- On his wartime USO tours he had one ironclad rule that he insisted his fellow performers follow: under no circumstances were they allowed to cry when visiting wounded soldiers in military hospitals. This was often difficult given the amount of suffering they saw, but he told his performers that it was their duty to always smile and provide laughs and good cheer for the troops. According to Hope, he broke his own rule only once. While visiting an army hospital in Italy in 1943, he stopped at the bedside of a wounded soldier who had been in a coma for two months. The soldier suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Hey, Bob Hope! When did you get here?" He had to leave the hospital room to keep the troops from seeing his tears, but he returned a few hours later to present the soldier with his Purple Heart medal.
- In 1997 Congress named Hope an honorary U.S. veteran, citing his decades of entertaining troops around the world. He is the only person to receive that distinction.
- Holds two entries in "The Guinness Book of World Records". One is for having the distinction of being the entertainer with "the longest running contract with a single network--spanning 61 years". The second is for being the "most honored entertainer", with over 1500 awards.
- Despite a well documented reputation for frugality, Hope is believed to have donated an estimated $1 billion to charity.
- Has entertained the troops overseas in every war from WWII to the Gulf War
- He and best friend Bing Crosby were planning to make one last "road" picture in early 1977, but Bing died before filming. Bob was so broken up about Bing's death that he couldn't sleep for days on end. He stated that it was one of the worst times of his life and that his wife was his rock who got him through the tough time.
- In 1998 he was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.
- He was the only entertainer to have complete carte blanche to walk on whenever he felt like it on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).
- At 69 years, his marriage to Dolores Hope held the record for the longest Hollywood marriage when he passed away in 2003. It has since been passed by the marriage of Art Linkletter to Lois Foerster. They were married November 25, 1935.
- Served as United Service Organizations, Inc. (USO) Entertainment Coordinator from 1941-2001. Retired his post at age 98 in favor of Wayne Newton.
- Awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by President John F. Kennedy at the White House on September 11, 1963. Only two other entertainers--George M. Cohan and Irving Berlin--were similarly honored.
- He bought several acres of prime real estate in Rancho Mirage, CA, to build a racetrack. He later decided a medical center was needed in the area instead, so he donated the land to build Eisenhower Medical Center, which is now rated as among the top 100 hospitals in America. A medical building on the campus is named for him and contains statues of he and wife Dolores Hope in the lobby. Another medical building next door is called "Hope Square".
- Wife Dolores Hope was born 27th May 1909. She and Bob celebrated their birthdays on 28th May every year--splitting the difference between their respective real birthdays.
- Spent his 99th birthday--29 May 2002--at home in Toluca Lake, CA. Wife Dolores Hope's 93rd birthday was just two days before. Los Angeles National Cemetery dedicated veterans' chapel in his name to salute his lifetime of service entertaining U.S. troops.
- After his death in 2003, an airport in Burbank, CA, was named "Bob Hope Airport" in his memory.
- His last TV appearance with Lucille Ball was March 28, 1989 on The 61st Annual Academy Awards (1989). They received a standing ovation upon walking out on stage. Hope and Ball introduced a musical number featuring "The Stars of Tomorrow", which included Johnny Depp, Christian Slater, and Ricki Lake. Lucille Ball passed away 28 days later on April 26, 1989.
- Hope first met Bing Crosby when they were both playing New York's Capitol Theater in 1932. He first met Dorothy Lamour when she was a cocktail singer at New York's Hotel One Fifth Avenue in the same year.
- ABC-TV Network News Poll, A&E Biography Viewers Poll, as well as magazine and newspaper 'century roundups' have proclaimed Hope as the "Entertainer of the 20th Century."
- At the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, Hope released a statement saying he wished he could go there to entertain the troops, but that his doctors would not allow him.
- Was incorrectly declared dead several times since retiring from the public eye. On the most infamous occasion in 1998, a wire service accidentally posted a pre-written obituary to a Web page. A member of the US House of Representatives saw this bogus news flash and announced Hope's death during a session at the Capitol. Hope learned he was dead when a reporter called his home asking for a statement. According to family members, Hope took this mistake in good humor.
- He entertained 11 different Presidents, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt and ending with Bill Clinton.
