Jackie Gleason

Gleason was born Herbert Walton Gleason Jr. on February 26, 1916, at 364 Chauncey Street in the Stuyvesant Heights (now Bedford–Stuyvesant) section of Brooklyn. He was later baptized as "John Herbert Gleason" and grew up at 328 Chauncey Street, Apartment 1A (an address he later used for Ralph and Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners). His parents were Herbert Walton "Herb" Gleason (1883–1964), born in New York City to an Irish father and an American mother, and Mae Agnes "Maisie" (née Kelly; 1886–1935), an Irish immigrant from Farranree, County Cork. Gleason was the younger of two children; his elder brother, Clement, died from complications of meningitis at age 14 in 1919. Birch also told him of a week-long gig in Reading, Pennsylvania, which would pay $19—more money than Gleason could imagine (equivalent to $440 in 2025). The booking agent advanced his bus fare for the trip against his salary, granting Gleason his first job as a professional comedian. Following this, he would always have regular work in small clubs. ==Career==

Gleason worked his way up to larger clubs in Manhattan, first Leon and Eddie's and then Jack White's madcap Club 18, where insulting the patrons was the order of the day. Gleason greeted noted skater Sonja Henie by handing her an ice cube and saying, "Okay, now do something." By age 24, Gleason began appearing in motion pictures, under the name Jackie C. Gleason (the middle initial standing for Clement, in tribute to his late brother). When director Lloyd Bacon visited the Club 18, Gleason took him aside and asked for a chance in pictures. Gleason then took the nightclub floor and began heckling Bacon, which convinced the director to bring Gleason to Hollywood. Gleason signed with Warner Bros. (at $250 a week) for Bacon's Navy Blues (1941) with Ann Sheridan and Martha Raye. Gleason's other major Warner credit was the Humphrey Bogart feature All Through the Night (1942), which also featured a young Phil Silvers. Warners cast Gleason in four more films of diminishing importance; one of them, Lady Gangster (1942) had Gleason as a getaway-car driver for a gang of bank bandits. In the wake of Abbott and Costello, most of the movie studios tried to imitate the team's military comedies. Warners loaned Gleason to Columbia Pictures, where he was paired with nightclub and movie comic Jack Durant for the Army comedy Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942). Gleason accepted another loan-out to Twentieth Century-Fox, where Gleason played Glenn Miller's bass player in Orchestra Wives (1942). He had a modest part as an actor's agent in the 1942 Betty Grable–Harry James musical Springtime in the Rockies. Warners had no further plans for Gleason and did not renew his contract. Gleason had supplemented his movie salary by signing a $150-a-week deal to appear at Maxie Rosenbloom's popular nightclub. "He was a smash hit," wrote biographer W. J. Weatherby, "but none of the Hollywood executives who congratulated him offered him a movie role worthy of his talent." At the end of 1942, Gleason and Lew Parker led a large cast of entertainers in the roadshow production of Olsen and Johnson's New 1943 Hellzapoppin. He also became known for hosting all-night parties in his hotel suite; the hotel soundproofed his suite out of consideration for its other guests. Gleason was initially exempt from military service during World War II because he was a father of two. However, in 1943, the U. S. Army started drafting men with children. When Gleason reported to his induction, doctors discovered that his broken left arm had healed crooked (the area between his thumb and forefinger was nerveless and numb), that a pilonidal cyst existed at the end of his coccyx, and that he was 100 pounds overweight. Gleason was, therefore, classified 4-F and rejected for military service. During an acute employment slump in late 1943, Gleason took the only job he could get: a guest shot on NBC's radio show The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, a hot-jazz jam session. Gleason was that week's "intermission commentator" and delivered a comic monologue about a girl who ran off with a trumpet player. He collected $350 for the appearance. As W. J. Weatherby related, "There were so many phone calls praising it as the funniest program listeners had ever heard that Jackie was invited back. 