George Burns Net Worth 2024

What was George Burns’ Net Worth?

George Burns was an American comedian, actor, author, producer, and singer who had a net worth of $20 million on the time of his dying in 1996. George Burns’ profession included radio, tv, movie, and vaudeville, and he gained an Academy Award and Golden Globe for his efficiency as Al Lewis within the 1975 movie “The Sunshine Boys.” Burns and his spouse co-starred on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” from 1950 to 1958, and after Gracie retired on account of coronary heart issues, George starred in “The George Burns Show” from 1958 to 1959.

Burns had greater than 60 appearing credit to his title, together with the movies “The Big Broadcast” (1932), “Love in Bloom” (1935), “Oh, God!” (1977), and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1978) and the tv sequence “The Jack Benny Program” (1952–1963), “Wendy and Me” (1964–1965), and “George Burns Comedy Week” (1985). He served as a producer on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” and “Wendy and Me,” and he wrote a number of brief movies, comparable to “Fit to Be Tied” (1930), “Oh, My Operation” (1931), and “Walking the Baby” (1933).

George launched the albums “George Burns Sings” (1973), “An Evening with George Burns: Live at Shubert Theater” (1975), “I Wish I Was Eighteen Again” (1980), “George Burns in Nashville” (1980), and “Young at Heart” (1982), and his single “I Wish I Was Eighteen Again” reached #15 on the “Billboard” Hot Country Singles chart and earned him a Grammy nomination. He additionally wrote 10 books: “I Love Her, That’s Why: An Autobiography” (1955), “Living It Up; or, They Still Love Me in Altoona!” (1976), “The Third Time Around” (1980), “How to Live to Be 100 – Or More: The Ultimate Diet, Sex and Exercise Book (At My Age, Sex Gets Second Billing)” (1983), “Dr. Burns’ Prescription for Happiness:* *Buy Two Books and Call Me within the Morning” (1984), “Dear George: Advice and Answers from America’s Leading Expert on Everything from A to B” (1985), “Gracie: A Love Story” (1988), “All My Best Friends” (1989), “Wisdom of the 90’s” (1991), and “100 Years, 100 Stories” (1996). Burns died of cardiac arrest in March 1996 on the age of 100.

Early Life

George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum on January 20, 1896, in New York City. His mother and father, Hadassah and Eliezer, had been Jewish immigrants who got here to the U.S. from what’s now generally known as Poland. Burns had 11 siblings, and his father was a coat presser in addition to a substitute cantor at a synagogue. After Eliezer died of the flu in 1903, George helped assist the family by working errands, shining sneakers, and promoting newspapers. At age 7, Burns received a job making syrup at a sweet store, and when he and his fellow little one staff had been bored, they typically sang concord within the store’s basement. After a number of individuals heard them singing and threw them some cash, the youngsters shaped the Pee-Wee Quartet and commenced singing “on ferryboats, in saloons, in brothels, and on avenue corners.” George later took a job working the curtains at a vaudeville theatre. In 1917, he was drafted into the U.S. Army throughout World War I, however he failed the bodily on account of his near-sighted imaginative and prescient. He adopted the stage title “George Burns” in an try to cover his Jewish heritage, and he stated in interviews that he selected the title due to skilled baseball gamers George J. Burns and George H. Burns, who had been each taking part in on the time. In the early days of his profession, Burns often partnered with a girl, both for comedian patter or a dance routine, however he did not really click on with any of them till he met Gracie Allen in 1923. He stated of that point in his life, “And unexpectedly, the viewers realized I had a expertise. They had been proper. I did have a expertise—and I used to be married to her for 38 years.”

(Photo by NBC Studios/Getty Images)

Career

George and Gracie appeared in a number of brief movies within the late ’20s and early ’30s, then they starred in 1932’s “The Big Broadcast,” 1933’s “International House,” and 1934’s “Six of a Kind.” They co-starred with Fred Astaire in 1937’s “A Damsel in Distress” and with Bob Hope in 1938’s “College Swing.” In 1932, the duo started showing on the radio present “The Robert Burns Panatella Show,” adopted by “The White Owl Program” (1933–1934), “The Adventures of Gracie” (1934–1935), “The Campbell’s Tomato Juice Program” (1935–1937), “The Grape Nuts Program” (1937–1938), “The Chesterfield Program” (1938–1939), “The Hinds Honey and Almond Cream Program” (1939–1940), “The Hormel Program” (1940–1941), “The Swan Soap Show” (1941–1945), “Maxwell House Coffee Time” (1945–1949), and “The Amm-i-Dent Toothpaste Show” (1949–1950). In 1950, the couple received their very own sequence on CBS, “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show,” which aired 291 episodes over eight seasons and earned eight Primetime Emmy nominations. After Allen’s retirement, Burns starred on “The George Burns Show” from 1958 to 1959, and from 1964 to 1965, he performed himself on the ABC sequence “Wendy and Me,” which he additionally created.

George earned important acclaim and two main awards for the 1975 movie “The Sunshine Boys,” then he performed God in 1977’s “Oh, God!,” 1980’s “Oh, God! Book II,” and 1984’s “Oh, God! You Devil.” He guest-starred on “The Muppet Show” in 1977, and the next 12 months, he co-starred with the Beatles in “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” taking part in Mr. Kite. George appeared within the movies “Just You and Me, Kid” (1979) and “Going in Style” (1979) and the TV film “Two of a Kind” (1982), and in 1985, he hosted “George Burns Comedy Week” on CBS. In 1988, he starred within the movie “18 Again!,” which was primarily based on his 1980 hit “I Wish I Was 18 Again.” In the ’90s, Burns guest-starred as himself on “The Golden Palace” (1993) and “Phenom” (1994), and he made his ultimate movie look in 1994’s “Radioland Murders.”

(Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection through Getty Images)

Personal Life

George married dancer Hannah Siegel on September 5, 1917, as a result of her family would not let her go on tour with Burns except they had been married. They divorced in May 1918 after the tour ended. George then married Gracie Allen on January 7, 1926, they usually adopted two kids, Ronald and Sandra. Ronald performed their son on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show,” and Sandra sometimes appeared on the sequence as effectively. Burns and Allen remained collectively till Gracie died of a coronary heart assault in 1964, and in keeping with their affiliate Tom Fontana, “George was completely devastated — I do not assume he ever recovered. After she was gone, he began sleeping on her facet of the mattress, as a result of it made him really feel nearer to her.” Burns suffered one other loss in 1974 when his shut good friend Jack Benny handed away from pancreatic most cancers. George gave a eulogy on the funeral, stating, “Jack was somebody particular to all of you, however he was so particular to me … I can’t think about my life with out Jack Benny, and I’ll miss him so very a lot.”

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Final Years and Death

In honor of George’s ninetieth birthday, Hamel Road in Los Angeles was renamed “George Burns Road,” and for his 99th birthday, the town renamed a part of Alden Drive “Gracie Allen Drive.” Burns appeared on the unveiling ceremony, quipping, “It’s good to be right here on the nook of Burns & Allen. At my age, it is good to be wherever!” Burns drove till he was 93, then he employed chauffeurs to drive him wherever he wanted to go. In July 1994, he had surgical procedure to take away fluid from his cranium after he hit his head throughout a fall in his bathtub, and in 1995, he reportedly caught the flu at Frank Sinatra’s Christmas social gathering. When he was 96, George signed a contract with Caesars Palace that included a present on his a hundredth birthday, however he wasn’t effectively sufficient to carry out that day. Burns handed away at his Beverly Hills house on March 9, 1996, 49 days after his a hundredth birthday. Three days later, his funeral occurred at Glendale’s Wee Kirk o’ the Heather church, and he was interred with Gracie at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. The crypt’s marker reads “Gracie Allen (1902–1964) & George Burns (1896–1996)—Together Again.”

Awards and Honors

In 1976, Burns gained an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for “The Sunshine Boys.” He obtained three Primetime Emmy nominations, successful “Outstanding Performance in Informational Programming” for “A Conversation with…” in 1990; his different nominations had been for “The George Burns One-Man Show” (1978) and “George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business” (1984). George gained a Grammy for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording for “Gracie – A Love Story” in 1991, and he earned a Best Country Vocal Performance, Male nomination for “I Wish I Was Eighteen Again” (1981) and a Best Comedy Album nomination for “An Evening With George Burns” (1992). He obtained Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Comedy Awards, British Comedy Awards, Publicists Guild of America, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and he was inducted into the Online Film & Television Association Hall of Fame in 2005. Burns obtained Kennedy Center Honors in 1988, and he was named Male Star of the Year on the 1975 Golden Apple Awards. He earned two Saturn Award nominations from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, successful Best Actor for “Oh, God!” in 1978, and he took house the prize for Best Actor for “Going in Style” on the 1980 Venice Film Festival. George obtained three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for tv (1960), movement image (1960), and dwell efficiency (1984). He and Gracie had been inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1988.

Real Estate

Burns spent 60 years dwelling in a Beverly Hills house that he constructed for $79,000 (together with a pool and a pool home). Shortly after his dying, the house bought for greater than $2 million.