gleasonthat beyond the possible conceptualizing of many of the song melodies, Gleason had no direct involvement such as conducting in making the recordings.

Red Nicholsa jazz great who had fallen on hard times and led one of the group's recordings, was not paid as session-leader. Cornetist and trumpeter Bobby Hackett soloed on several of Gleason's albums and was leader for seven of them. Asked late in life by musician—journalist Harry Currie in Toronto what Gleason really did at the recording sessions, Hackett replied, "He brought the checks".

Jackie knows a lot more about music than people give him credit for. I have seen him conduct a piece orchestra and detect one discordant note in the brass section. He would immediately stop the music and locate the wrong note. It always amazed the professional musicians how a guy who technically did not know one note from another could do that.

And he was never wrong. The composer and arranger George Williams has been cited in various biographies as having served as ghostwriter for the majority of arrangements heard on many of Gleason's albums of the s and s. In Gleason revived his original variety hour including The Honeymoonerswinning a Peabody Award. It took Gleason two years to design the house, which was completed in His next foray into television was the game show You're in the Picturewhich was canceled after a disastrously received premiere episode but was followed the next week by a broadcast of Gleason's [ 41 ] humorous half-hour apology, which was much better appreciated.

InGleason resurrected his variety show with more splashiness and a new hook: a fictitious general-interest magazine called The American Scene Magazinethrough which Gleason trotted out his old characters in new scenarios, including two new Honeymooners sketches. He also added another catchphrase to the American vernacular, first uttered in the film Papa's Delicate Condition : "How sweet it is!

Bio of actor comedian jackie gleason: Jackie Gleason, American comedian best known

Each show began with Gleason delivering a monolog and commenting on the attention-getting outfits of band leader Sammy Spear. Then the "magazine" features would be trotted out, from Hollywood gossip reported by comedian Barbara Heller to news flashes played for laughs with a stock company of second bananas, chorus girls and dwarfs. They were together for five years before divorcing.

Three weeks after his second divorce, Jackie married actress Marilyn Taylor. This marriage lasted 11 years until Gleason's death. Inhe underwent coronary bypass surgery, and inhe was diagnosed with diabetes and phlebitis. However, he knew his condition was much more serious as he was also diagnosed with liver cancer and colorectal cancer. Additionally, he was a heavy drinker and smoked five packs of cigarettes a day.

Jackie Gleason American comedian, actor and musician Date of Birth: Contact About Privacy. Paul Terry.