Jackie Gleason

AKA:
Herbert John Gleason
Nationality:
American
Birthdate:
02/26/1916
Birthplace:
Brooklyn, New York
Death Date:
06/24/1987
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biography
This rotund yet physically expressive actor and comic became an American legend with his signature character of Ralph Kramden, the bus driver who dreamed of getting rich, on "The Honeymooners". Jackie Gleason could be crabby; he could zing. He could be poignant, as in his portrayal of 'The Poor Soul', or he could be satirical, as with the phony aristocrat Reginald Van Gleason III. Gleason could play straight man, as he often did to both Frank Fontaine and to Art Carney, and he could also put over the occasional song. His audience knew that he was no saint. Each week on his variety show, he Continued
Credits
Sheriff Buford T Justice
1977
Maish Rennick
1962
Minnesota Fats
1961
John Cutler
Buford T Justice
Max Basner
US Bates
From Story
Stanley Waltz
M/Sgt Maxwell Slaughter
Walter Hollander
Jack "Papa" Griffith
Henry Gondorff
Tony Banks
Gigot
milestones
Year
Milestone
1931 
Won an amatuer night contest in Brooklyn at age 15 (date approximate)
 
Worked as a carnival barker and emcee in Pennsylvania and New Jersey
1935 
First professional nightclub appearance in Newark, NJ
1938 
Made Broadway debut in "Hellzapoppin'"
 
Appeared on Broadway throughout the 1940s in such shows as "Artists and Models" (1943), "Follow the Girls" (1944), in which he appeared in drag, and "Along Fifth Avenue" (1949)
Continued