Biography for
Jack Oakie (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

12 November 1903, Sedalia, Missouri, USA

Date of Death

23 January 1978, Los Angeles, California, USA (aortic aneurysm)

Birth Name

Lewis Delaney Offield

Height

5' 11" (1.80 m)

Spouse

Victoria Horne	(1950 - 23 January 1978) (his death)
Venita Varden	(1936 - 16 February 1945) (divorced)

Trivia

Son of actress Evelyn Oakie.

Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA., in the Whispering Pines section at the top of the hill.

Oakie fought with cameramen for years about screen makeup -- he never wore any and refused to wear makeup under any circumstances.

Once teamed with fellow vaudevillian Skeets Gallagher in the hopes of being another Laurel and Hardy, but it didn't pan out. They did perform in six films together.

Dubbed "The World's Oldest Freshman" because he was rather long in the tooth (30 something) for the collegiates he was asked to play, including roles in College Humor (1933), College Rhythm (1934), and Collegiate (1936). In the movie Rise and Shine (1941), the 38-year-old was asked to play an 18-year-old senior.

Working as a Wall Street clerk, he narrowly escaped death in 1920 after the Treasury Building was bombed by terrorists.

In 1981, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences established the Jack Oakie Lecture on Comedy in Film, as an annual event.

Divorced from actress wife Venita Varden in 1945, she was among the many who perished in a June 17, 1948 plane crash on the Aristes mountain near Wilburton, Pennsylvania, that killed 43 passengers in all. Also included were night club owner Earl Carroll, famous for his Vanities Showgirls, and his leading lady, showgirl Beryl Wallace.

Personal Quotes

"The pictures I made were called the bread and butter pictures of the studio. They cost nothing and made millions, and supported the prestige productions that cost millions and made nothing."

"I've appeared in hundred of movies, but the only one people remember me for is Napaloni in The Great Dictator."

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z