Danny Thomas | |
|---|---|
 Thomas in 1957 | |
| Born | Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz (1912-01-06)January 6, 1912 Deerfield, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | February 6, 1991(1991-02-06) (aged 79) |
| Other names | Amos Jacobs Kairouz Amos Jacobs |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1932–1991 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingTony andMarlo Thomas |
Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz (January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991), known professionally asDanny Thomas, was an American entertainer, producer, and philanthropist. After launching his career in the 1940s in radio and cinema, he created and starred in the 1953–1964 television sitcomMake Room for Daddy / The Danny Thomas Show, and went on to produce a number of successful television programs. In 1962, he leveraged his celebrity status to establishSt. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a leading center inpediatrics research and treatment, with a focus onpediatric cancer. He was the father ofMarlo Thomas, Terre Thomas, andTony Thomas.[2]
One of 10 children, Danny Thomas was born Amos Muzyad YaqoobKairouz (Arabic:أموس مزيد يعقوب كيروز) on January 6, 1912, inDeerfield, Michigan, to Charles Yaqoob Kairouz (Arabic:تشارلز يعقوب كيروز) and his wife Margaret Taouk (Arabic:مارغريت طوق كيروز).[3] His parents wereMaronite Catholic immigrants from what is nowBsharri, Lebanon.[4]
Thomas was raised inToledo, Ohio, attending St. Francis de Sales Church andWoodward High School.[5]
BishopSamuel Stritch of Toledoconfirmed Thomas in the Catholic Church in 1921.[6] Stritch, a native of Tennessee, was a lifelong spiritual advisor to Thomas, and would later advise him to locate the St. Jude Hospital in Memphis.[7][8]
In 1932, Thomas began performing on radio in Detroit atWMBC onThe Happy Hour Club. Thomas first performed under hisanglicized birth name, "Amos Jacobs Kairouz".[9]
In 1936, a week after his 24th birthday, Thomas married Rose Marie Cassaniti. (She had worked as a singer under the name of Rose Marie Mantel, and can often be found by her stagename.)[10]
In 1940, after he moved to Chicago, Thomas did not want his friends and family to know he had gone back into working clubs where the salary was better, so he came up with the pseudonym "Danny Thomas" (after two of his brothers).[9]
Thomas first reached mass audiences on network radio in the 1940s playing shifty brother-in-law Amos inThe Bickersons, which began as sketches on the music-comedy showDrene Time, starringDon Ameche andFrances Langford. Thomas also portrayed himself as a scatterbrained Lothario on this show. His other network radio work included a stint as Jerry Dingle the postman onFanny Brice'sThe Baby Snooks Show. In the early 1950s he made several appearances on the popular NBC variety programThe Big Show hosted by stage legendTallulah Bankhead.
Thomas also had his own radio program,The Danny Thomas Show. The 30-minute weekly variety show was onABC from 1942 to 1943 and onCBS from 1947 to 1948.[11]
After his two late 1940s films withMargaret O'Brien, Thomas appeared withBetty Grable in the musicalCall Me Mister (1951). He portrayed songwriterGus Kahn oppositeDoris Day in the 1951 film biographyI'll See You in My Dreams. He then starred inThe Jazz Singer opposite the popular contemporary vocalistPeggy Lee, a 1952 remake ofthe 1927 original.
In 1952, Thomas recorded several Arabic folk songs with Toufic Barham for aSaint Jude Hospital Foundation fundraiser record. The songs later appeared on the re-issue album The Music of Arab-Americans: A Retrospective Collection.[12][13]
Thomas enjoyed a successful 11-year run (1953–1964) onMake Room for Daddy, later known asThe Danny Thomas Show.Jean Hagen,Sherry Jackson, andRusty Hamer were his first family. The Hagen character died offscreen in 1956 and was replaced byMarjorie Lord;Angela Cartwright also joined the cast at this time playing Danny's stepdaughter. Sherry Jackson left the series in 1958, and Penney Parker replaced her in the 1959–1960 season. Parker was written out of the series with her marriage to the character Patrick Hannigan, played by comedianPat Harrington, Jr.
On January 1, 1959, Thomas appeared with his otherMake Room for Daddy child stars,Angela Cartwright andRusty Hamer, in an episode ofNBC'sThe Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.
