This is a list of films featuring comedian Jack Benny . Benny's career lasted from the early 20th century until his death in 1974. In Jack Benny's first film he starred along with Conrad Nagel as master of ceremonies in The Hollywood Revue of 1929 , which was a big role for Jack at the time. Benny wouldn't start getting well known until his own radio program in 1934. The Hollywood Revue is also the oldest known form of Jack Benny in color with the last sequence being filmed originally in color, which was common for a musical in 1929.
Title | Year | Company | Roles | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
The Hollywood Revue of 1929 | 1929 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Himself – Master of Ceremonies | |
Chasing Rainbows | 1930 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Eddie Rock | |
The Rounder | 1930 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Mr. Bartlett | (short film) [1] |
Lord Byron of Broadway | 1930 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Voice on Radio | Uncredited |
Children of Pleasure | 1930 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Himself – Radio Performer | Uncredited |
The Medicine Man | 1930 | Tiffany Pictures | Dr. John Harvey | |
A Broadway Romeo | 1931 | Paramount Pictures | Himself | (short film) |
Cab Waiting | 1931 | Paramount Pictures | Himself | (short film) |
Taxi Tangle | 1931 | Paramount Pictures | Himself | (short film) |
Mr. Broadway | 1933 | Arthur Greenblatt | Himself | |
Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round | 1934 | Edward Small Productions | Chad Denby | |
Broadway Melody of 1936 | 1935 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Bert Keeler | |
It's in the Air | 1935 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Calvin Churchill | |
The Big Broadcast of 1937 | 1936 | Paramount Pictures | Jack Carson | |
College Holiday | 1936 | Paramount Pictures | J. Davis Bowster | |
Artists and Models | 1937 | Paramount Pictures | Mac Brewster | |
Artists and Models Abroad | 1938 | Paramount Pictures | Buck Boswell | |
Man About Town | 1939 | Paramount Pictures | Bob Temple | |
Buck Benny Rides Again | 1940 | Paramount Pictures | Himself | |
Love Thy Neighbor | 1940 | Paramount Pictures | Himself | (first Jack Benny/ Fred Allen feud film.) |
Charley's Aunt | 1941 | Twentieth Century-Fox | Babbs Babberley | |
To Be or Not to Be | 1942 | United Artists | Joseph Tura | |
George Washington Slept Here | 1942 | Warner Brothers | Bill Fuller | |
The Meanest Man in the World | 1943 | Twentieth Century-Fox | Richard Clarke | |
Hollywood Canteen | 1944 | Warner Brothers | Himself | |
The Horn Blows at Midnight | 1945 | Warner Brothers | Athanael | (Benny's last starring role in a feature film; film's box office failure became long-running gag on the Jack Benny Program) |
It's in the Bag! | 1945 | United Artists | Himself | (last Benny/Fred Allen feud film) |
Without Reservations | 1946 | RKO Radio Pictures | Himself | Uncredited |
The Great Lover | 1949 | Paramount Pictures | Himself | Uncredited |
Screen Snapshots: The Great Showman | 1950 | Columbia Pictures | Himself | (short film) |
You Can Change the World | 1951 | The Christophers | Himself | (short film) |
Screen Snapshots: Memorial to Al Jolson | 1952 | Columbia Pictures | Himself – Narrator | (short film) |
Somebody Loves Me | 1952 | Paramount Pictures | Himself | (cameo) |
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Great Entertainers | 1953 | Columbia Pictures | Himself | (short film) |
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Beauty | 1955 | Columbia Pictures | Himself | (short film) |
Screen Snapshots: The Walter Winchell Party | 1957 | Columbia Pictures | Himself | (short film) |
Beau James | 1957 | Paramount Pictures | Himself | Uncredited |
The Mouse that Jack Built | 1959 | Warner Brothers | Himself | (cartoon short) |
Who Was That Lady? | 1960 | Columbia Pictures | Mr Cosgrove | Uncredited |
Gypsy | 1962 | Warner Brothers | Himself | Uncredited, portraying himself in the early vaudeville days |
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World | 1963 | United Artists | Man in Car in Desert | Uncredited, (small part) |
A Guide for the Married Man | 1967 | Twentieth Century Fox | Technical Adviser (Ollie 'Sweet Lips') | (cameo) |
Swing Out, Sweet Land | 1970 | Batjac Productions | Man Who Finds Silver Dollar | (small role) |
The Man | 1972 | Paramount Pictures | Himself | (final film role), (Later years focused on concerts and television) |
The Hollywood Revue of 1929, or simply The Hollywood Revue, is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was the studio's second feature-length musical, and one of their earliest sound films. Produced by Harry Rapf and Irving Thalberg and directed by Charles Reisner, it features nearly all of MGM's stars in a two-hour revue that includes three segments in Technicolor. The masters of ceremonies are Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny.
