Bob Hope

Bob Hope was a British-born American comedian, vaudevillian, and entertainer whose seven-decade career on stage, radio, film, and television, alongside his wartime troop tours, made him one of the most-recognised comic figures of the American 20th century. He was born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29, 1903, in Eltham, London, the fifth of seven sons of a stonemason. The family emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1908 and he became a naturalised United States citizen in 1920.

He worked in vaudeville from the early 1920s, first in dance and then in patter comedy. He took the stage name Bob Hope around 1929 and made his Broadway debut in Ballyhoo of 1932.

His weekly NBC radio program The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope ran from 1938 to 1948 and was one of the highest-rated comedy programs of network radio. From 1940 to 1962 he made seven Road to… films with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, beginning with Road to Singapore (1940) and ending with Road to Hong Kong (1962). He hosted the Academy Awards 19 times between 1940 and 1978, more often than any other person.

From a 1941 show at March Field in California to a 1990 trip during the Persian Gulf War, he led United Service Organizations tours to American troops in every major U.S. military deployment over five decades, including extended visits to Vietnam during the late 1960s. His annual NBC Christmas specials from troop locations became a fixture of American holiday television. He received an honorary Oscar four times, was named an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1998, and was made an honorary veteran of the United States Armed Forces by Congress the same year. He died at his home in Toluca Lake, California, on July 27, 2003, at age 100.

His given name Bob is a short form of Robert, from the Germanic Hrodebert meaning "bright fame," combining hrod ("fame") and beraht ("bright"). The rhyming pet form Bob became established in medieval England.