Danny Kaye was an American actor,
singer and comedian.
Born in Brooklyn as David Daniel Kaminski, red-haired
Kaye became one of the world's best-known comedians.
In 1941 he appeared in the Broadway show, Lady in the
Dark and performed the famous number "Tchaikovsky," by
Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, in which he sang the names
of a whole string of Russian composers at breakneck
speed, seemingly without taking a breath.
Kaye made his film debut in a 1935 comedy short subject
entitled Moon Over Manhattan., although his feature
film debut was Up in Arms (1944). He starred in several
movies with actress Virginia Mayo in the 1940's, and
is well known for his roles in films such as The Secret
Life of Walter Mitty (1947), The Inspector General
(1949), White Christmas (1954), Knock on Wood (1954),
and The Court Jester (1956). Kaye starred in two pictures
based on biographies, Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
about the Danish story-teller, and The Five Pennies
(1959) about jazz pioneer Red Nichols.
Kaye also worked in television. He hosted a variety
hour on CBS, The Danny Kaye Show, from 1963 to 1967.
He also guest-starred in episodes of The Cosby Show
and of the 1980's remake of The Twilight Zone.
In many of his movies, as well as on stage, Danny
Kaye proved to be an able actor, singer, dancer and
comedian, often having his comedic talents showcased
by special material written by his wife, Sylvia Fine.
He showed quite a different and serious side as Ambassador
for UNICEF, and in one of his few dramatic roles in
the memorable TV-movie Skokie, in which he played a
Holocaust survivor. Before he died in 1987, Kaye also
demonstrated his ability to conduct an orchestra during
a comical, but technically sound, series of concerts
organised for UNICEF fundraising. Kaye received two
Academy awards, an honorary award in 1955 and the Jean
Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1982.
Joan Plowright, widow of the actor Laurence Olivier,
claimed that Olivier had a long homosexual relationship
with Kaye while Olivier was still married to his second
wife, Vivien Leigh. Kaye's widow Sylvia denied these
rumors.
Danny Kaye died in 1987, and is interred in the Kensico
Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. |
