Bob Hope dead at 100

July 28, 200323 yr

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bob Hope, who combined timing and classic, self-mocking gags to become America's beloved court jester, died peacefully on Sunday at age 100 surrounded by the audience he loved most -- his family.

Meeting reporters just after the announcement of her father's death at his home in Los Angeles, daughter Linda Hope said, "You could not have asked for a more peaceful ... death.

"I can't tell you how beautiful and serene and peaceful it was. The fact that there was a little audience around, even though it was family, warmed dad's heart."

She added that the comedian famed for his one-liners had no last words. "He left us with a smile on his face and no really last words. He gave us each a kiss and that was it."

President Bush led the nation in mourning the comedian who had become a national institution through his comedy and his unstinting devotion to American troops whom he entertained in every conflict from World War II to the first Gulf war.

"Today America lost a great citizen. We mourn the passing of Bob Hope. Bob Hope made us laugh. He lifted our spirits. Bob Hope served our nation when he went to battlefields to entertain thousands of troops from different generations."

Former first lady Nancy Reagan, speaking for herself and her husband Ronald Reagan, called Hope "one of our dearest friends for over 60 years -- losing him is like losing a member of the family."

Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences, said: "America has lost its court jester."

Comedians too were thrown into mourning as they paid homage to the man who fine tuned their craft into an art form.

"I really think he was by far the most brilliant comedian that ever lived," said comedian Jackie Mason. "Any comedian who knew anything about comedy had to admit he was the greatest comedian of all time."

Woody Allen, who has long acknowledged Hope's influence on his work, said: "It's hard for me to imagine a world without Bob Hope in it. He's like an organic part of the world."

'SURPRISE ME'

Hope is survived by his wife of 69 years, Dolores Hope, two sons Anthony and Kelly, two daughters, Linda Hope and Nora Somers, and four grandchildren. Linda Hope said the burial would be private but added that it was the subject of one of her father's last jokes.

"My mother has been saying to him 'Bob where do you want to be buried?' and his response was 'Surprise me."'

An American flag on the Hope compound in the suburban community of Toluca Lake was lowered to half staff on Monday morning. U.S. Army and Marine veteran Robert Hill, wearing a fatigue hat and a T-shirt and jeans, stood on a nearby street corner with a U.S. flag and a sign that read: "Thank you Bob Hope for the memories. U.S. Forces." "Thanks for the Memories" was Hope's theme song in a show business career that spawned seven decades.

Neighbors mourned his passing, calling him a generous man. One neighbor, who declined to give his name, said, "As one final joke, I almost expect Bob to come to walking out."

Hope, who was born in England, was the ultimate comedian, a master of timing who turned the one-liner into an art form and became a national institution.

His career, which included stints as an amateur boxer, minstrel in black face and dancer, spanned seven decades in which he starred in five mediums: vaudeville, radio, stage, movies and television.

Virtually running his own joke factory by employing about 100 writers, Hope drew on a collection of hundreds of thousands of jokes that specialized in sexual double entendres, gags about his ski-slope nose and lines that paid homage to his cowardice, lack of humility and willingness to con anyone.

BUDDIES ON THE ROAD

He also pioneered with Bing Crosby one of Hollywood's most enduring genres -- the buddy movie.

Crosby and Hope became one of the screen's great couples in a succession of "Road" movies beginning with 1940's "Road to Singapore," which was originally planned as a serious drama called "The Road to Mandalay."

During the Vietnam War Hope was criticized for being a "hawk" who supported the conflict. But he said he was really a middle-of-the-road supporter who wanted the war to end and even tried twice to visit Hanoi and arrange prisoner releases.

Born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, Kent, England, the fifth of seven sons of a stonemason, Hope's father moved his family to Cleveland, Ohio, when Hope was 3.

An often vain man, who some said could never pass a mirror without taking a look, Hope never boasted it was talent that got him to where he was -- as far as he was concerned, timing was everything. "The only thing I have is timing -- and lots and lots of experience," he said. "It's not a great talent."

In his office in his North Hollywood estate he kept files containing literally millions of jokes -- and he memorized thousands more. Topical one-liners were the basis of his art, and he had been known to telephone his writers just before a performance to demand an instant joke on some new issue.

Typical of his jokes were these: "Where else but in America could the Women's Liberation Movement take off their bras, then go on TV to complain about their lack of support?" (1970)

"Welcome to the Academy Awards. Or as it's known in my house -- Passover." (1968, while opening the Oscar ceremony. Hope won five "special" Oscars but none for acting)

"Now we can see the losers turning green," he said hosting the first Oscars to be broadcast in color.

"I have it on good authority that (Senator Joseph) McCarthy is going to disclose the names of 2 million Communists. He has just got his hands on the Moscow telephone directory." (1954)

While Groucho Marx once complained that Hope was not a comic but a translator of what others wrote for him, others disagreed.

But comedian Jay Leno summed up Hope this way: "He possessed all the gifts I, and all other comedians, could ever ask for or want: impeccable comic timing, an encyclopedic memory of jokes, and an effortless ability with quips."

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