'Wait till I'm that desperate again,' he said." Gleason's first significant recognition as an entertainer came on Broadway when he appeared in the hit musical Follow the Girls (1944), starring singer Gertrude Niesen and comic dancer Tim Herbert. Early television as Chester and Peg Riley in The Life of Riley 1955.|alt=Jackie Gleason straightening a dancer's hat Gleason's big break occurred in 1949 when, working nightclubs and earning the attention of New York City's inner circle, he landed work with the fledgling DuMont Television Network. Comedy writer Harry Crane, whom Gleason knew from his days as a stand-up comedian in New York, recommended Gleason for the job. The program initially had rotating hosts; Gleason was first offered two weeks at $750 per week. The offer was extended to four weeks when he responded that this arrangement would not be worth the train trip to New York. Gleason returned to New York for the show and soon became permanent host. Gleason amplified the show with even splashier opening dance numbers inspired by Busby Berkeley's screen dance routines and featuring the precision-choreographed June Taylor Dancers. Following the dance performance, he would do an opening monologue. Then, accompanied by "a little travelin' music" ("That's a Plenty", a Dixieland classic from 1914), he would shuffle toward the wings, clapping his hands and shouting, "And awaaay we go!" The phrase became one of his trademarks, along with "How sweet it is!" (which he used in reaction to almost anything). Gleason disliked rehearsing. Using photographic memory he read the script once, then watched a rehearsal with his co-stars and stand-in and shot the show later that day. When he made mistakes, he often blamed the cue cards. The Honeymooners as Alice, circa 1955|alt=Alice Kramden kissing Ralph after he gives her a bouquet Gleason's most famous character by far was blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden. Drawn mainly from Gleason's harsh Brooklyn childhood, the Ralph Kramden sketches became known as The Honeymooners. The show was based on Ralph's many get-rich-quick schemes, his ambition, his antics with his best friend and neighbor, scatterbrained sewer worker Ed Norton, and clashes with his sensible wife, Alice, who typically pulled Ralph's head down from the clouds. Gleason developed catchphrases he used on The Honeymooners, such as threats to Alice: "One of these days, Alice, pow! right in the kisser" and "Bang! Zoom! To the Moon, Alice, to the Moon!" The Honeymooners originated from a sketch Gleason was developing with his show's writers. He said he had an idea he wanted to enlarge: a skit with a smart, quiet wife and her very vocal husband. He described that while the couple had their fights, underneath it all, they loved each other. Titles for the sketch were tossed around until someone came up with The Honeymooners. The Honeymooners first appeared on Cavalcade of Stars on October 5, 1951, with Carney in a guest appearance as a cop (Norton did not appear until a few episodes later) and character actress Pert Kelton as Alice. Darker and fiercer than the milder later version with Audrey Meadows as Alice, the sketches proved popular with critics and viewers. In these early episodes with Kelton playing Alice, Gleason's frustrated bus driver character had a battleaxe of a wife, and the arguments between them were harrowingly realistic; when Meadows (who was 15 years younger than Kelton) took over the role after Kelton was blacklisted, the tone of the episodes softened considerably. When Gleason moved to CBS, Kelton was left behind; her name had been published in Red Channels, a book that listed and described reputed communists (and communist sympathizers) who worked in television and radio, and CBS did not want to hire her. Gleason reluctantly let her be removed from the cast; the reason was covered up by telling the media that she had "heart trouble". At first, Gleason turned down Meadows as Kelton's replacement. Meadows wrote in her memoir that after her unsuccessful audition, she frumped herself up and slipped back in to audition again to convince Gleason that she could handle the role of a frustrated (but loving) working-class wife. Rounding out the cast, Joyce Randolph played Trixie, Ed Norton's wife. Elaine Stritch had played the role of a tall and attractive blonde in the first sketch but was quickly replaced by Randolph. Comedy writer Leonard Stern always felt The Honeymooners was more than sketch material and persuaded Gleason to make it into a full-hour-long episode. In 1955 Gleason gambled on making it a separate series entirely. The result was the "Classic 39" episodes, which finished 19th in the ratings during their only season. Using this higher-quality video process turned out to be Gleason's most prescient move. A decade later, he aired the half-hour Honeymooners in syndicated reruns that began to build a loyal and growing audience, making the show a television icon. Its popularity was such that in 2000, a life-sized statue of Jackie Gleason, in uniform as bus driver Ralph Kramden, was installed outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. Gleason returned to a live show format for 1956–57, with short and long versions, including hour-long musicals. Ten years later, these musical presentations were reprised in color, with Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean as Alice and Trixie. Audrey Meadows reappeared for one black-and-white remake of the '50s sketch "The Adoption," telecast January 8, 1966. Ten years later, she rejoined Gleason and Carney (with Jane Kean replacing Joyce Randolph) for several TV specials (one special from 1973 was shelved). The Jackie Gleason Show ended in June 1957. In 1959, Gleason discussed the possibility of bringing back The Honeymooners in new episodes; his dream was partially realized with a Kramden-Norton sketch on a CBS variety show in late 1960, and two more sketches on his hour-long CBS show The American Scene Magazine in 1962. Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine ran from 1962 to 1966, and The Jackie Gleason Show was reprised from 1966 to 1970. The Paley Center for Media considers all iterations as one series, running from 1952 to 1970. Music (left) with Jackie Gleason in Gleason's dressing room after a performance of Take Me Along (1960)|alt=Gleason standing with Irish author Brendan Behan, arms around each other Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Gleason enjoyed a prominent secondary music career, producing a series of bestselling "mood music" albums with jazz overtones for Capitol Records. Gleason believed there was a ready market for romantic instrumentals. His goal was to make "musical wallpaper that should never be intrusive, but conducive". He recalled seeing Clark Gable play love scenes in movies; the romance was, in his words, "magnified a thousand percent" by background music. Gleason reasoned, "If Gable needs strings, what about some poor schmuck from Brooklyn?" Gleason could not read or write music; he was said to have conceived melodies in his head and described them vocally to assistants who transcribed them into musical notes. In spite of period accounts establishing his direct involvement in musical production, varying opinions have appeared over the years as to how much credit Gleason should have received for the finished products. Biographer William A. Henry wrote in his 1992 book, The Great One: The Life and Legend of Jackie Gleason, that beyond the possible conceptualizing of many of the song melodies, Gleason had no direct involvement (such as conducting) in making the recordings. Red Nichols, a jazz great who had fallen on hard times and led one of the group's recordings, was not paid as session-leader. Cornetist and trumpeter Bobby Hackett soloed on several of Gleason's albums and was leader for seven of them. Asked late in life by musician–journalist Harry Currie in Toronto what Gleason really did at the recording sessions, Hackett replied, "He brought the checks". But years earlier Hackett had glowingly told writer James Bacon: Jackie knows a lot more about music than people give him credit for. I have seen him conduct a 60-piece orchestra and detect one discordant note in the brass section. He would immediately stop the music and locate the wrong note. It always amazed the professional musicians how a guy who technically did not know one note from another could do that. And he was never wrong. The composer and arranger George Williams has been cited in various biographies as having served as ghostwriter for the majority of arrangements heard on many of Gleason's albums of the 1950s and 1960s. Williams was not given credit for his work until the early 1960s, albeit only in small print on the backs of album covers. He abandoned the show in 1957 when his ratings for the season came in at No. 29 He returned in 1958 with a half-hour show featuring Buddy Hackett, which did not catch on. In addition to his salary and royalties, CBS paid for Gleason's Peekskill, New York, mansion "Round Rock Hill". Set on six acres, the architecturally noteworthy complex included a round main home, guest house, and storage building. It took Gleason two years to