Jack Benny Biography

Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky in 1894. Raised in Waukegau, Illinois, Kubelsky learned violin from an early age, finding work in theatre orchestras.

As a teenager, he made an early foray into vaudeville, accompanied by the pianist Cora Salisbury, although this early act met with only muted success.

During World War I, Kubelsky was assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Training Centre, where he began to develop his stand-up comic routine. Following the war, he made further vaudeville appearances, at first under the pseudonym Ben K. Benny, and then under the sobriquet that would make him famous, ‘Jack Benny'.

Benny made his first radio appearance on Ed Sullivan’s interview show on 29 March 1932; within a year, his adopted persona of a cantankerous miser had proved so popular that he secured the first of his many permanent slots on 'The Canada Dry Program' for NBC radio. Subsequent shows included 'The Jell-O Program' (1934-42) and 'The Lucky Strike Program' (1944-55).

Benny made numerous forays into Hollywood, beginning with his first appearance in 'The Hollywood Revue of 1929', followed by his first starring role in 'The Medicine Man' (1930).

However, Benny’s film appearances were largely poorly received and, while he made one stand-out appearance in the Ernst Lubitsch-directed 'To Be or Not To Be', his movie-career was rather characterised by such clunkers as 'Love Thy Neighbour' (1940) and the lamentable 'The Horn Blows at Midnight' (1945).

Benny moved out of the Hollywood limelight in order to try his hand at producing, with the 1949 Dorothy Lamour vehicle, 'The Lucky Stiff'. At the same time, his production company was responsible for television shows such as 'Checkmate' (1960-62), while Benny himself continued his radio career and starring in the mainstream television staple, 'The Jack Benny Show' (1950-65).

Benny married Mary Livingstone (formerly Sadie Marks) on 24 January 1927, whom he had met whilst appearing in the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. The couple had one daughter, Joan Naomi Benny, and remained together until the end of his life.

In 1974, Benny was due to revive his big-screen career in Herbert Ross’s 'The Sunshine Boys', but died of cancer after a short illness on 26 December 1974, the role he was to play eventually going to Benny’s close friend, George Burns. In 1989, Jack Benny was inducted into the US Radio Hall of Fame.