Danny Kaye

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Danny Kaye (1986)

Danny Kaye , actually Daniel David Kaminsky , (born January 18, 1911 in Brooklyn , New York City , New York - † March 3, 1987 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor , comedian and singer . He was one of America's most popular comedians for many years, starring in comedies such as The Jester and White Christmas .

Life

Acting career

As the son of Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav in the Russian Empire (his father was a tailor ), he experienced his childhood largely in modest circumstances. He left school at the age of 13 and learned the basics of show business in the famous " borscht belt " of the Catskills . In 1933 he joined the dance couple Dave Harvey and Kathleen Young. In the premiere performance , he lost his balance and the audience burst out laughing. Kaye immediately built this mishap into his role.

With the Straw Hat Revue had the red-haired Kaye 1939 his Broadway - debut . The musical Lady in the Dark (1941) that followed helped him achieve a breakthrough with the audience and the agents. In 39 seconds he rattled down more than fifty polysyllabic Russian and Polish composer names in a song called Tchaikovsky . Kaye completed a similar quick speaking performance in Der Hofnarr ( The Court Jester , 1956) ("The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true."). This led to his title as " Hollywood's fastest mouth ".

In 1940 Kaye married Sylvia Fine , who from then on also took on the role of a manager for him . She wrote practically all of his lyrics and many of his presentations from then on. With Fine he had a daughter born in 1946.

Danny Kaye (October 25, 1945 in Japan as troop supervisor )

During the 1950s and 1960s, Kaye continued his work in films and in 1963 he also got his own television show, the Danny Kaye Show , which was a huge hit and earned him an Emmy in his first year . On television, he also took on the roles of Captain Hook in Peter Pan (1976) and Master Geppetto in Pinocchio (1976).

In the film, Danny had Kaye outstanding success as 1947 in The Double Life of Walter Mitty next Virginia Mayo , who played his partner in many other films, and Boris Karloff , who primarily as Frankenstein - monsters in horror movies became famous in the 1930s. Or 1954 in White Christmas (White Christmas) on the side of Bing Crosby , of the well-known Christmas song White Christmas , this time in a Technicolorfilm celebrated sang one more time, and recent success with it. And, as mentioned above, 1956 in the Knight film The Court Jester (The Court Jester) , where there is excellent with him fencing duel - scenes are, among other things, Basil Rathbone , of a world-class fencer was in Hollywood movies. Rathbone wrote in his 1960 autobiography In and Out of Character about Danny Kaye, who had never before fought for being a natural. Kaye was as good as he was after just three weeks of training.

In Jakobowsky und der Oberst ( Me and the Colonel , 1958) Kaye shone alongside Curd Jürgens . The role earned him in 1959 the second Golden Globe in the category Best Actor - Musical / Comedy one he 1952 already for On the Riviera ( On the Riviera had received, 1951).

In 1981 he performed with the New York Philharmonic as a conductor in An Evening with Danny Kaye with many world-famous classical pieces. The show for the benefit of the orchestral musicians' pension fund took place at Lincoln Center , with Zubin Mehta conducting the opening act . He had his last appearance in 1986 on the Bill Cosby Show . He played in the episode Who's Afraid of the Dentist? the dentist Dr. Burns.

Danny Kaye died of heart failure and internal bleeding from hepatitis C caused by a contaminated blood transfusion during bypass surgery four years earlier . His grave is in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla , Westchester County , New York State .

social commitment

Danny Kaye on a promotion tour for Unicef ​​in the Netherlands in 1955

In 1954, Kaye began his longstanding work as an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF ). In the same year he received an honorary Oscar for his previous humanitarian commitment. He continued his work for UNICEF into old age. In 1982, at the 54th Academy Awards ceremony, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from then Academy Award President Gregory Peck .

He managed to collect ten million dollars for UNICEF with benefit concerts, including the piece of music Der Hummelflug by Rimsky-Korsakow , which he conducted with a fly swatter. When UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965 , Danny Kaye was chosen to accept it for the organization.

Honors

Danny Kaye's hand and footprints are immortalized on the left outside Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. On the Walk of Fame are at 6563, as well as at 6101 and 6125 Hollywood Blvd. let its stars in the way. He was one of the few artists who even let three stars there.

The asteroid (6546) Kaye was named after him.

Filmography (selection)

cinemamovies

watch TV

literature

  • Michael Freedland: The secret life of Danny Kaye. Allen Publ., London 1985.
  • Martin Gottfried: Nobody's fool. The lives of Danny Kaye. Simon & Schuster, New York 1994, ISBN 0-671-86494-7 .
  • Peter Kranzpiller: Danny Kaye. (= Stars of the cinema scene; Volume 35), Verlag für Filmliteratur, Vogt 2003.
  • Kurt Singer: The Danny Kaye Story. Nelson, New York 1958.
  • David Koenig: Danny Kaye. King of Jesters. Bonaventure Press 2012

Web links

Commons : Danny Kaye  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karin Adir: The great clowns of American television . Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1988, p. 141
  2. ^ Parsons, Louella: Danny Kaye Awaits Christmas Bulletin On Maternity Front , The News and Courier. July 28, 1946. Retrieved January 14, 2011. 
  3. Jump up ↑ Richard Cohen: By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions, Random House Publishing Group, 2007, p. 229 [1]
  4. ↑ Reference date: January 18, 1913 - Danny Kaye born in New York , wdr.de, January 18, 2013
  5. ↑ Heike Specht : Curd Jürgens: General and Gentleman. The biography, construction digital, 2015 [2]
  6. ^ Winners & Nominees 1952 , goldenglobes.com
  7. ↑ Comedic Actor Danny Kaye, 74: He Wasn`t `Afraid To Be A Child` , Chicago Tribune , March 4, 1987, accessed February 13, 2017
  8. ↑ Martin Gottfried: Nobody's Fool, Simon and Schuster, 2002, p. 326 [3]
  9. ↑ knerger.de: Danny Kaye's grave , accessed on February 13, 2017
  10. ^ OSCAR 1982 Gregory Peck presents the Jean "Hersholt Humanitarian Award" to Danny Kaye at the 54th Academy Awards. Published February 4, 2016, accessed February 28, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Kaye, Danny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaminsky, Daniel David (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor, comedian and singer
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City, New York, United States
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 1987
Place of death Los Angeles , California, United States