Above: Hoagy Carmichael and George Gobel in 1954
George Gobel
Born George Leslie Goebel
May 20, 1919
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died February 24, 1991 (aged 71)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Singer, actor and comedian
George Leslie Goebel (May 20, 1919 – February 24, 1991) was an American humorist, actor, and comedian. He was best known as the star of his own weekly comedy variety television series, The George Gobel Show, broadcasting from 1954 to 1959 on NBC, and on CBS from 1959 to 1960, (alternating in its final season with The Jack Benny Program). He was also a familiar panelist on the popular NBC game show Hollywood Squares.
He was born George Leslie Goebel in Chicago, Illinois, in 1919. His father, Hermann Goebel, who was then working as a butcher and grocer, had emigrated to the United States in the 1890s with his parents from the Austrian Empire.[4] His mother, Lillian (MacDonald) Goebel, was a native of Illinois, as was her mother, while Lillian’s father had immigrated from Scotland.
Following his graduation from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago in 1937, Gobel initially pursued an entertainment career as a country music singer, performing on the National Barn Dance on WLS radio and later on KMOX in St. Louis. During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served as a flight instructor in AT-9 aircraft at Altus, Oklahoma, and later in B-26 Marauder bombers at Frederick, Oklahoma. He resumed his career as an entertainer after the war, although he decided to focus predominantly on comedy rather than just singing. Much later, in a 1969 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Gobel joked about his stateside wartime service: “There was not one Japanese aircraft that got past Tulsa.”
Gobel debuted his comedy series on NBC in 1954. It showcased his quiet, homespun style of humor, a low-key alternative to what audiences had seen on Milton Berle’s shows. A huge success, the popular series made the crew-cut Gobel one of the biggest comedy stars of the 1950s. The weekly show featured vocalist Peggy King and actress Jeff Donnell, as well as numerous guest artists, including such stars as Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, Fred MacMurray and Tennessee Ernie Ford. In 1955, Gobel won an Emmy Award for “most outstanding new personality.”
George Gobel died in 1991, shortly after undergoing heart surgery. He was survived by his wife Alice and three children. He is interred in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia