George Burns, hailed by President Clinton as “one of the great entertainers of all time,” died Saturday at his Beverly Hills home.
He died 100 years and 49 days after seeing the light of day as Nathan Birnbaum on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
His amazing career as actor, singer, dancer and author started at 7, when he sang for pennies on street corners and in saloons.
In the next 93 years, he performed in just about every medium – from radio to movies to television.
His early years in vaudeville, during which he changed his names, acts and partners constantly, gave little promise of his future success. But his fortune turned in 1923, when he teamed up with Gracie Allen, a 17-year-old Irish American actress.
Their act, in which Burns played the straight man to the daffy Allen, was an instant success.
After Allen, who had married Burns three years into their professional partnership, retired in 1958, Burns became a solo act, appearing frequently in night clubs in Las Vegas, London and other cities.
His career took another astonishing upturn when at age 80 he won an Oscar as best supporting actor for his role as an old-time vaudevillian in “The Sunshine Boys.”
“Oh, God!” was his next film, in which is played the title role. He played God in two sequels as well. “I played God three times,” he said at the time, “and without makeup.”
In the 1980s, he continued his nightclub stints and television appearances.
He attributed his longevity to his regular diet of martinis, the big cigars that were his lifelong trademark and pretty girls. Burns ignored medical advice to change his lifestyle and dedicated one of his four books to the widows of his last six doctors.
However, after he slipped and fell in a shower in July 1994, he became increasingly frail.
Burns was the ninth of 12 children of a Polish-born immigrant who was part-time cantor and kosher food inspector.
“I came from an extremely devout Jewish family,” Burns told a reporter some years ago. “My father had a beard that went from the third floor to the street.”
As for his own beliefs, Burns said, “I’m not what you call a religious man. I don’t believe in the hereafter. If I don’t make them laugh here, I’m not going to make them laugh anywhere else. I don’t think there is an audience where I’m going, but I’ll take along my music just in case.”
He treated any religious problem rising out of his marriage to Gracie Allen with equal levity.
“I’m the only Jew in the family,” he said. “Because of Gracie, the two children were raised as Catholics and I’ve got seven Catholic grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. I used to eat fish every Friday, but always with my hat on.”
His closest friends were other Jewish comedians, including Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Don Rickles and Groucho Marx.
Burns contributed millions of dollars to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for a research institute, which stands at the intersection of George Burns and Gracie Allen Drives.
He also donated funds to Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
When Allen died in 1964, after a 38-year marriage of legendary devotion, Burns arranged for the funeral services.
Although she was a Catholic, he opted for an Episcopalian service.
“I want to be buried next to her,” he said later. “Since I’m a Jew, I can’t be buried in Catholic consecrated ground. I hope I made the right compromise.”
Burns was to be buried Tuesday next to his wife.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
