George Burns Net Worth

George Burns's Quotes

• Smartness runs in my family. When I went to school I was so smart my teacher was in my class for five years.
• I've been a straight man for so many years that from force of habit I repeat everything. I went out fishing with a fellow the other day and he fell overboard. He yelled, "Help! Help! Help!" so I said, "Help? Help? Help?" And while I was waiting for him to get his laugh, he drowned.
• Fall in love with what you do for a living. I don't care what it is. It works.
• Retire? I'm going to stay in show business until I'm the only one left.
• [on appearance] Take care not to wear stripes that are out of sync with your wrinkles.

Interesting Facts about George Burns

1. As a child, he attended P.S. 22 and left after the fourth grade due to economic reasons.
2. Interred along with wife Gracie Allen at Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA, in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Heritage.
3. Uncle of Lou Weiss, chairman emeritus of William Morris Agency, who got his mailroom start in the agency business with help of "Uncle Nate".
4. Was a regular on the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts". He was even a guest of honor in 1978.
5. "The Burns & Allen Show" (on CBS and NBC from 1934 to 1950) was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1994.
6. At the time of his Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor for The Sunshine Boys (1975) at 80 years old, he was the oldest recipient of an Academy Award. This record was surpassed by Jessica Tandy in 1990 and later by Christopher Plummer in 2012, who received his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 82.
7. Best friends with fellow comedian Jack Benny, who also served as best man at his and Gracie Allen's wedding. Burns loved playing jokes on Benny, almost as much as watching him laugh (and pound the floor) afterward.
8. Actually wore a hairpiece for most of his performing career; appears briefly without it in The Sunshine Boys (1975) and in Two of a Kind (1982).
9. He and Gracie Allen continued to play single, even years after they were married; declining ratings prompted George to "update" the act on-air. He said later, "We were the only couple on radio who got married because we had to".
10. Took the name "Burns" from the Burns Brothers Coal Company, whose trucks he'd stolen lumps from growing up, to help heat the family home. "George" was a sobriquet his brother occasionally used.
11. Until his death, he smoked as many as ten cigars a day.
12. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 78-80. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
13. His first marriage was in name only. In the early 1920s he was doing a ballroom dancing act with Hannah Siegal, and they were offered a 36-week contract to go out on the road. When her father objected to her traveling with a young man outside the bonds of matrimony, George and Hannah got married so as not to turn down the offer. When they returned from their three-month engagement, they divorced.
14. In the beginning of their partnership Gracie Allen played the straight character and Burns had the funny lines. When he realized Gracie got more laughs, he switched their roles.
15. Daughter Sandra Burns adopted 1934, son Ronnie Burns adopted 1935.
16. Discovered Ann-Margret and made her his opening act in Las Vegas, Nevada.
17. He was in very fragile health and could not attend his 100th birthday celebration in person.
18. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 82-84. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
19. Was originally supposed to deliver the eulogy at the funeral of his best friend Jack Benny, but he was so overcome with emotion after trying that he let someone else do it.
20. In 18 Again! (1988) his character celebrates his 81st birthday, although Burns himself was already 92 years old.