Jerry Colonna
Acting
Born 1904-09-17
Died 1986-11-21
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
53 credits
star on Hollywood Walk of Fame 1
Awards
Won 1 star on Hollywood Walk of Fame Award
star on Hollywood Walk of Fame 1 won
- — star on Hollywood Walk of Fame Won
Award data from Wikidata (CC0). Coverage may be incomplete.
Read biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerardo Luigi "Jerry" Colonna (September 17, 1904 – November 22, 1986) was an American musician, actor, comedian, singer, songwriter and trombonist best remembered as the zaniest of Bob Hope's sidekicks in Hope's popular radio shows and films of the 1940s and 1950s.
With his pop-eyed facial expressions and walrus-sized handlebar moustache, Colonna was known for singing loudly "in a comic caterwaul," according to Raised on Radio author Gerald Nachman, and for his catchphrase, "Who's Yehudi?", uttered after many an old joke, although it usually had nothing to do with the joke. The line was believed to be named for violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, and the search for Yehudi became a running gag on the Hope show.
Colonna featured in three of the popular Hope-Crosby Road films: Road to Singapore (1940) as Achilles Bombassa, Road to Rio (1947) as a Cavalry captain and The Road to Hong Kong (1962) in a cameo role. He can also be seen in the Fred Allen vehicle, It's in the Bag! (1945), as psychiatrist Dr. Greenglass, and he made a brief appearance with Hope in the "Wife, Husband and Wolf" sketch in Star Spangled Rhythm. In 1956 he performed the featured song "My Lucky Charm" in the film Meet Me in Las Vegas, starring Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse.
He provided the voice of the March Hare in the Walt Disney animated film version of Alice in Wonderland (1951) (another radio legend, Ed Wynn, voiced the Mad Hatter) and also lent his zany narration style to several Disney shorts, including Casey at the Bat (1946) and The Brave Engineer (1950).
Not enough member ratings yet.
Sign in to rate.
Filmography
Acting
51 credits
Climax!
What's My Line?
The Colgate Comedy Hour
The Monkees
Dinah!
Alice in Wonderland
Make Mine Music
The Rosemary Clooney Show
Road to Singapore
Bob Hope's World of Comedy
Joys
Road to Utopia
Meet Me in Las Vegas
The Road to Hong Kong
Road to Rio
Star Spangled Rhythm
Rosalie
This Is Bob Hope...
Sis Hopkins
Port of Seven Seas
Valley of the Giants
Ellis in Freedomland
Garden of the Moon
Naughty but Nice
Ice Capades Revue
Little Miss Broadway
Melody and Moonlight
Music Land
You're the One
Andy Hardy Comes Home
It's in the Bag!
Priorities on Parade
Bob Hope: Laughing With the Presidents
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 1
Pinocchio
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
True to the Army
Atlantic City
Kentucky Jubilee
Operation Wonderland
Ice-Capades
Don't Push, I'll Charge When I'm Ready
Sweepstakes Winner
The Brave Engineer
G.I. Journal
Swingtime in the Movies
Casey at the Bat
Musical Movieland
Entertaining the Troops: Bob Hope & the USO
Comin' Round the Mountain
The Star Reporter
Other credits
2 credits
Track what you watch
DuckTrack members see which of these they have already watched,
right here on this page.
Create a free account
Comments
0 commentsNo comments yet. Sign in to be the first.