Bob Hope

This portrait of Bob Hope hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC.

"Few entertainers have enjoyed greater popularity in American life than comedian Bob Hope. Begin­ning his career in vaudeville, the English-born Hope combined a rapid-fire delivery with an encyclopedic memory for jokes to become one of the best ad­libbers in show business. By the mid-1930s he was a fixture on radio and a star of such Broadway shows as Cole Porter's Red, Hot & Blue. He moved to Holly­wood and by 1940 began the hugely popular series of 'Road' movies, partnered with Bing Crosby. Hope's commitment to entertaining U.S. troops from 1941 through the Gulf War was legendary. He received five special Academy Awards (but never a competitive one) and, in 1985, a Kennedy Center Honors award.

Norman Rockwell made this portrait for the February 13, 1954, cover of the Saturday Evening Post. Three days later, Rockwell presented Hope with the original painting on his television program, The Bob Hope Show." -- National Portrait Gallery