design the house, which was completed in 1959. Gleason sold the home when he relocated to Miami. In October 1960 Gleason and Carney briefly returned for a Honeymooners sketch on a TV special. His next foray into television was the game show ''You're in the Picture'', which was canceled after a disastrously received premiere episode but was followed the next week by a broadcast of Gleason's humorous half-hour apology, which was much better appreciated. In his 1985 appearance on The Tonight Show, Gleason told Johnny Carson that he had played pool frequently since childhood, and drew from those experiences in The Hustler. He was extremely well-received as a beleaguered boxing manager in the film version of Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). Gleason played a world-weary army sergeant in Soldier in the Rain (1963), in which he received top billing over Steve McQueen. in The Hustler (1961) Gleason wrote, produced and starred in Gigot (1962), in which he played a poor, mute janitor who befriended and rescued a prostitute and her small daughter. It was a box office flop. But the film's script was adapted and produced as the television film The Wool Cap (2004), starring William H. Macy in the role of the mute janitor; the television film received modestly good reviews. Gleason played the lead in the Otto Preminger-directed Skidoo (1968), considered an all-star failure. In 1969 William Friedkin wanted to cast Gleason as "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971), and Gleason wanted the part, but the studio refused because of the poor reception of Gigot and Skidoo. Instead, Gleason wound up in How to Commit Marriage (1969) with Bob Hope, as well as the movie version of Woody Allen's play ''Don't Drink the Water'' (1969). Both were unsuccessful. Eight years passed before Gleason had another hit film. This role was the cantankerous and cursing Texas sheriff Buford T. Justice in the films Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983). He co-starred with Burt Reynolds as the Bandit, Sally Field as Carrie (the Bandit's love interest), and Jerry Reed as Cledus "Snowman" Snow, the Bandit's truck-driving partner. Former NFL linebacker Mike Henry played his dimwitted son, Junior Justice. Gleason's gruff and frustrated demeanor and lines such as "I'm gonna barbecue yo' ass in molasses!" made the first Bandit movie a hit. Years later, when interviewed by Larry King, Reynolds said he agreed to do the film only if the studio hired Jackie Gleason to play the part of Sheriff Buford T. Justice (the name of a real Florida highway patrolman, who knew Reynolds' father). Reynolds said that director Hal Needham gave Gleason free rein to ad-lib a great deal of his dialogue and make suggestions for the film; the scene at the "Choke and Puke" was Gleason's idea. Reynolds and Needham knew Gleason's comic talent would help make the film a success, and Gleason's characterization of Sheriff Justice strengthened the film's appeal to blue-collar audiences. During the 1980s Gleason earned positive reviews playing opposite Laurence Olivier in the HBO dramatic two-man special, Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (1983). He also gave a memorable performance as wealthy businessman U.S. Bates in the comedy The Toy (1982) opposite Richard Pryor. Although the film was critically panned, Gleason and Pryor's performances were praised. His last film performance was opposite Tom Hanks in the Garry Marshall-directed Nothing in Common (1986), a success both critically and financially. ==Personal life==

, c. 1975 Fear of flying For many years Gleason traveled only by train; his fear of flying arose from an incident in his early film career when he was flying back and forth to Los Angeles for relatively minor film work. During one flight to New York two of the plane's engines stopped, and the pilot executed an emergency landing in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gleason borrowed $200 from a Tulsa hardware-store owner to purchase a train passage to New York. During the 1950s he was a semi-regular guest on a paranormal-themed overnight radio show hosted by Long John Nebel, and he also wrote the introduction to Donald Bain's biography of Nebel. After his death, his large book collection was donated to the library of the University of Miami. According to writer Larry Holcombe, Gleason's interest in UFOs prompted President Richard Nixon to share information with him and to disclose some UFO data publicly. Marriages and family Dancers with Gleason on one