Bob Hope

I was a triple-threat superstar of radio, film and television during the 1940s and 1950s. Primarily a comedian, I also acted, sang and danced a little, hosted my own radio and television shows, and carried on a famous comic feud with my friend and fellow star, crooner Bing Crosby. I spent much of World War II travelling the world to entertain Allied troops, a service I also performed with gusto during later wars in Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East; my entertain-the-troops tours became one of his enduring signatures. Though my superstar years ended in the 1960s, I continued to make appearances well into the 1990s. In May of 2003 I celebrated my 100th birthday with a typical wisecrack: "I'm so old they've cancelled my blood type." I died a few months later, in July 2003.