JACK ALBERTSON Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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JACK ALBERTSON

Name: Jonathan George Albertson                                                     
Born: 16 June 1907 Malden, Massachusetts                                             
Died: 25 November 1981 Hollywood, California                                         
                                                                                     
Jonathan George "Jack" Albertson (June 16, 1907 – November 25, 1981) was an       
Academy Award, Emmy Award and Tony Award-winning American character actor,           
dating back to vaudeville. Albertson is a comedian, dancer, singer, and musician,   
having performed on stage, radio, movies, and television.                           
                                                                                     
Albertson dropped out of high school and traveled to New York City in an attempt     
make it big in show business. He was too poor to get a room in a flophouse, so       
in the winter he would sleep on the IRT subway for a nickel, and hide out when       
the transit workers would clear out the train at the end of the line. In the         
summer he would sleep in Central Park. His first real job in show business was       
with a vaudeville road troupe, the Dancing Verselle Sisters. He was considered a     
complete entertainer from the old school.                                           
                                                                                     
Albertson soon worked in burlesque as a hoofer (soft shoe dancer) and straight       
man to Phil Silvers on the Minsky's Burlesque Circuit. Besides vaudeville and       
burlesque, he appeared on the stage in many Broadway plays including High Button     
Shoes, Top Banana, The Cradle Will Rock, Make Mine Manhattan, Show Boat, Boy         
Meets Girl, Girl Crazy, Meet the People, The Sunshine Boys (for which he             
received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor), and The Subject Was Roses (for     
which he won a Tony for Best Supporting Actor). He was also known for two radio     
programs, Just Plain Bill and The Jack Albertson Comedy Show.