The show was produced atDesilu Studios, whereLucille Ball was appearing alongsideDesi Arnaz inI Love Lucy, and it featured several guest stars who went on to star in their own shows, includingAndy Griffith (The Andy Griffith Show,Mayberry RFD),Joey Bishop, andBill Bixby (My Favorite Martian and others). He also scored a major success at the London Palladium, in the years when many big American stars appeared there. In 1963, in an episode called "Oh, the Clancys," theClancy Brothers and Tommy Makem appeared as Marjorie Lord's Irish cousins and sang "Brennan on the Moor."[14]
In 1970, the program was revived for a season under the titleMake Room for Granddaddy.
Angela Cartwright (who spoke about her on- and off-camera relationship with her television stepfather, Danny Thomas, on a groundbreaking ABC TV show,Make Room for Daddy) said: "I thought Danny was hilarious and he was always cracking me up. He was loud and gregarious, nothing like my real dad who is far more reserved than that. So, it was fun to be able to make smart remarks and get away with it. I would never have talked to my real parents that way, but in the make-believe world of the Williams family I got away with that." Cartwright also added that by the time Thomas' show had ended, she wanted to join the cast ofThe Sound of Music: "I went on an interview for the part of Brigitta. I was still filmingThe Danny Thomas Show, but I knew the series was coming to an end. After several auditions, I was the first von Trapp cast. I asked Danny Thomas if he would let me out of my contract so I could be in the movie and he was very gracious to let me out of the last show of the season. He didn't have to do that and I am very grateful he did."[15]
In 1965 and 1966, Thomas presentedThe Wonderful World of Burlesque, featuringLucille Ball,Jerry Lewis,Don Adams,Carol Channing,Andy Griffith,Sheldon Leonard, andShirley Jones.[16]
The Danny Thomas Hour was an Americananthology television series that was broadcast onNBC during the1967–1968 television season.
Thomas became a successful television producer (withSheldon Leonard andAaron Spelling among his partners) ofThe Dick Van Dyke Show,The Andy Griffith Show,That Girl, andThe Mod Squad. Thomas also produced three series forWalter Brennan:The Real McCoys,The Tycoon, andThe Guns of Will Sonnett on ABC during the late 1950s and 1960s. Thomas often appeared in cameos on shows he produced, including his portrayal of the tuxedoed, droll alien Kolak, from the planet Twilo, in theDick Van Dyke Show science-fiction spoof, "It May Look Like a Walnut".
Thomas was responsible forMary Tyler Moore's first "big break" in acting. In 1961, Carl Reiner cast her inThe Dick Van Dyke Show after Thomas personally recommended Moore. Reiner had remembered her as "the girl with three names" whom he had turned down earlier, but rediscovered her after a lengthy search through photos and records.
In the early 1970s, Thomas reunited most of his secondDaddy cast (Marjorie Lord,Rusty Hamer, andAngela Cartwright) for a short-lived update of the showMake Room for Granddaddy. Premised around Danny and Kathy Williams caring for their grandson by daughter Terry, away with her husband who was serving in the military and stationed in Japan, the show lasted one season.[17]
By the mid-1970s, Thomas' sonTony had become an accomplished television producer. Tony, along withPaul Junger Witt, formedWitt/Thomas Productions in 1975, and was responsible for his father's next three (and ultimately final) starring vehicles. Thomas returned to series TV in the NBC sitcomThe Practice, airing from January 1976 to January 1977.[18] Subsequently, he co-starred inI'm a Big Girl Now, which aired on ABC from 1980 to 1981.[19]
Thomas was guest of honor inThe Dean Martin Celebrity Roast that aired on December 15, 1976, onNBC. He guest-starred in "In Full Command" (S05 E22), the March 18, 1978,series finale of the long-running detective dramaKojak, as a corrupt superior officer in the police department, in an episode directed by series starTelly Savalas. He also appeared in the TV movieSide by Side (1988), oppositeMilton Berle andSid Caesar.[20]
The last series in which Thomas was a headlining star wasOne Big Family, which aired insyndication during the 1986–1987 season. The situation comedy's premise was set around a semi-retired comedian whose grandchildren were orphaned after their parents were killed in a car accident.[21]
Thomas, like many actors prominent in television, endorsed commercial products, includingMaxwell House coffee. According to Thomas, the money he earned from those commercials was used to establish St. Jude Children's Hospital.[22]
