Jackie Gleason

Frank Sinatra Sharing a Laugh with Fellow Entertainer Jackie Gleason

Frank Sinatra Sharing a Laugh with Jackie Gleason Premium Photographic Print
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One of the most gifted comedians ever, Jackie Gleason was born on this date in 1916.

Herbert John Gleason was born in New York City into a poor Irish-Catholic immigrant family living in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. His father, John Herbert Gleason, an insurance clerk, abandoned the family when Jackie was eight. His mother, Mae Kelly Gleason worked as a subway token booth agent and died when Jackie was only 16.

His only sibling, Clemence, died from tuberculosis when Jackie was 3.

As a teen, Jackie was very athletic – excelling in boxing and football. He was also very well known for being a snazzy dresser, having a sharp tongued sense of humor, and for having crazy skills around the pool table.

Jackie knew, from an early age, that he wanted to entertain people – especially if it meant making them laugh. He became very popular at vaudeville houses, carnivals, and amateur shows. He was also a very popular disc jockey. When he was 25, Jackie headed for Hollywood but, sadly, they didn’t seem to know quite what to do with him!

Finally in 1952, CBS saw the Jackie Gleason magic that would soon make television history. He was given his own television show, The Jackie Gleason Show. They paid him $10,000 per week, which made him one of the highest paid television stars of the day. CBS also built him a circular mansion in Peekskill, New York!

Jackie Gleason and CBS had a beautiful relationship for the next 18 years. How sweeeeeeet it was!

The Honeymooners was the shows most popular and beloved sketch. “To the moon, Alice” became a huge catch phrase all over the country!

The Honeymooners became a 30 minute comedy which stood on its own. While there were actually only 39 episodes, television history was made. In 1985, dozens of the old “Honeymooners” skits from the Gleason comedy-variety shows were re-edited and released as The Honeymooners: The Lost Episodes.

Jackie Gleason didn’t let his lack of box office success stand in his way – he simply moved to television and found more fame than many film stars ever knew. He did, however, leave a few very memorable performances in the movies.

In The Hustler (1961), he starred alongside Paul Newman as the legendary pool player Minnesota Fats, performing his own pool shots for the camera. The role earned him an Academy Award nomination.

One of my favorite Jackie Gleason movies was Papa’s Delicate Condition (1963). He was absolutely, positively perfect in this film. However, my favorite Jackie Gleason movie role would have to be Sheriff Buford T. Justice in the Burt Reynolds Smokey and the Bandit movies (1977, 1980, 1983). No one one earth could have played Sheriff Buford T. Justice except Jackie Gleason. No one!

He was also brilliant in Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), in which he portrays Maish Rennick, a boxing manager caught between gambling debts to the mob and loyalty to a punch-drunk fighter.

Jackie also appeared in The Toy (1982), The Sting II (1983), Nothing in Common (1986), costarring Tom Hanks, and Izzy and Moe (a 1985 television movie that reunited him with Art Carney).

Jackie Gleason died of heart failure on June 24, 1987, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.