George Burns (1896–1996,) originally Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian and movie actor. Celebrated for his comedy partnership with his wife Gracie Allen, he won an Oscar for the film The Sunshine Boys (1975.)
Born in New York City, Burns sang for pennies at street corners to support his family after his father died. He started his career at the age of seven, performing in a quartet of child singers. He later broke into vaudeville as a comedian.
Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen (Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie,) performed as a comedy team 1923–58, in which he portrayed the straight-man role of a sometimes patient, sometimes frustrated husband to her scatterbrained wife. They brought their vaudeville act to radio as The Burns & Allen Show (1932–50,) to television as The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950–58,) and to films.
Burns retired from show business after Allen’s death in 1964 but returned to acting in the late 1970s, winning an Academy Award for his performance as an old vaudevillian in The Sunshine Boys (1975.) He also appeared in numerous other films and television specials including Oh God (1977,) Going in Style (1979,) Just You and Me, Kid (1979,) Oh God! Book II (1980,) Oh God! You Devil (1984,) and 18 Again (1988.)
Burns produced the memoirs I Love Her, That’s Why! (1955,) Living It Up, or They Still Love Me in Altoona (1976,) Gracie: A Love Story (1988,) and 100 Years, 100 Stories (1996.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by George Burns
You know you’re getting old when you stop to tie your shoes and wonder what else you can do while you’re down there.
—George Burns
Topics: Age
Don’t stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed.
—George Burns
You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.
—George Burns
Topics: Age, Aging
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