This is a selection of films and television appearances by British-American comedian and actor Bob Hope (1903-2003). Hope, a former boxer, began his acting career in 1925 in various vaudeville acts and stage performances
Hope's feature film debut came in The Big Broadcast of 1938.(although he made his debut in film short Going Spanish). Hope continued to act, in addition to stand-up comedy USO performances for American military personnel that were stationed overseas. His final starring feature theatrical release was the comedy Cancel My Reservation in 1972, (although he would feature in the 1986 made for TV film A Masterpiece of Murder). He retired in 1998.
Filmography[edit]
Film shorts[edit]
- Going Spanish (1934) as Bob
- Paree, Paree (1934) as Peter
- Calling All Tars (1935)
- Double Exposure (1935)
- The Old Grey Mayor (1935)
- Soup for Nuts (1935)
- Watch the Birdie (1935)
- Shop Talk (1936)
- Screen Snapshots Series 19, No. 6 (1940)
- Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 4 (1942)
- Don't Hook Now (1943)
- Show Business at War (1943)
- Combat America (1943)[1]
- Strictly G.I. (1943)
- The All-Star Bond Rally (1945)
- Hollywood Victory Caravan (1945)
- March of Time Volume 14, No. 1: Is Everybody Listening? (1947)
- Weekend in Hollywood (1947)
- Screen Actors (1950)
- You Can Change the World (1951)
- Screen Snapshots: Memorial to Al Jolson (1952)
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Invisible Man (1954)
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Beauty (1955)
- Showdown at Ulcer Gulch (1956)
- The Heart of Show Business (1957)
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Star Night (1957)
- Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968)
Theatrical features[edit]
- The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) (with W. C. Fields and Martha Raye) as Buzz Fielding
- College Swing (1938) (with George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye, and Betty Grable) as Bud Brady
- Give Me a Sailor (1938) (with Martha Raye, Betty Grable, and Jack Whiting) as Jim Brewster
- Thanks for the Memory (1938) (with Shirley Ross) as Steve Merrick
- Never Say Die (1939) (with Martha Raye and Andy Devine) as John Kidley
- Some Like It Hot (1939; AKA Rhythm Romance) (with Shirley Ross and Gene Krupa) as Nicky Nelson
- The Cat and the Canary (1939) (with Paulette Goddard) as Wally Campbell
- Road to Singapore (1940) (with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour) as Ace Lannigan
- The Ghost Breakers (1940) (with Paulette Goddard) as Larry Lawrence
- Road to Zanzibar (1941) (with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour) as Fearless
- Caught in the Draft (1941) (with Eddie Bracken) as Don Bolton
- Nothing But the Truth (1941) (with Paulette Goddard) as Steve Bennett
- Louisiana Purchase (1941) (with Vera Zorina and Victor Moore) as Jim Taylor
- Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) (with Bing Crosby and Paramount Pictures all-star cast) as Bob Hope - Master of Ceremonies
- My Favorite Blonde (1942) (with Madeleine Carroll) as Larry Haines
- Road to Morocco (1942) (with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour) as Orville 'Turkey' Jackson / Aunt Lucy
- They Got Me Covered (1943) (with Dorothy Lamour) as Robert Kittredge
- Let's Face It (1943) (with Betty Hutton) as Jerry Walker
- The Princess and the Pirate (1944) (with Virginia Mayo and Walter Brennan) as Sylvester the Great
- The Story of G.I. Joe (1945) (voice on radio program; uncredited)
- Road to Utopia (1946) (with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour) as Chester Hooton
- Monsieur Beaucaire (1946) (with Joan Caulfield) as Monsieur Beaucaire
- My Favorite Brunette (1947) (with Dorothy Lamour, Lon Chaney Jr. and Peter Lorre) as Ronnie Jackson
- Variety Girl (1947) (with Bing Crosby and Paramount Pictures all-star cast) as Bob Hope
- Where There's Life (1947) (with William Bendix) as Michael Joseph Valentine
- Road to Rio (1947) (with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour) as Hot Lips Barton
- The Paleface (1948) (with Jane Russell) as 'Painless' Peter Potter
- Sorrowful Jones (1949) (with Lucille Ball) as Humphrey 'Sorrowful' Jones
- The Great Lover (1949) (with Rhonda Fleming) as Freddie Hunter
- Fancy Pants (1950) (with Lucille Ball) as Humphrey
- The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) (with Marilyn Maxwell) as Sidney Milburn aka The Lemon Drop Kid
- My Favorite Spy (1951) (with Hedy Lamarr) as Peanuts White / Eric Augustine
- The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) as Spectator (cameo, uncredited)
- Son of Paleface (1952) (with Jane Russell and Roy Rogers) as Peter Potter Jr.
- Road to Bali (1952) (with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour) as Harold Gridley
- Off Limits (1953) (with Mickey Rooney and Marilyn Maxwell) as Wally Hogan
- Scared Stiff (1953) as Skeleton (cameo, uncredited)
- Here Come the Girls (1953) (with Arlene Dahl and Rosemary Clooney) as Stanley Snodgrass
- Casanova's Big Night (1954) (with Joan Fontaine and Basil Rathbone) as Pippo Popolino
- The Seven Little Foys (1955) (with James Cagney as George M. Cohan) as Eddie Foy
- That Certain Feeling (1956) (with Eva Marie Saint and George Sanders) as Francis X. Dignan
- The Iron Petticoat (1956) (with Katharine Hepburn) as Major Charles "Chuck" Lockwood
- Beau James (1957) (with Vera Miles and Alexis Smith) as Mayor James J. 'Jimmy' Walker
- Paris Holiday (1958) (with Fernandel, Anita Ekberg, Martha Hyer, and Preston Sturges) as Robert Leslie Hunter
- The Geisha Boy (1958) (cameo; appears on TV) as himself (on TV) (uncredited)
- Alias Jesse James (1959) (with Rhonda Fleming and many cameos) as Milford Farnsworth
- The Five Pennies (1959) as himself - Leaving Brown Derby Restaurant (uncredited) (cameo)
- The Facts of Life (1960) (with Lucille Ball) as Larry Gilbert
- Bachelor in Paradise (1961) (with Lana Turner) as Adam J. Niles
- The Road to Hong Kong (1962) (with Bing Crosby and Joan Collins) as Chester Babcock
- Critic's Choice (1963) (with Lucille Ball and Rip Torn) as Parker Ballantine
- Call Me Bwana (1963) (with Anita Ekberg) as Matt
- A Global Affair (1964) (with Michèle Mercier and Yvonne De Carlo) as Frank Larrimore
- I'll Take Sweden (1965) (with Tuesday Weld) as Bob Holcomb
- The Oscar (1966) as himself (cameo, uncredited)
- Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966) (with Elke Sommer) as Thomas J. 'Tom' Meade
- Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966) as himself - USO Christmas Show (cameo, uncredited)
- Eight on the Lam (1967) (with Phyllis Diller and Jonathan Winters) as Henry Dimsdale
- The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968) (with Phyllis Diller) as Sgt. Dan O'Farrell
- How to Commit Marriage (1969) (with Jackie Gleason) as Frank Benson
- Cancel My Reservation (1972) (with Eva Marie Saint and Ralph Bellamy) as Dan Bartlett
- The Muppet Movie (1979) as Ice Cream Vendor (cameo)
- Spies Like Us (1985) as himself (cameo)
- A Masterpiece of Murder (1986) (with Don Ameche (TV))[2] as Dan Dolan
Voice roles and documentaries[edit]
- The Simpsons (1992) (TV; "Lisa the Beauty Queen") – Himself; voice
- A Century of Cinema (1994) (Documentary)
- That Little Monster (1994) as himself (voice)
- Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1997) (Documentary)
Box office ranking[edit]
For a number of years Hope was ranked as one of the most popular stars in the world:
- 1941 – 4th (US)[3]
- 1942 – 5th (US)
- 1943 – 2nd (US)
- 1944 – 3rd (US)
- 1945 – 7th (US)
- 1946 – 5th (US)
- 1947 – 6th (US)
- 1948 – 5th (US)
- 1949 – 1st (US)
- 1950 – 2nd (US), 1st (UK)
- 1951 – 6th (US), 1st (UK)
- 1952 – 5th (US), 1st (UK)
- 1953 – 8th (US)
Portrayals[edit]
Hope was portrayed by Greg Kinnear in the 2020 comedy-drama film Misbehaviour about the Miss World 1970 Women's Liberation protests.[4][5]
References[edit]
- ^ Turner Classic Movies: Combat America
- ^ Turner Classic Movies: A Masterpiece of Murder (aka A Nice, Pleasant, Deadly Weekend in Palm Springs and A Nice, Pleasant Deadly Weekend)
- ^ "Filmdom Ranks Its Money-Spinning Stars Best At Box-Office". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 30 March 1950. p. 12. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
- ^ "Greg Kinnear to Play Bob Hope in Keira Knightley's Miss World Comedy-Drama 'Misbehaviour'". The Hollywood Reporter. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
- ^ Gilbey, Ryan (2020-03-06). "Greg Kinnear on Misbehaviour and #MeToo: 'Where were human resources in the 1990s?'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-03-08.