of his television specials Gleason met dancer Genevieve Halford when they were working in vaudeville and they were married on September 20, 1936. Halford wanted a quiet home life but Gleason led an active nightlife. the couple had two daughters, Geraldine ( 1940) and Linda (b. 1942). In early 1954 Gleason suffered a broken leg and ankle on-air during his television show. His injuries sidelined him for several weeks. When Halford went to visit Gleason in the hospital, she discovered that Marilyn Taylor, a dancer from his television show, was also visiting him. Halford filed for a legal separation in April 1954. A devout Catholic, Halford did not grant Gleason a divorce until 1970. Gleason met his second wife, Beverly McKittrick, at a country club in 1968, where she worked as a secretary. Ten days after his divorce from Halford was final, Gleason and McKittrick were married in Ashford, England on July 4, 1970. The couple divorced in 1975. Gleason reconnected with Taylor and married her in December 1975. They remained married until he died in 1987. Gleason's daughter Linda became an actress and married actor-playwright Jason Miller. Their son is actor Jason Patric. Gleason struggled with weight issues throughout much of his life, often weighing close to 300 pounds. His diet primarily consisted of red meat and rich desserts, with little to no vegetables. Additionally, Gleason did not engage in regular exercise and consumed alcohol excessively. In The Golden Ham: A Candid Biography of Jackie Gleason, author Jim Bishop notes that Gleason had three separate wardrobes to accommodate his fluctuating weight, which varied between 185 and 285 pounds. In 1978 he suffered chest pains while touring in the lead role of Larry Gelbart's play Sly Fox and later underwent triple-bypass surgery. Gleason delivered a critically acclaimed performance as an infirm, acerbic, and somewhat Archie Bunker-like character in the Tom Hanks comedy-drama Nothing in Common (1986), Gleason's final film role. During production he was diagnosed with colon cancer, which had metastasized to his liver. He was also suffering from phlebitis and diabetes. He kept his medical problems private, although there were rumors that he was seriously ill. On June 24, 1987, he died at age 71 in his Florida home. After a funeral mass at the Cathedral of Saint Mary, Gleason was entombed in a sarcophagus in a private outdoor mausoleum at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery in Miami. Gleason's sister-in-law June Taylor is buried to the left of the mausoleum, next to her husband and attorney, Sol Lerner. ==Legacy and honors==

in Manhattan (circa 2000s)|alt=Rectangular blue-and-green sign reading, "Welcome to Brooklyn. How sweet it is!" '' at 328 Chauncey Street in Brooklyn • A 1978 Lincoln Continental limousine, formerly owned by Jackie Gleason, was featured on the TV show "Pawn Stars". The episode, titled "To The Moon," showcased the car when a seller brought it into the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. The car was a highlight, with Rick Harrison expressing interest due to its celebrity provenance. Ultimately, the car's condition and the expert's assessment determined its fate on the show. • Miami Beach in 1987 renamed the Miami Beach Auditorium as the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts. , the theater was scheduled to be razed as part of a convention center remodeling project and replaced by a hotel. The demolition did not take place and The Fillmore Miami Beach is still in operation . • Gleason was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Television Hall of Fame in 1986. • In 2000 a statue of him as Ralph Kramden in "And away we go!" pose was installed at the Miami Beach Bus Terminal. • Gleason was nominated three times for an Emmy Award, but never won. (Carney and Kean did, however.) • In 1976 at the Sixth Annual American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) "Entertainer of the Year Awards", Paul Lynde received an award for being voted the funniest man of the year. Lynde immediately turned his award over to host Jackie Gleason, citing him as "the funniest man ever." The unexpected gesture shocked Gleason. • On June 30, 1988, the Sunset Park MTA, NYCT's 5th Avenue Bus Depot in Brooklyn was renamed the Jackie Gleason Depot in honor of the native Brooklynite. • A statue of Gleason as Ralph Kramden in his bus driver's uniform was dedicated in August 2000 in New York City in Manhattan at the 40th Street entrance of the Port Authority Bus Terminal (PABT). The statue was briefly shown in the film World Trade Center (2006). • A city park in Lauderhill, Florida, was named the "Jackie Gleason Park" in his honor; it is located near his former home and features racquetball and basketball courts and a children's playground. • Signs on the Brooklyn Bridge which advise drivers that they are entering Brooklyn have the Gleason phrase "How Sweet It Is!" • Late in his life actor-playwright Jason Miller, Gleason's former son-in-law, was writing a screenplay based on Gleason's life. He died before it was completed. • Gleason was portrayed by Brad Garrett in a 2002 television biopic about his life. ==Works==

