Gracie Allen

Born in San Francisco (California), her parents were George Allen and Margaret Darragh. She studied at the Star of the Sea Convent School, and during that time became a talented dancer. She soon began performing Irish dances with her three sisters, calling themselves "The Four Colleens." In 1909, Allen joined her sister Bessie in performing in vaudeville. In a performance in 1922 Allen met George Burns and the two worked together in a comedy. The couple married on January 7, 1926 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Depending on the source, Gracie Allen could have been born on July 26, 1895, 1897, 1902, or 1906. The records of the City and County of San Francisco were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Her husband, George Burns also claimed not to know Allen's exact age, although he considered 1902, which appears on his death certificate. However, the most reliable information is that of the US census, which states that she was born in July 1895.

Burns and Allen began acting as a comedy duo. The audience laughed more at Allen's performance. Both traveled across the country performing in vaudeville venues. Many of their shows were recorded in short films shot while the couple performed on stage.

In the early 1930s, like many other vaudeville stars of the era, Burns and Allen began performing on radio. His show was a modest success, as it was originally a continuation of his original vaudeville shows. Burns decided to change the format of the show by creating a sitcom in which they played a married couple solving the problems caused by Allen's "illogical logic", usually with the help of neighbors Harry and Blanche Morton and announcer Bill Goodwin ( later replaced by Harry von Zell in the couple's television series).

Around 1948 Burns and Allen joined CBS. Their good friend Jack Benny convinced them to join. Burns and Allen's radio show entered the CBS programming, and a year later their television program appeared, in which they continued with the formula used by them on the radio. Allen retired in 1958, and Burns attempted to continue the show without her, renaming it The George Burns Show, with the same cast, but without his wife. The new program lasted just one year. Allen and George Burns participated in the Blondie radio show.

In the early 1930s Burns and Allen made short films, preserving several of their classic vaudeville shows. They also made two films under the direction of W.C. Fields (International House (1933) and Six of a Kind (1934)), and starred alongside Fred Astaire in A Damsel in Distress, a musical with an original score by George Gershwin, in which the song "A Foggy Day" was heard. It was Astaire's first film without Ginger Rogers. This was the most famous film played by Gracie Allen.

In the 1930s, Burns and Allen adopted two children, Sandra Jean and Ronald John, after discovering that they could not have children. Ronnie ended up working on his parents' television show, playing their son. Sandy, by contrast, only did the occasional small performance on the show, abandoning acting to devote herself to teaching.

The reason for his retirement in 1958 was poor health. Gracie Allen suffered from heart disease and died of an acute myocardial infarction in Hollywood, California, in 1964. She was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Her husband survived her by more than 30 years.