Hope: Entertainer of the Century (71 page)

Hope in
Roberta
, the show that made him a Broadway star, with Tamara, Fay Templeton (seated), and George Murphy (far right).
(© Underwood & Underwood/Corbis)

When Hope finally moved out to Hollywood in 1937, at age thirty-four, he was ready for his close-up.
(© Bettmann/Corbis)

Paramount teamed him with Martha Raye in several routine B pictures, including 1938’s
College Swing
.
(© Bettmann/Corbis)

In
My Favorite Blonde
, with British star Madeleine Carroll, Hope began to develop his distinctive screen persona: the brash coward, always chasing women but helpless in their grasp.
(© Bettmann/Corbis)

On the
Road to Morocco
with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, third in the greatest buddy series in movie history.
(© Bettmann/Corbis/AP Images)

With the help of sidekick Jerry Colonna, Hope finally broke through on radio in 1938 with
The Pepsodent Show
.
(© Associated Press)

Bob and Dolores sail for England in August 1939, just weeks before the outbreak of World War II.
(© Bettmann/Corbis/AP Images)

Hope in his World War II glory, entertaining servicemen in New Caledonia on his tour of the Pacific theater in 1944.
(© Bettmann/Corbis)

“Don’t get up”: Hope and his “gypsies” (from top: Jerry Colonna, Frances Langford, Tony Romano, and Patty Thomas) visit with wounded soldiers.
(© Bettmann/Corbis)

Heading west, with Jane Russell, in
The Paleface
(1948).
(© Boulevard/Corbis)

Getting serious, with Mary Jane Saunders, in
Sorrowful Jones
(1949).
(© Getty Images)

They weren’t close friends, but in movies, onstage, and in front of any camera that happened by, Hope and Crosby were a matchless team.
(© Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Marilyn Maxwell appeared with Hope in three movies and nearly two hundred times on radio, TV, and the stage. They also had a long-running romance.
(© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis)