Back to :     Forest Lawn Glendale    -     Celebrity Graves

The Final Resting Place of George Burns & Gracie Allen.



George Burns   
20th.January 1896 - 9th.March 1996.
Gracie Allen  
26th.July 1902 - 28th.August 1964.
Located in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Heritage. Take an immediate right, the 
Sanctuary of Heritage is a room down on your left.

Biography

George Burns, born Nathan Birnbaum (January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996), was an American comedian and actor, arguably the greatest straight man of 20th-century American comedy. His career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television, with and without his equally legendary wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century. Enjoying a remarkable career resurrection that began at age 79, and ended shortly before his passing at age 100, George Burns was better known in the last two decades of his life than at any other time in his life and career.
Gracie Allen was born Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen in San Francisco, California to parents George and Margaret (Darragh) Allen, into an Irish Catholic show-business family. She was educated at the Star of the Sea Convent School. She was a gifted dancer, and began performing with her three sisters as The Four Colleens. She became a vaudeville performer with her sister Bessie in 1909. She teamed up with George Burns in 1922, and married him in 1926, a controversial matter at the time, as Burns was a Jew and Allen was Catholic.
Double act
Burns and Allen were not especially successful as a comedy team until George cannily flipped the act over — he made himself the straight man and made Gracie the designated laugh-getter. Audiences immediately fell in love with Gracie, and the team toured the country, eventually headlining in major vaudeville houses. Many of their famous routines, including "Lambchops" were preserved on early one and two-reelers made while the couple was still performing on the stage. George Burns attributed all of the couple's early success to Gracie, modestly ignoring his own brilliance as a straight man. He summed up their act in a classic quip: "All I had to do was say, 'Gracie, how's your brother?' and she talked for 38 years. And sometimes I didn't even have to remember to say 'Gracie, how's your brother?'"
Radio
In the early 1930s, like many vaudeville stars of their era, Burns and Allen graduated to radio. In time, their radio show developed from their original "flirtation act" (as their vaudeville and short film routines had been) into the situation comedy vehicle for which they are best remembered: a working show business couple negotiating ordinary problems caused by Gracie's "logical illogic", usually with the help of neighbors Harry and Blanche Morton, and their announcer, Bill Goodwin (later replaced by Harry von Zell during the run of their television series). One of the show's running gags (both in radio and television) had George firing the announcer at least once every other episode. Burns & Allen used many running gags and publicity stunts. In 1932-33 they pulled off one of the best in the business: a yearlong search for Gracie's apparently missing brother. They would make unannounced cameo appearances on other shows, asking if anyone had seen Gracie's brother. Gracie's real-life brother was apparently the only person who didn't find the gag funny, and he eventually asked them to stop.
A decade later, Gracie launched a similar stunt when she mounted a gag campaign running as the Surprise Party candidate for the U.S. Presidency ("I don't know much about the Lend-Lease Bill, but if we owe it we should pay it?") and actually drew some votes in the November election. Another typical Gracie-ism on the "campaign trail" went like this: "Everybody knows a woman is better than a man when it comes to introducing bills into the house." The Surprise Party mascot was the kangaroo; the motto was "It's in the bag." As part of the gag, Gracie (in reality, the Burns and Allen writers) published a book, Gracie Allen For President, which included photographs from their (real life) nationwide campaign tour, and the Surprise Party convention.
Gracie was also the subject of one of S.S. Van Dine's famous Philo Vance mystery novels, The Gracie Allen Murder Case. Typically, she couldn't resist a classic Gracie review: "S.S. Van Dine is silly to spend six months writing a novel when you can buy one for two dollars and ninety five cents." Another publicity stunt had Gracie playing a piano concerto at the Hollywood Bowl (and later at Carnegie Hall). The Burns & Allen staff actually hired a composer to write the Concerto For Index Finger, a joke piece that had the orchestra playing madly, only to pause while Gracie played a single note with one finger. Ironically, the actual index-finger playing was done off-stage by a professional pianist. It wasn't until 1941 (sponsored by Swan Soap) that the couple played themselves as married, and the show became a full-fledged domestic situation comedy. This was George's response to a marked drop in ratings under the old "Flirtation Act" format.