As a "starving actor", Thomas had made a vow: If he found success, he would open a shrine dedicated toSt. Jude Thaddeus, one of the patron saints of hopeless causes.[23]
In the early 1950s, after he became a successful actor, his wife joined him, and they began traveling the United States to help raise funds to buildSt. Jude Children's Research Hospital.[24] He fervently believed: "No child should die in the dawn of life."[25]
In 1962, with help from Dr.Lemuel Diggs and close friend Anthony Abraham, an auto magnate in Miami, Florida, Thomas founded theSt. Jude Children's Research Hospital inMemphis, Tennessee. Since its inception, St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and around the world, continuing the mission of finding cures and saving children.[26]
Thomas married Rose Marie Cassaniti on January 15, 1936, and had three children. The Thomas children followed their parents into entertainment in various capacities—Marlo as an actress and producer,Tony as a television producer,[27] and Terre as an accomplished singer-songwriter.[28]
Thomas was initiated toFreemasonry[29] in Prudence Lodge No. 958, Chicago,[30][31] passed, and raised to the sublime degree ofMaster Mason at Gothic Lodge No. 270 F&AM.[32]
ACatholic,[9] Thomas was named a Knight Commander of theOrder of the Holy Sepulchre byPope Paul VI in recognition of his services to the church and the community. He was a member of theGood Shepherd Parish and theCatholic Motion Picture Guild inBeverly Hills, California.[33]
In 1983, PresidentRonald Reagan presented Thomas with aCongressional Gold Medal honoring him for his work with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Thomas was one of the original owners of theMiami Dolphins, along withJoe Robbie, but he sold his share soon after the purchase. In addition, he also played golf regularly since his youth.[34]
TwoPGA Tour tournaments bore his name: theDanny Thomas-Diplomat Classic in south Florida in 1969 and, along with co-founder Vernon Bell, theDanny Thomas Memphis Classic from 1970 to 1984. He was also the first non-Jewish member of theHillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles.[35]
In 1990, Danny Thomas was inducted into theTelevision Hall of Fame.[36]
In 1991, Thomas died after a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills, a hospital spokesman said. He is interred in amausoleum on the grounds of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital inMemphis, Tennessee, alongside his wife.[37]
A park in Toledo, Ohio, bears Thomas's name and a monument.
A stretch of roadway in Memphis is locally known as Danny Thomas Boulevard. The road, built in the 1960s to partially rerouteU.S. Highway 51 around downtown, runs from E.H. Crump Boulevard (U.S. 70/79/64) to North Parkway/A.W. Willis Avenue (Tennessee State Route 1), passing through St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's campus on a viaduct.
For Thomas' contribution to the television industry, in February 1960 he was honored with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame located at 6901Hollywood Boulevard.[38]
Thomas was aposthumous recipient of the 2004Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.[39]
In 1965, Danny Thomas was appointed as a Special Deputy Sheriff by Ben Clark, who was a long-standing Riverside County Sheriff and a recognized "trail blazer" in terms of professionalizing the law enforcement profession in California and the United States.[40]
On February 16, 2012, theUnited States Postal Service issued a first-classforever stamp honoring Thomas as an entertainer and humanitarian. The Danny Thomas Forever Stamp shows an oil-on-panel painting depicting a smiling,tuxedo-clad Thomas in the foreground and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the background.[25]
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1947 | The Unfinished Dance | Mr. Paneros | |
| 1948 | Big City | Cantor David Irwin Feldman | |
| 1951 | Call Me Mister | Stanley | |
| 1951 | I'll See You in My Dreams | Gus Kahn | |
| 1952 | The Jazz Singer | Jerry Golding | |
| 1964 | Looking for Love | Himself | |
| 1966 | Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title | Diner Customer | Uncredited |
| 1967 | Cricket on the Hearth | Himself, Caleb Plummer | Voice (Caleb Plummer) |
| 1972 | Journey Back to Oz | The Tin Man | Voice |
| 1979 | That's Life | ||
| 1988 | Side by Side | Charlie Warren | |
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| National | |
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