Jack Benny was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with a highly popular comedic career in radio, television, and film. He was known for his comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a long pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated summation "Well! "
Andrew Vabre Devine was an American character actor known for his distinctive raspy, crackly voice and roles in Western films, including his role as Cookie, the sidekick of Roy Rogers in 10 feature films. He also appeared alongside John Wayne in films such as Stagecoach (1939), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and How the West Was Won. He is also remembered as Jingles on the TV series The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok from 1951 to 1958, as Danny McGuire in A Star Is Born (1937), and as the voice of Friar Tuck in the Disney Animation Studio film Robin Hood (1973).
Eddie Cantor was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, this "Apostle of Pep" was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife, Ida, and five daughters. Some of his hits include "Makin' Whoopee", "Ida ", "If You Knew Susie", "Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me", “Mandy”, "My Baby Just Cares for Me”, "Margie", and "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm ?" He also wrote a few songs, including "Merrily We Roll Along", the Merrie Melodies Warner Bros. cartoon theme.
Milton Ager was an American composer, regarded as one of the top songwriters of the 1920s and 1930s. His most lasting compositions include "Ain't She Sweet” and “Happy Days Are Here Again”.
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932. Though most famous for their visual spectacle, revues frequently satirized contemporary figures, news or literature. Similar to the related subforms of operetta and musical theatre, the revue art form brings together music, dance and sketches to create a compelling show. In contrast to these, however, revue does not have an overarching storyline. Rather, a general theme serves as the motto for a loosely related series of acts that alternate between solo performances and dance ensembles.
Harry Akst was an American songwriter, who started out his career as a pianist in vaudeville accompanying singers such as Nora Bayes, Frank Fay and Al Jolson.
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Edmund Lincoln Anderson was an American actor and comedian. To a generation of early radio and television comedy he was known as "Rochester".
The Show of Shows is a 1929 American pre-Code musical revue film directed by John G. Adolfi and distributed by Warner Bros. The all-talking Vitaphone production cost almost $800,000 and was shot almost entirely in Technicolor.
Hollywood Party, also known under its working title of The Hollywood Revue of 1933 and Star Spangled Banquet, is a 1934 American pre-Code musical film starring Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante, Lupe Vélez and Mickey Mouse. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Each sequence featured a different star with a separate scriptwriter and director assigned.
Paris is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film, featuring Irène Bordoni. It was filmed with Technicolor sequences: four of the film's ten reels were originally photographed in Technicolor.
Chasing Rainbows is a 1930 American Pre-Code romantic musical film directed by Charles Reisner, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Children of Pleasure is a 1930 American pre-Code MGM musical comedy film directed by Harry Beaumont, originally released with Technicolor sequences. It was adapted from Crane Wilbur's 1929 play, The Song Writer.
The March of Time is the title of an unreleased 1930 American Pre-Code musical film directed by Charles Reisner. The film was originally scheduled to be released in September 1930 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer but was shelved. The March of Time would have been one of the many musicals partially filmed in two-color Technicolor.
Paramount on Parade is a 1930 all-star American pre-Code revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H. Knopf, Frank Tuttle, and Victor Schertzinger—all supervised by the production supervisor, singer, actress, and songwriter Elsie Janis.
They Learned About Women is a 1930 American Pre-Code sports drama musical film directed by Jack Conway and Sam Wood, and starring Van and Schenck in their final film appearance together.
Color Out of Space is a 2019 American science fiction Lovecraftian horror film directed and co-written by Richard Stanley, based on the short story "The Colour Out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft. It stars Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Elliot Knight, Madeleine Arthur, Brendan Meyer, Q'orianka Kilcher and Tommy Chong. This is Stanley's first feature film since his firing from The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). According to Stanley, it is the first film in a trilogy of Lovecraft adaptations, which he hopes to continue with an adaptation of "The Dunwich Horror".
Arthur Seymour Lyons(néEfroimsky; 27 May 1895 Minsk, Russia – 26 July 1963 Hollywood) was a theatrical agent for stage, radio, and film. He was also a one-time film producer.