Television
By 1948-49, Burns and Allen were part of the CBS talent raid: their good friend (and frequent guest star) Jack Benny, once CBS mastermind William S. Paley made it clear that he believed the talent and not the network made the difference, had decided to jump from NBC to CBS, and he convinced among others Burns & Allen to join him. A year after they made the move, Burns and Allen brought their show to television. They continued the formula which had kept them longtime radio stars, playing themselves as television stars, still living next door to Harry and Blanche Morton. They concluded each show a brief dialogue performance in the style of their classic vaudeville and earlier radio routines. From the beginning, the television show blurred the traditional boundaries between the actors and the characters they played. George regularly broke the "fourth wall" and spoke directly to the television audience. The camera would pan back showing George himself watching the show's action, in a scene that didn't include him other than a hare-brained plot behind his back (or so the conspirators thought), launching him into a brief, low-keyed monologue — punctuated by occasional puffs on his cigar — that amplified his reputation as comedy's funniest straight man. Later on, George acquired a television set, on which he could watch Gracie in other parts of the house. When the actor playing Harry Morton decided to leave the show, the new actor was introduced to the audience by George, yelling "Stop!" and causing everyone on stage to freeze. He explained the cast change to the audience, invited the new actor out to say hello, and meet actress Bea Benaderet (who played Blanche Morton), and then called for the scene to resume. Harry enters, and Blanche promptly smacks him on the head with a phone book.
Movies
In the early 1930s, George and Gracie made several short films. They made several films with W.C. Fields, and co-starred with Fred Astaire in A Damsel in Distress, a musical film with an original score by George Gershwin which introduced the song "A Foggy Day". In spite of their vaudeville beginnings, George and Gracie amazed the film critics with their ability to keep up with Astaire during their Oscar-nominated dance routine in an amusement park funhouse.
"Say goodnight, Gracie"
The signature Burns and Allen signoff became part of the country's vernacular. Born of their vaudeville routine and carried over to both radio and television, their shows normally ended with George asking Gracie to say goodnight, and she would comply with "Good night." Popular legend, however, has it that Gracie would say, "Good night, Gracie." According to her husband, recordings of their radio and television show, and other references, that never happened. It is likely that the confusion was caused by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Stars Dan Rowan and Dick Martin used a similar routine wherein Dan would face the camera to say "Say goodnight, Dick." Dick's reply would always be "Good night, Dick."
Family
In the 1930s the couple adopted two children, Sandra Jean and Ronald John, who were raised nominally Catholic, though Sandra was expelled from Catholic school for her liberal views. Ronnie eventually joined the cast of his parents' television show; Sandy, by contrast, made only occasional appearances on the show and retired from show business almost as quietly as she slipped in. Ronnie played himself as a drama student, to whom comedy was not the sort of thing an aspiring actor allowed himself. Sandy appeared occasionally as a drama classmate of Ronnie's.
The Real Gracie
Gracie was said to be sensitive about having one green eye and one blue eye (heterochromia), and that it prompted her retirement as The Burns & Allen Show contemplated switching to color for its eighth season on television. The real reason she retired in 1957 was her health; George Burns noted more than once that she stayed with the television show as long as she did to please him, in spite of health problems, though he didn't object when she finally had enough. Burns tried to soldier on without her; the show was re-named The George Burns Show with the cast intact except for Gracie. Her absence was only too obvious, and impossible to overcome. The re-named show barely lasted a year following Gracie's retirement.
Even in the most balmy weather Gracie refused to wear sleeves cut higher than the middle of her forearms — she had been scalded badly on one arm as a child, and she could not bear to allow the scars to be exposed. The half-forearm style became as much a Gracie Allen trademark as many aprons and her illogical logic.
Farewell
Gracie fought a long battle with heart disease, finally succumbing to a heart attack in Hollywood in 1964. She was interred in a crypt at the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California; her husband was interred at her side when he died thirty-two years later. ("Gracie Allen and George Burns — Together Again," says the engraving on the marker.) Gracie's age almost depended on whom you asked; even her husband professed not to know exactly when she was born.

