Gracie Allen

Gracie Allen was known for more than three decades as the lovably scatterbrained better half of George Burns. Abandoned by her singer-dancer father when she was five, Gracie was by then a two-year stage veteran appearing in a dancing act with her two sisters. At eighteen, Gracie met Burns who was looking for a new comedy partner. Gracie and George teamed for a vaudeville routine with Gracie initially taking the ''straight'' role until George realized her impeccable comic timing made even straight lines funny. From then on, Gracie delivered the punch lines featuring her peculiarly dizzy sense of logic. The couple married in 1926 and in 1932 became regulars on Guy Lombardo's radio program. After Lombardo left in 1934, the couple hosted their own CBS show "The Adventures of Gracie," which in 1935 became "The Campbell's Tomato Juice Program," before having a succession of different sponsors. One of the couple's most successful gags was a year-long search for Gracie's supposedly missing brother, which took them to various other programs looking for him. In 1940, Gracie announced her run for President on the Surprise Party ticket, garnering 42,000 write-in votes. Gracie and George performed in several Paramount shorts and motion pictures including the detective drama "The Gracie Allen Murder Case" in which Gracie appeared without George. In 1948, the couple took their show to CBS and two years later began the hugely popular television program "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show," which continued until Gracie's retirement in 1958.