Jackie Gleason makes his only appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Gleason’s early life was marked by hardship. His father left the family when Jackie was young, and his mother worked hard to raise him on her own. After dropping out of high school, he supported himself with a mix of street-smart hustle and showbiz instincts, working small-time entertainment jobs and learning how to control a room.
That experience would serve him well when he broke into television in the late 1940s. One of his first major roles was on The Life of Riley in 1949. From there, he took over the variety program Cavalcade of Stars before launching his own hit, The Jackie Gleason Show, in 1952. The show turned him into a household name, and characters like Ralph Kramden, Joe the Bartender and Reginald Van Gleason III became some of the most familiar faces on American TV.
At the height of his fame in the 1950s and ’60s, Gleason was among the highest-paid performers in the country. His larger-than-life persona made him perfect for the new medium of television, but his reach went beyond comedy. His role as Minnesota Fats in The Hustler in 1961 proved he could hold his own in dramatic film. He also enjoyed a surprising amount of success in music, producing a series of mood music albums that were hugely popular. His 1952 album Music for Lovers Only spent over two years in the Billboard Top Ten, a rare crossover feat for a television star.
Gleason was also a shrewd businessman who negotiated some of the most lucrative contracts in TV at the time. He moved his operation to Miami Beach and created a production center dubbed “The House That Jack Built.” Even later in life, his flair for entertainment didn’t slow. In the 1970s and ’80s, he brought new energy to his career with his performance as Sheriff Buford T. Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit movies. The role introduced him to a new generation and helped him stay relevant even as the television landscape changed.
- Bacon, James (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 264 Pages - 06/12/2020 (Publication Date) - Doris Bacon (Publisher)
He died in 1987 at the age of 71, but Jackie Gleason’s legacy continues through reruns, recordings and recollections. He left behind a body of work that includes unforgettable television moments, respected film performances and even best-selling records. His work shaped what TV comedy could be and opened the door for character-driven variety programming that mixed laughs with sentiment.
Below, we’ve collected photos and videos, as well as some vintage articles, all about the Great One.
Jackie Gleason basks in top ratings & feels sorry for Flipper (1967)
By Earl Wilson – Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) February 19, 1967
MIAMI BEACH — Jackie Gleason was sitting at his desk in the luxurious office and rehearsal quarters called “The House That Jack Built” at the Miami Country club — having a booze.
“HEY, SYDELLE!” he roared to his secretary, Sydelle Spear. “Some booze for our guest!”
“That’s our intercom,” explained Jackie’s director, Frank Bunetta. “Jackie yells.”
Jackie’s manager and partner, Jack Philbin, came in. “Are you ready for this?” he said. He read the latest ratings, showing Jackie far ahead of the competition and among the nation’s tops.
“I feel so sorry for ‘Flipper,’ I’m sending him some shrimp!” Jackie wagged his head happily.
For he is a very, very happy man now, and the problem of Miami Beach’s publicist Hank Meyer, who got him down here, is to keep him happy.
They have a new five-golf course country club in the planning stage … in addition to Jackie’s endeavor as “creative consultant” for the new Statler-Hilton-Savoy hotel, which will have at least five public rooms named for Jackie Gleason.
“Five golf courses?” I echoed. “Two more than anybody else has,” somebody said.
Jackie’s life is like that now. His new deal with CBS is another financial record-setter. “I’ve never worked for less than the biggest money ever paid in that field,” he said. “CBS has asked me not to tell how much because the other actors will get angry. They’ll get angry about this!”
He’ll be 51 on February 26, and somewhere around that time, he’ll be signing the new contract, providing for 20 programs he’ll be in. 20 that his company’ll produce, and 10 repeats, for next season. There will be pure gold for his Peekskill Enterprises. Still, Jackie claims not to care for money.
“I never saw a buck throw its arms around you when you came home at night,” Jackie said.
“That’s right,” Jack Philbin said. “I never saw anybody have such a disregard for money.”
“I have a disregard for money –but not a disdain!” Jackie laughed.
“SYDELLE!” He looked at me, still with my first drink. “Yellowbelly!” he sneered.
“In TV,” he said, “you can make more in 20 minutes than you can make all year in Hollywood.”
Jackie’s enormously pleased with the musical version of “The Honeymooners” which brought him back to the top.
“We do every week what they can’t do in a year on Broadway — a successful musical,” he said. “But the fact it’s successful doesn’t make it any easier. I still have to memorize my lines.”
Gleason’s been on TV since 1948, when he did “The Life of Riley,” with Rosemary De Camp playing his wife.
“They wanted a big star and when he was available, they got Bill Bendix, who was a big star in those days,” Jackie said.
He went into “Cavalcade of Stars.” The first show had him playing a hatcheck room attendant. “It was accidental,” Jackie said. “The door stuck on me in the hat-check room, and I had to dive over the top of the checkroom to get out, and dive back over it to get into it. That was the beginning — all an accident.”
Few people remember that Jackie was also in a TV series which lasted one week. That was “You’re in the Picture,” a game show.
“We laid a bomb,” Jackie recalled. “I said, ‘The only thing to do is to talk to the public and say “We laid a bomb.’ Through the cooperation of Oscar Katz of CBS, who had a lot of guts, I was allowed to do it.”
One wonders if Jackie might finally get an Emmy this year. He’s never made it up till now. Jackie wouldn’t say he’s not interested, though he did say to me, “Of all the trophies, I think the best one is a contract.”
Jackie Gleason: 1916-1987: Succeeding by glorious excess
From Time – July 6, 1987
They called him “the Great One,” a nickname that was as grandly excessive as the man himself. Jackie Gleason, who died last week [June 24, 1987] of cancer at 71, was a big drinker, a big spender and a big fellow (his weight at one time topped 280). Exuberant and gregarious, he addressed nearly everyone he met as “pal.”
During the 1950s and ’60s, he was one of the most popular and highest-paid stars on TV, yet his talent extended to Broadway (a Tony Award for the 1959 musical Take Me Along), movies (The Hustler, Soldier in the Rain) and pop-music composing and conducting.
“If I didn’t have an enormous ego,” he once said, “how in hell could I be a performer?”