- In November of 1948, when President Harry S. Truman scored his upset presidential election victory, Hope sent him a one-word telegram: "Unpack". Truman was so amused by it he kept it in his desk in the Oval Office.
- He changed his name from Leslie to Bob, because in school they would call the roll as 'Hope, Leslie' and classmates shortened it to hopeless.
- Was briefly a professional boxer. He fought under the name Packy East.
- Has a ship named after him: USNS Bob Hope.
- Once remarked the only place where he could walk unrecognized was in the People's Republic of China. However, even then a Chinese man still recognized him from one of his movies from before the Chinese Revolution.
- Received 58 honorary degrees.
- In 1997 the U.S. Air Force honored Hope by naming a cargo plane "The Spirit of Bob Hope" after him.
- Awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson on his last day in office, January 20, 1969.
- First show-business job was as a dancer in the Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle vaudeville revue at the Bandbox Theater in Cleveland, OH, in 1924. Arbuckle recommended Hope and his partner Lloyd Durbin to producer Fred Hurley, who hired them for his popular revue, "Hurley's Jolly Follies." While on tour with Hurley, Durbin ate a piece of tainted coconut custard pie and died a few days later. Dancer George Byrne replaced him.
- Has four adopted children: Eleanora Avis "Nora", Anthony, Linda Hope and Kelly Hope.
- In 1999 he became the first to start the tradition of the official lighting of the Christmas Tree in Disneyland. Afterwards, he and wife Dolores Hope drove their own golf cart down Main Street, through Frontier Land to Club 33 for dinner.
- Entertained U.S. troops starting 6th May 1941, and became the first to be named an "honorary veteran" by Congress.
- Hosted the Academy Awards in 1939, 1940, 1943, 1945 (alongside John Cromwell), 1946 (alongside James Stewart), 1953 (alongside Conrad Nagel), 1955 (alongside Thelma Ritter), 1958 (alongside James Stewart, David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Rosalind Russell and "Donald Duck"), 1959 (alongside Jerry Lewis, David Niven, Laurence Olivier, Mort Sahl and Tony Randall), 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1975 (alongside Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra) and finally in 1978.
- He is among the select few non-band members who have had the honor of dotting the "i" during The Ohio State University Marching Band's 'Script Ohio' routine. This is considered the greatest honor the band can bestow to any non-band person and is an extremely special (and rare) event.
- In 1969 he was worth in excess of $150 million, largely as a result of shrewd business and real estate investments.
- He got his big break in feature films when Jack Benny turned down a role in The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) and it was given to him instead.
- His golf buddy was Prescott Bush, the father and grandfather of presidents George Bush and George W. Bush.
- He was one of the richest movie stars, ranking in the top ten highest salaried stars continuously from 1941-53 [except for 1948].
- As a young comedian, he won a Charles Chaplin look-alike contest in Cleveland.
- In the 1950s he was a part-owner of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. His guest appearance in I Love Lucy (1951) centered around his attending a Yankees-Indians game at Yankee Stadium.
- The Bob Hope USO Center is named after him.
- In 1959 he was awarded the Emmy Trustees' Award "for bringing the great gift of laughter to all peoples of all nations; for selflessly entertaining American troops throughout the world over many years; and for making TV finer by these deeds and by the consistently high quality of his TV programs through the years".
- Was friends with comedienne Vicki Lawrence. She was a veteran from his USO shows and Hope worked with her in The Carol Burnett Show (1967). He guest=starred twice on Vicki's own talk show, Vicki! (1992).
- Along with George Burns and Señor Wences, he is one of three The Muppet Show (1976) guest stars to live to be 100 years old.
- Has three theaters named after him--London, CA, and on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
- Wrote several books about his experiences over the years, including "I Owe Russia $1200", about his Soviet tour in early 1962; "Confessions of a Hooker", about his lifelong passion for golf; and "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me!", about his many overseas trips to entertain U.S. troops over the years.
- His grandfather lived to 99 years, 11 months, and 25 days.
- In addition to the three theaters cited as bearing Hope's name, Alumni Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, houses the Bob Hope Performing Arts Center.
- In a mostly ad-libbed skit for a TV show, Hope joked with Jimmy Durante about the size of his own nose. Durante quipped "When it comes to noses, you're a retailer. I'm a wholesaler!"
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content