Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason Facts
| Sign | Pisces |
| Born |
Feb 26, 1916 Bushwick, Brooklyn |
| Died |
Jun 24, 1987 Fort Lauderdale, FL |
| Age | Died at 71 |
| Total Facts | 31 |
"The Jackie Gleason Show" (1961) helped propel the tourist industry in Miami Beach in the early & mid 1960s.
Appears as Ralph Kramden, with Art Carney as Ed Norton, on a 44¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the Early TV Memories issue honoring "The Honeymooners" (1955). The stamp was issued 11 August 2009.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 328-331. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 180-183. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
Buried in Miami. His grave site is all that one would expect. Engraved in the "riser" of the second step from the top is the classic, "AND AWAY WE GO".
Despite his iconic stature as a TV-comedy giant, Gleason never won an Emmy.
Did not like working with young children.
Eponym of the Jackie Gleason (formerly 5th Avenue) Bus Depot in Brooklyn, New York.
Father of actress Linda Miller.
Grandfather of actor Jason Patric.
Had an interest in the occult as well as an extensive collection of books on the paranormal.
Has a street named after him in Iowa City, Iowa.
He designed his own fantastic round house that was built in Peekskill, New York, in the 1950s and remains a modern marvel. The precious wood interior took special crafting by Swedish carpenters who were brought to the U.S. for a year to work on the house. It contained a basement disco and one of the very first in-home video projection systems. Despite the enormous cost, the Gleason dream house long suffered from a leaky wooden roof.
He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6231 Hollywood Boulevard and for Television at 6300 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
He was legendary for his dislike of rehearsal, even in the early days of live TV. Yet he was equally renowned for his total mastery and control over each production detail and insisted on the show credit: "Entire Production Supervised by Jackie Gleason."
He was not only a boxer and carnival barker in his early years, but also a pool hustler. Interestingly, he went on to play Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961) with Paul Newman.
His family background was, according to most accounts, almost Dickensian. It was marked by severe illness and grinding poverty, in any event. His father, Herb Gleason (1884-1964), was a henpecked insurance clerk who took his myriad disappointments in life out in drink. He deserted the family when Jackie was nine. His mother (d. 1935), the former Mae Kelly, was overprotective of her younger son, who died when Jackie was in his teens. An older brother, Clemence, died, probably of tuberculosis, at the age of fourteen, when Jackie was three.
In the 1930s, before he ever really made it even in smalltime venues, he was a bartender at a bar in Newark, New Jersey, called the Blue Mirror. He wore his apron high on the chest just like he did as his "Joe the Bartender" character 30 years later on his television show, and he entertained the patrons with his antics, just like "Joe the Bartender." Eventually, he got such a following that the owner gave him a chance at the microphone on stage. The rest, as they say, is history. This was also a time when he actually lived and slept in the back room with the empty bottles, etc. And, of course, it was across the street from a pool hall that he patronized in the afternoons after he was finished cleaning up the Blue Mirror.
Inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame, 1986.
Irish-American. Both of His parents were from County Cork,Ireland.
On August 2000, cable television station TvLand unveiled an eight-foot bronze statue of Gleason as Ralph Kramden. The statue was placed in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.
On January 20, 1961, a game show he co-developed, "You're In the Picture" (1960), premiered on CBS. The premise was to have celebrity guests place their heads into a cutout scene and ask the host questions as to guess what picture or historical scene they were in. The show's concept was ill-conceived, especially for co-creator and host Gleason, and was blasted by critics and viewers alike. On the next week's broadcast Gleason apologized to the viewers, saying, "Honesty is the best policy. We had a show last week that laid the biggest bomb! I've seen bombs in my day, but this one made the H-bomb look like a two-inch salute." The time slot was filled with a variety program; "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1961).
Once said that Orson Welles bestowed his "The Great One" nickname upon him.
Prone to excess with wine, women, song and work, a lifestyle which often led to exhaustion. In such cases, he would check into a hospital for some needed rest. But one famous story has it, when Gleason really felt "sick", he checked himself OUT of the hospital, and went home to be taken care of!
Recorded a number of albums featuring instrumental "mood music" (what is now known today as "lounge music"). Gleason served as producer, band-leader, and (on occasion) vibraphone player, despite the fact that he couldn't read sheet music. Several of the albums included original compositions by Gleason. One album, "Lonesome Echo", topped the charts in 1955, and featured an album cover with original art by Salvador Dalí.
The Miami Beach Auditorium was re-named the Jackie Gleason Theater and is located on 17th Street and Washington Avenue on South Beach.
The popular Hanna-Barbera character Fred Flintstone was based on him, as the Flintstones animated series was loosely based on the Honeymooners. Upon realizing this, Gleason tried to file a lawsuit against Hanna-Barbera but was dissuaded from doing so by friends and colleagues who advised him that it would be bad for his reputation if he became known as "the man who killed Fred Flintstone.".
The set of "The Honeymooners" (1955) show was based on Jackie's childhood home on Chauncey Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant (originally Bushwick) area of Brooklyn, New York. The apartment building is still there and looks very much the same as in Jackie's time.
There were plans to reunite him with Art Carney for Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979). They were to play two men who would be stationed on top of a Ferris Wheel. However, Gleason's representatives informed the producers that he would not perform with Carney. But by 1985, just two years before he died, he was reunited with Art Carney in "Izzy and Moe" (1985). They even shared over the credits billing, with Carney first, but lower left, and Gleason second, but upper right.
Was a mentor and frequent drinking buddy of Frank Sinatra. It was Gleason who first introduced Sinatra to Jack Daniels whiskey, which became Sinatra's signature drink.
Won Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "Take Me Along" over his two also-nominated co-stars, Walter Pidgeon and Robert Morse .