The Sunshine Boy
Gracie Allen's death of a heart attack in 1964 devastated Burns, who immersed himself in work. McCadden Productions co-produced the television series No Time for Sergeants, based on the hit Broadway play. At the same time, he toured the U.S. playing nightclub and theater engagements with such diverse partners as Carol Channing, Dorothy Provine, Jane Russell, Connie Haines, and Berle Davis. He also performed a series of solo concerts, playing university campuses, New York's Philharmonic Hall and winding up a successful season at the prestigious Carnegie Hall, where he wowed a capacity audience with his show-stopping songs, dances, and jokes. Then, in 1974, Jack Benny signed to play one of the lead roles in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys. Benny's health had begun to fail, however, and he advised his manager Irving Fein to let longtime friend Burns fill in for him on a series of nightclub dates to which Benny had committed around the U.S. Burns, who enjoyed working, accepted the job. As he recalled years later:

"The happiest people I know are the ones that are still working. The saddest are the ones who are retired. Very few performers retire on their own. It's usually because no one wants them. Six years ago Sinatra announced his retirement. He's still working."

But Benny was not even able to work on The Sunshine Boys, as he'd been diagnosed at last with pancreatic cancer and died soon thereafter, on December 26, 1974. Burns, heartbroken, said that the only time he ever wept in his life other than Gracie's death was when Benny died. He was chosen to give one of the eulogies at the funeral and said, "Jack was someone special to all of you but he was so special to me...I cannot imagine my life without Jack Benny and I will miss him so very much." Burns then broke down and had to be helped to his seat. People who knew George said that he never could really come to terms with his beloved friend's death. Burns replaced Benny in the film as well as the club tour, a move that turned out to be the one of the biggest breaks of his career: his performance as faded vaudevillian Al Lewis earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and secured his career resurgence for good. At age 80, Burns was the oldest Oscar winner in the history of the Academy Awards, a record that would remain until Jessica Tandy won an Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy in 1989.

In 1977, Burns made another hit film, Oh, God!, playing the omnipotent title role opposite singer John Denver as an earnest but befuddled supermarket manager, whom God picks at random to revive His message. The image of Burns in a sailor's cap and light springtime jacket as the droll Almighty ("Oh, every now and then I work a little miracle just to keep my hand in. My last miracle was the 1969 Mets. Before that, I think you'd have to go back to the Red Sea—aaahh, that was a beauty") influenced his subsequent comedic work, as well that of other comedians. At a celebrity roast in his honor, former actor and future U.S. president Ronald Reagan adapted a Burns crack: "When George was growing up, the Top Ten were the Ten Commandments." Oh, God! inspired two sequels Oh, God! Book Two (in which the Almighty engages a precocious schoolgirl to spread the word) and Oh, God! You Devil — in which Burns played a dual role as God and the Devil, with the soul of a would-be songwriter at stake. Burns also starred in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the ill-advised film based on the Beatles' album of the same name.

Burns continued to work well into his nineties, writing a number of books and appearing in television and films. One of his last films was 18 Again, based on a half-novelty, country music based hit single he enjoyed, "I Wish I Was 18 Again." ("Why shouldn't I be a country singer?" he deadpanned. "I'm older than most countries.") In this film, he played a self-made millionaire industrialist who switched bodies with his awkward, artistic, eighteen-year-old grandson (played by Charlie Schlatter). Classically, Burns delivered one of his typical droll observations, when he realizes he and his grandson have switched bodies: "Oh, David, did you get the short end of this deal!" His last feature film role was the supporting role of Milt Lackey in the comedy mystery Radioland Murders.

The final years
Burns's stage persona in his final phase of professional life was that of an amorous senior citizen ("I'd love to date women my own age — but there are no women my own age") that became a running gag for the rest of his career. He often shared the social company of very attractive young women, but he was never known to be crude or boorish with them and had a reputation for treating them with respect. 
Burns never remarried, nor did he elect to perform Burns and Allen-style routines again, with the exception of one such performance he consented to do with Bernadette Peters. According to They Still Love Me in Altoona, he found it impossible to sleep until he decided one night to sleep in the bed that Gracie used during her illness. He also visited her grave at least once a month, professing to talk to her about whatever he was doing at the time — including, he said, trying to decide whether he really should accept the Sunshine Boys role Jack Benny had had to abandon because of his own failing health. In time, however, the likelihood that Burns would live to see his 100th birthday became a running gag in his (and plenty of other admiring comedians') stage work, but he indeed intended to live that long, even booking himself to play the London Palladium as a 100th birthday celebration. These plans were dashed, however, when he suffered a serious fall in 1994, at which point his health began to decline. Although he reached his one hundredth birthday in 1996, Burns was no longer mobile enough to perform. Forty-nine days after that milestone birthday, Burns died.

As much as he looked forward to reaching age 100, Burns also stated that he looked forward to death: he believed to the day he died that he would be with Gracie again in heaven.