George Burns, who is 100 today, has been the funniest man alive for 84 of those years. He is also the oldest living entertainer in the world and one of only four people who have lived to see 100 and whose birthdays were celebrated by the United Nations.
He has survived two wives, three heart attacks and a triple bypass operation, outlived his contemporaries in vaudeville, radio and early television, many of them his old friends from New York’s Lower East Side. His closest friend today is Mel Brooks. They first met on Second Avenue at a burlesque house in 1922 when Mr. Brooks was 4 years old and George Burns was called Nathan Birnbaum.
In the last 25 years, he has earned more than $12 million as an actor. In 1975 he won an Academy Award for his role as Al Lewis, Jack Lemmon’s cigar-smoking agent in “The Sunshine Boys.” Two years later he made another $6 million from the film version of his autobiography, “Gracie: A Love Story.”
After that came five other films including “Oh God!” in which he played God; three television specials; four best-selling books; dozens of guest appearances on television talk shows and sitcoms; hundreds of commercials
George Burns, the world’s oldest actor and once the funniest man alive, celebrated his 100th birthday on Jan. 20 with a cake and a party at his home in Beverly Hills. He was surrounded by some of the people he loves best: his wife, Gracie Allen; their dog, Snoozer; and his friends, Jack Benny and Fred Astaire.
Burns will mark the occasion again tonight with an hour-long television special in which he will reminisce about his career. The celebration is something of an aberration for Burns, who has always been privately inclined to take birthdays as they come. “I never did count birthdays,” he says. “Why should I? They don’t mean a thing.”
But this one does mean something. And so does Burns’ longevity. At 100, he is the oldest man in show business — older than Bob Hope (89), Milton Berle (76), Sidney Greenstreet (80) or any of the other old-timers who have recently been making a comeback. “I’ve heard that all my life,” Burns says with a grin. “I’m not only the oldest man, I’m also the youngest man.”
George Burns is 100 years old and has the energy of a man half his age. He started his acting career in vaudville and went on to act in over fifty movies. He wrote several books, many of which became best sellers. Burns was a master of the one-liner and could make people laugh at will. He appeared on talk shows, radio programs, and commercials throughout his long career.
George Burns, the oldest actor alive, has just completed a new movie. Burns, who is 100 years old, stars in the film as a grandfather whose family wants to put him in an old-age home. A concerned social worker tries to keep Burns from being separated from his family. The film’s title: Oh, God! Book II.
“I don’t think I’m too old for the part,” says Burns. “If God were on earth, he’d be about my age.”
Burns has been performing for so long that he is one of the few actors who can claim to have worked with both silent movies and talkies. In fact, Burns got his start in vaudeville at an age when most actors are thinking about retirement. Vaudeville was a popular form of live entertainment that flourished in America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It featured short comic skits performed by groups of actors known as vaudevillians.
When Burns was 20 years old, he went into show business as a vaudevillian. He played small roles in comic skits and sang songs while accompanying himself on the banjo. Audiences loved him because he was energetic and amusingly self-centered. After each
George Burns is the oldest actor alive. He has been in films and on radio and television for more than 50 years. He has also made many records. In 1975, he won an Oscar for his performance in the movie The Sunshine Boys. Last year, at the age of 95, he published a new book, All My Best Friends.
George Burns is, in short, a very successful man. But success does not make him happy. George Burns is really one of the funniest men alive.
“I know I’m funny,” he says about himself. “But I am not a happy man who tells jokes; I’m a sad man who tells jokes to make people feel better.”
And yet his sense of humor is never far from the surface. He says that he has been married three times–his last wife died two years ago–but that he would like to marry again soon: “I’m getting to be a pretty old man,” he observes dryly, “and I need someone to tuck me in.”
George Burns is the oldest actor ever to star in a weekly television series. That may not be much of an accomplishment, considering that most other actors who’ve reached their 100th birthdays are either dead or retired. But it’s a milestone just the same. Burns has always been a man of many talents and many jobs: a singer, a dancer, a comedian, a songwriter, an author and a film producer. Now he’s set another precedent: he’s the first centenarian to have his own series on prime time television. In fact, when “Walt Disney Presents George Burns in 100,” was broadcast on March 19th, he became the longest-running comedian of all time—three days longer than his old friend Bob Hope.
In terms of sheer longevity, nobody can touch him. When you saw him perform at the Academy Awards on April 11th, you saw a man who had been there before—more times than any other performer in history. He was there as host or presenter, or as recipient of an award himself every year since 1973—except for 1975 when he was too busy moving into his new home at AFTRA Village West in Hollywood where he currently lives with his wife and secretary of 62 years, Willie.
When you look
In the late spring of 1991, George Burns and his third wife, Gracie Allen, are still on a roll. They are making their last public appearance, at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The two legendary performers are there to receive a plaque honoring them for “unique and indelible contributions to the profession of acting.”
Burns is not looking his best. His eyesight has failed him; he has trouble locating the mike and nearly stumbles as he walks onto the stage. But once there he soars, singing and dancing with Allen to a rousing rendition of “Hooray for Hollywood.” The audience is roaring. For more than half an hour, Burns and Allen hold the Oscar crowd spellbound with their antics.
Not bad for someone who is 100 years old. Not bad at all.
