His most famous gag was on his radio show when, in his usual character as a comical miser, he's confronted by a robber who says, "Your money or your life." That's followed by two to three minutes of dead silence, except for the audience which laughed with increasing volume as the silence continued. Finally the robber prodded Jack by saying, "Well?" to which Benny responded, "I'm thinking it over!"
Hosted the Academy Awards in 1944 and 1947
In 1948, the radio quiz show Truth or Consequences ran a weekly contest to identify the Walking Man. The gag was to guess who the foot steps belonged to. Every week they played the steps. Eventually they revealed it was Jack Benny.
Interred at Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California, USA.
January 1949: A personal friend of Harry S. Truman, he served as Master of Ceremonies for Truman's Inaugural Ball. When he arrived at the White House for the event, a guard pointed to his violin case and asked, "Mr. Benny, what do you have in there?" As a joke, Jack whispered back, "It's a Thompson sub-machine gun." The guard replied, "Oh, that's a relief. I was afraid it was your violin".
One of Benny's best-known schticks as a radio star was his long-standing feud with fellow radio comedian Fred Allen. The two often appeared on each other's radio programs to trade barbs. Sadly, other than an appearance on "The Jack Benny Program" (1950), in which Allen tries to steal Jack's sponsor, this did not carry over into television, as Allen died shortly after beginning his own TV show. In real life, of course, Benny and Allen were great friends, and Benny even took time on his radio program to eulogize Allen after his death.
Pictured on one of five 29¢ US commemorative postage stamps celebrating famous comedians, issued in booklet form 29 August 1991. The stamp designs were drawn by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. The other comedians honored in the set are Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy; Edgar Bergen (with alter ego Charlie McCarthy); Fanny Brice; and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
Star of "The Canada Dry Program" on NBC Radio (1932) and CBS Radio (1932-1933).
Star of "The Lucky Strike Program" on NBC Radio (1944-1949) and CBS Radio (1949-1955).
The Jack Benny radio show that followed the premature death of Carole Lombard was canceled because Benny, a good friend and admirer, was grief-stricken. The time was filled with music instead. Both had just starred together in To Be or Not to Be (1942).
Took his father to see To Be or Not to Be (1942), but he left the theatre disgusted when he saw Jack in a Nazi uniform. It wasn't until years later that Jack finally managed to convince him that he was making fun of Nazis not supporting them. His father saw the movie again and loved it.
Towards the end of his TV series, he was waiting for his show to air and began watching "Bonanza" (1959), which started half an hour sooner. He wound up missing his show and said "If I won't even watch me, what chance do I have?".
Two holidays figured prominently in his life: Born on St. Valentine's Day, 1894, he died on the day after Christmas, Boxing Day, 80 years later.
Was good friends with singer Gisele MacKenzie--who also played the violin--and often referred to her as "Doll".
When he appeared as a celebrity guest on the game show "Password All-Stars" (1961), he got the word "miser" and gave his first clue as, "Me!" thus bringing down the house.
When he died in 1974, he left an estate estimated at $4 million.