Jean-Pierre Aumont

He is interred in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. He was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. When he died in 2001, Jean-Pierre Aumont was one of the most distinguished and famous French actors of the 20th century. He died in 1974. Aumont was also a distinguished author, although the English translations of his works were sub-par. He was cast in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys, but was forced to give up the role (ultimately played by Benny's close friend George Burns), when he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Two years afterward, he was decorated with the cross of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, and in 1992, he received an honorary César Award. He also continued to perform live as a stand-up comedian.

He starred in many films throughout the latter half of the 20th century, and one of his more recent works was released in 1989, A Tale of Two Cities. Toward the end of his career, Benny returned to film, appearing in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in (1963). In the 1960s, he starred in various Broadway productions. The failure of one Benny vehicle, The Horn Blows at Midnight, became a running gag on his program. Aumont continued working with various famous actors and directors. Benny also acted in movies, including the Academy Award-winning The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and notably, Charley's Aunt (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942). They had two children: Jean-Claude and Patrick, and lived a rather happy life. NBC dropped his show at the end of the season, though he continued to make periodic TV specials into the 1970s.

However, the couple divorced in 1962, but rejoined a short while later. CBS dropped his show in 1964, and he went to NBC in the Fall, only to be out-rated by Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. on CBS. The couple starred in one film together, John Paul Jones, where Pavan played the romantic interest of the lead, while Aumont cameoed as King Louis XVI. The program was similar to the radio show—many radio scripts were recycled for TV—with the addition of visual gags. In 1956, he married Italian actress Marisa Pavan, star of various films including The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. When Benny moved to television, audiences learned that his verbal talent was matched by his assortment of facial expressions and physical gestures. Aumont kept working after his wife's death, though, starring as the magician in the extremely successful film, Lili, with Leslie Caron. From 1955 to 1960 it appeared every other week, and from 1960 to 1965 it was seen weekly.

She was known as the "Queen of Technicolor", and their marriage was very happy; however, she tragically drowned and died on September 7, 1951, in the family's villa at Suresnes, France. The show appeared infrequently during its first two years on TV, then ran every fourth week for the next two years. While in Hollywood, though, Aumont married Maria Montez, a Dominican actress. The Jack Benny Show ran on television from October 28, 1950 to 1965. Because of his bravery during the fighting, Aumont received the Legion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre. The song later became the theme of his television show as well. Aumont's Jeep was blown up near a mined bridge, and French Brigadier General Diégo-Charles-Joseph Brosset, commander of the 1st Free French Division, was killed. During his early radio show, Benny adopted a medley of "Yankee Doodle Boy" and "Love in Bloom" as his theme song, opening every show.

However, the second was more serious. Benny, ever the cheapskate, snapped, "I'm thinking it over!". The first was on a mission with his brother. Benny was famous for his carefully timed pauses; one of the most famous laughs in radio came when he was accosted by a robber who demanded, "Your money or your life!" After an extended pause, the gunman reiterated the threat. Through the war, he was wounded twice. The laughter was so loud and chaotic at the chain of events that Fred's announcer, Kenny Delmar, was cut off the air amidst the wild laughter while trying to read the credits—Fred's show had ran over-time yet again!. Then, he moved with the Allied armies through Italy and France. Then, his pants are pulled off to the shock of the audience.

After the completion of the film, Aumont was sent to North Africa, where he participated in Operation Torch, specifically in the country of Tunisia. The hilarity builds as Jack's shirt is being taken off. Therefore, after finishing his film, The Cross of Lorraine (which was highly liked by certain Resistance leaders, including Charles de Gaulle), he joined the Free French. The grand prize is a pants pressing from a local dry cleaning company. He began working with MGM; however, he was not content with staying in the safe United States while his fellow countrymen were fighting for their lives in Europe. In it, Allen plays host and eventually showers Benny with a ton of worthless prizes in honor of him being named King for a Day. He first fled to an unoccupied portion of Vichy territory, before moving, first to New York City, then Hollywood to further his film career. A typical Benny and Allen episode, in this case on Fred's radio show, was a satire of "Queen for a Day" re-titled "King for a Day".

Aumont stayed in France until 1942, when he realized that because of his Jewish ancestry, he would be forced to flee from the Nazi forces. In fact, the two were close friends. However, right when his film and stage career began rising quickly, World War II broke out. In 1937 Benny began his famous radio "feud" with rival comedian Fred Allen, who complained about the way Benny played violin. However, his most important, career-defining role came in 1934, when Jean Cocteau's play La Machine Infernal (The Infernal Machine) was released in 1934. Historical accounts (like those by longtime Benny writer Milt Josephson) indicate that Benny's role that was essentially that of both head writer and director of his radio programs, though he was not credited in either capacity. His film debut came one year later, when Jean de la Lune (Jean of the Moon in English) was produced in 1931. This was very much in contrast to other successful radio or television comedians, such as Bob Hope, who would change writers frequently.

His professional stage debut occurred at the age of 21. Benny was notable for employing a small group of writers, most of whom stayed with him for many years. Born in Paris, France to a wealthy French family, Aumont began studying drama at the Paris Conservatory, following his mother, at the age of sixteen. His sponsors included Canada Dry Ginger Ale from 1932 to 1933, Chevrolet from 1933 to 1934, General Tire in 1934, Jell-O from 1934 to 1942 (Benny is largely credited for making "Jello" a household name), Grape Nuts from 1942 to 1944, and Lucky Strike from 1944 to 1955. Jean-Pierre Aumont (January 5, 1911 - January 29, 2001) was a French actor. In the early days of radio, the airtime was owned by the sponsor, and Benny made a point of incorporating the commercials into the body of the show; the sponsors were often the butt of jokes. Ronald Colman and his wife Benita appeared frequently in the 1940s as Benny's neighbors.

Orson Welles guest hosted several episodes when Benny was unavailable. The program, which had been broadcast from New York, moved to Los Angeles in 1936, and its new show-biz locale allowed for frequent guest appearances by Benny's celebrity colleagues, including Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck, Bing Crosby and many others. The show featured sketch-like "situations" from the fictional Benny's life (Jack hosts a party, Jack and Mary go Christmas shopping, and so on), with Harris and Day providing musical interludes. Other cast members included Frank Nelson and the remarkably versatile Mel Blanc, who provided several characters' voices, as well as the famous sound of Benny's aging auto, an early century Maxwell that always seemed on the verge of collapse.

Staples on the show were Eddie Anderson, who played Benny's African-American valet, "Rochester Van Jones" (and who became nearly as popular as Benny himself); rotund announcer Don Wilson, the butt of endless "fat" jokes; Mary Livingstone, Benny's real-life wife, who played his wisecracking lady friend on the show; bandleader Phil Harris, whose tales of drinking and womanizing were risqúe for the time (although in reality, the band was led by Malohn Merrick); and tenor singer Dennis Day, who portrayed a naïve, sheltered young man. The program introduced a stable of colorful characters who made Benny their foil. Benny's program centered around a fictional version of himself: a successful comedian who was cheap, petty, and vain. Benny had been only a minor vaudeville star, but he became an enormously successful national figure with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show which ran from 1932 to 1955, and was consistantly among the most highly-rated programs during most of that run.

As Mary Livingstone, she was his collaborator throughout much of his career. In 1922, he accompanied Zeppo Marx to a Passover seder in Vancouver, where he met Sadie Marks, whom he eventually married in 1927. He had several romantic encounters, including with a dancer, Mary Kelly, whose devoutly Catholic family forced her to turn down Benny's proposal because he was Jewish. After the war, Benny returned to vaudeville and changed his first name to Jack.

He was a big hit, earning himself a reputation as a comedian as well as a musician. One evening, he was booed by the troops, so he began telling Navy jokes on stage. He left show business briefly in 1917 to join the Navy during World War I, but even then, he often entertained the troops. He also found a new pianist, Lyman Wood.

Benny (sometimes spelled Bennie). Finally, Bejamin Kubelsky agreed to change his name to Ben K. This provoked famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who thought that the young vaudeville entertainer with a similar name (Kubelsky) would damage his reputation. The following year, Benny formed a vaudeville musical duo with pianist Cora Salisbury.

The plan was foiled by Benny's parents, who refused to let their son, then seventeen, go on the road, but it was the beginning of his long friendship with Zeppo Marx. In 1911, he was playing in the same theater as the young Marx Brothers, whose mother was so enchanted with Benny that she invited him to be their permanent accompanist. By fourteen he was playing in local dance bands, as well as in his high school orchestra, until he failed school and left for a career in vaudeville. He began studying the violin, an instrument that would become his trademark, when he was six.

Benny grew up in Chicago and Waukegan, Illinois. Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was a comedian, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the most prominent early stars of American radio and television. Often cited for his impeccable comic timing, Benny was an influential comedy innovator, a major architect of the modern forms of standup comedy and situation comedy.