Perry Como

Actor

May 18, 1912 (88 years)

† May 12, 2001

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing with the label in 1943. "Mr. C.", as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records and pioneered a weekly musical variety television show. His weekly television shows and seasonal specials were broadcast throughout the world. Como…

Filmography

7.7

The Carol Burnett Show

Self

The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33. The series won 25 prime time Emmy Awards, was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time in 2002 and in 2007 was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."

6.8

The Ed Sullivan Show

Self

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

6.9

The Colgate Comedy Hour

Self

The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers.

6.4

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show

Self

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was "See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet", which continued to be used in Chevrolet advertising for several more years after the cancellation of the show.

7.4

The Kennedy Center Honors

Self

The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture.

6.8

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

Self (uncredited)

An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.

5.4

Kraft Music Hall

Self - Host

Kraft Music Hall is an umbrella title for several television series aired by NBC in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s in the musical variety genre, sponsored by Kraft Foods, the producers of a well-known line of cheeses and related dairy products. Their commercials were usually announced by "The Voice of Kraft", Ed Herlihy.

4.8

The Flip Wilson Show

Self

The Flip Wilson Show is an hour long variety show that aired in the U.S. on NBC from September 17, 1970 to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs starring a black person in the title role to become highly successful with a white audience. Specifically, it was the first successful network variety series starring an African American. During its first two seasons, its Nielsen ratings made it the nation's second most watched show. The show consisted of many skits over an hour. It also broke new ground in American television by using a 'Theatre-in-the-Round' stage format, with the audience seated on all sides of a circular performance area. Wilson was most famous for creating the role of Geraldine Jones, a sassy, modern woman who had a boyfriend named Killer. Flip also created the role of Reverend Leroy, who was the minister of the Church of What's Happening Now!. New parishioners were wary of coming to the church as it was hinted that Reverend Leroy was a con artist. Wilson popularized such catchphrases as "What you see is what you get", and "The devil made me do it!".

5.0

The Hollywood Palace

Self - Host

The Hollywood Palace is an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. Originally titled The Saturday Night Hollywood Palace, it began as a mid-season replacement for The Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months. It was staged in Hollywood at the former Hollywood Playhouse on Vine Street, which was renamed The Hollywood Palace during the show's duration and is today known as Avalon Hollywood. A little-known starlet named Raquel Welch was cast during the first season as the "Billboard Girl", who placed the names of the acts on a placard.

8.2

American Bandstand

Self

American Bandstand was an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer. The show featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 music introduced by Clark; at least one popular musical act—over the decades, running the gamut from Jerry Lee Lewis to Run DMC—would usually appear in person to lip-sync one of their latest singles. Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon holds the record for most appearances at 110. The show's popularity helped Dick Clark become an American media mogul and inspired similar long-running music programs, such as Soul Train and Top of the Pops. Clark eventually assumed ownership of the program through his Dick Clark Productions company.

7.3

The Perry Como Show

Host

The Perry Como Show was a musical-comedy variety program hosted by Perry Como.

7.3

Tab Hunter Confidential

Self (archive)

Throughout the 1950s, Tab Hunter reigned as Hollywood’s ultimate male heartthrob. But throughout his years of stardom, Tab had a secret. Tab Hunter was gay, and spent his Hollywood years in a precarious closet that repeatedly threatened to implode and destroy him. Tab Hunter himself shares first hand, for the first time, what it was like to be a studio manufactured movie star during the Golden Age of Hollywood and the consequences of being someone totally different from his studio manufactured image.

4.0

Night of 100 Stars III

Self

A celebrity benefit for The Actors' Fund of America, featuring music, songs, dance and comedy.

5.8

Words and Music

Eddie Lorrison Anders

Encomium to Larry Hart (1895-1943), seen through the fictive eyes of his song-writing partner, Richard Rodgers (1902-1979): from their first meeting, through lean years and their breakthrough, to their successes on Broadway, London, and Hollywood. We see the fruits of Hart and Rodgers' collaboration - elaborately staged numbers from their plays, characters' visits to night clubs, and impromptu performances at parties. We also see Larry's scattered approach to life, his failed love with Peggy McNeil, his unhappiness, and Richard's successful wooing of Dorothy Feiner.

4.6

Doll Face

Nicky Ricci

Burlesque queen Doll Face Carroll is dismissed from an audition for a legitimate Broadway show because she lacks culture. Her boss/manager Mike decides that she can get both culture and plenty of publicity by writing her autobiography. He hires a ghost writer to do all the work, but doesn't count on the possibility that Doll Face and her collaborator might have more than a book on their minds.

6.5

Something for the Boys

Sergeant Laddie Green

The oddly-assorted Hart cousins: revue singer Blossom, con man Harry, and machinist Chiquita (who gets radio through her teeth!), inherit southern plantation Magnolia Manor, which alas proves to be a "termite trap" and tax liability. Fortunately, Sgt. Rocky Fulton from a nearby army camp appears with a plan to convert the place to a hotel for army wives; but to pay bills until then, they decide to put on a show. Of course, romantic and military complications intervene...

8.0

The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special

Self

This was the first of two one-hour musical specials which were part of CBS' 1968 multi-million-dollar contract with Doris Day's production company, a contract that Day insists to this day was negotiated by her husband and manager Martin Melcher without her knowledge. When Melcher died suddenly in April 1968, Day chose to go ahead and honour the contract, appearing in both specials as well as starring in her eponymous sitcom for five seasons, from 1968-1973.

5.0

Frankie Laine: An American Dreamer

Self (archive footage)

"Frankie Laine: An American Dreamer" is a feature-length documentary. In this entertaining look at the legendary singer's life, hosted by two-time Grammy award singer Lou Rawls, Frankie tells his own story. Classic archive footage of the great performances of the past has been painstakingly collected, and new interview material shot with distinguished guests such as Clint Eastwood,Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra, Dick Clark, Ringo Starr, Patti Page, Pat Boone, Maria Cole, Mitch Miller, Michel Legrand, John Williams, Kay Starr, Jack Jones, Herb Jeffries, Peter Marshall, Howard Keel, Terry Moore, Lucy Marlow, Sammy Nestico, and A.C. Lyles. From Dick Clark's American Bandstand to The Bob Hope Show, from Rawhide to Blazing Saddles, from the Ed Sullivan Show to Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, audiences will journey through the life of one of the most popular male vocalists of all time.

7.3

Julie on Sesame Street

Self

Julie on Sesame Street was one of a series of Julie Andrews TV specials, produced by ATV and distributed by ITC. It was broadcast on ABC on November 23, 1973 and later in the UK on ITV on July 10, 1974. Using the alleys and stoops of the Sesame Street neighborhood as the venue for this television special, Julie Andrews and Perry Como join forces with the Sesame Street Muppets for an hour of music and antics.

6.7

If I'm Lucky

Allen Clark

Out of work swing band maneuvers a gig working for a political campaign, by drawing in and entertaining prospective voters at rallies. The candidate is really a stooge for a corrupt political machine, which discovers the band's handsome and appealing singer would make a better stooge. Meanwhile, romance blossoms between the band's singers. When election day approaches, the band's singer wants out of the campaign, but the machine threatens to smear him and his pals in the band if he quits.