orig. Leslie Townes Hope
born May 29, 1903, Eltham, Eng.
died July 27, 2003, Toluca Lake, Calif., U.S.
British-born U.S. actor.
His family immigrated to Ohio when he was four years old. He created a song-and-comedy vaudeville act and in 1933 won his first substantial role in a musical, Roberta . Success in radio led to his first film, The Big Broadcast of 1938 , in which he sang his theme song, "Thanks for the Memory." He hosted the highly rated Bob Hope Show (1938–50) on radio and later hosted and appeared in numerous popular television specials. He costarred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in seven popular "Road" pictures, beginning with The Road to Singapore (1940), and won fans in The Paleface (1948), My Favorite Spy (1951), and The Seven Little Foys (1955). For more than 40 years he performed with his variety show for U.S. troops overseas.