He died of pneumonia Sunday night in his sleep with his family by his bedside, his publicist Ward Grant said Monday.
President Bush said: "Today the nation lost a great citizen ... Bob Hope made us laugh, and he lifted our spirits.
"Bob Hope served our nation when he went to battlefields to entertain thousands of troops from different generations," the president said. "We extend our prayers to his family. God bless his soul."
The king of the one-liner, Hope entertained generations on stage, in films and on radio and television.
He was born the fifth of seven sons as Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, England, on May 29, 1903. His father was a stonemason; his mother, Avis Townes Hope, an aspiring concert singer.
The family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1907. Hope changed his name to "Bob" in 1920.
"I left England at the age of 4 when I found out I couldn't be king," he joked.
Hope's films were among the most successful comedies in Hollywood history, especially the "Road" pictures he made with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour.
Hope starred in 55 feature films and eight short subjects. The first was "Going Spanish," a short made at Long Island's Astoria Studios by Jack Skirball. A quip he made about "Going Spanish" angered the producer.
"If they ever catch John Dillinger, they ought to make him sit through it twice," Hope wisecracked. Skirball read the comment in Walter Winchell's column and canceled Hope's contract for two additional shorts.
He became a movie star in "Big Broadcast of 1938," in which he sang his signature tune, "Thanks for the Memory." In movies such as "The Paleface" and "My Favorite Spy," he specialized in would-be wooers who usually didn't get the girl.
He was the first to confess a battery of writers was responsible for the million jokes he told in his more than 60 years as a comedian. Even so, he provided a good deal of the material for his TV shows and personal appearances.
His own favorite jokes generally were political jibes, especially involving American presidents. He enjoyed kidding the Russians, too, but was uncertain of their reception in the U.S.S.R.
"I think Hope is the most verbal of all the film comedians," said Charles Champlin, longtime film critic for the Los Angeles Times. "He not only had the lines, but he delivered them with a wonderful facade. As much as anybody else, Hope created and sustained a persona that lasted from his Broadway days until now, as when he reportedly cracked about his nurse during his hospital stay, 'I've got golf balls that are older than she is.'"
Hope's hundreds of TV specials ran for decades and earned strong ratings even in his last broadcast in 1996. In recent years, coping with poor health, he stayed out of the public eye.
He is survived by his wife, Delores Reade Hope, his four children, Linda, Anthony, Honora and William Kelly Francis, and four grandchildren.
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.