Television 1949–1959 • Your Sports Special (1949) as Himself • ''The Lamb's Gambol'' (March 27, 1949) as Himself • On The Two A Day (1949, NBC TV) as Himself • The Life of Riley (October 4, 1949 – March 28, 1950, TV Series) as Chester A. Riley • The Arrow Show (1949) as Himself • Tex and Jinx (1949) as Himself • This Is Show Business (1950) as Himself • Showtime USA (1950) as Himself • Cavalcade of Stars (1950–1952, TV Series) as Himself - Host / Ralph Kramden / Reginald Van Gleason III • The Frank Sinatra Show (1950) as Himself • Ford Star Revue (1951) as Himself • The Frank Sinatra Show (1951) as Himself • Cavalcade of Bands (1951) as Himself • Stage Entrance (1951, DuMont TV) as Himself • Musical Comedy Time: No! No! Nanette! (1951) as Himself • Texaco Star Theatre (1951) as Himself • Ford Festival (1951) as Himself • The James Melton Show (May 3, 1951) as Himself • This Is Show Business (1951) as Himself • The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951) as Himself • Ford Star Revue (1951) as Himself • The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951) as Himself • The Kate Smith Evening Hour (1951) as Himself • The Jackie Gleason Show (September 20, 1952 – June 18, 1955, TV Series) as Host / Ralph Kramden / Reginald Van Gleason III • Arthur Murray Party (1952) as Himself • The Sam Levinson Show (1952) as Himself • The Ken Murray Show (1952) as Himself • Toast of the Town (1952) as Himself • Celebrity Time (1952) as Himself • ''Scout O' Rama'' (1952) as Himself • ''Jane Froman's USA Canteen'' (1952) as Himself • Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (1953) as Himself • Studio One: The Laugh Maker (May 18, 1953, TV Movie) as Himself • ''What's My Line?'' (1953) as Himself • This Is Show Business (1953) as Himself - Guest / Himself • Arthur Murray Party (1953) as Himself • Toast of the Town (1954) as Himself • The Red Skelton Show (January 5, 1954) as Himself • Name That Tune (1954) as Himself • Studio One: Short Cut (December 6, 1954, TV Movie) as Himself • The Best of Broadway: The Show Off (February 2, 1955, TV Movie) as Himself • ''What's My Line?'' (1955) as Himself • ''I've Got a Secret'' (1955) as Himself • The Jack Benny Program (May 1, 1955) as Himself • Stage Show (1955) as Himself • The Honeymooners (October 1, 1955 – September 22, 1956, TV Series) as Ralph Kramden • The Red Skelton Show (October 4, 1955) • Studio One: Uncle Ed and Circumstances (October 10, 1955, TV Movie) • The $64,000 Question (1956) as Himself • Person to Person (February 3, 1956) as Himself • The Herb Shriner Show (October 2, 1956) as Himself • The Jackie Gleason Show (September 29, 1956 – June 22, 1957, TV Series) as Himself • Playhouse 90: The Time of Your Life (October 9, 1958, TV Movie) as Joe • This Is Your Life (1958) as Himself • Arthur Godfrey Show (1958) as Himself • The Jackie Gleason Show (October 1958 – January 1959, TV Series) as Himself • All Star Jazz IV: The Golden Age of Jazz (January 4, 1959) as Himself 1960–1986 • The Fabulous Fifties (1960) as Narrator • Arthur Godfrey Special (1960) as Himself • The Secret World of Eddie Hodges (June 23, 1960) (TV Movie, [narration only]) as Narrator / Himself • The Jackie Gleason Special: The Big Sell Review (October 9, 1960) as Salesman / Reginald Van Gleason III / Joe the Bartender / Ralph Kramden • Step On the Gas (CBS-10/19/60) TV special • The Red Skelton Show (January 24, 1961) as Himself • Sunday Sports Spectacular: Jackie Gleason with the putter and cue (1961) as Himself • ''You're In the Picture/The Jackie Gleason Show'' (January 27 – March 24, 1961) as Himself • The Jackie Gleason Special: The Million Dollar Incident (April 21, 1961) as Himself • Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine (September 29, 1962 – June 4, 1966, TV Series) as Himself • The 35th Annual Academy Awards (1963) as Himself • Freedom Spectacular (May 14, 1964, NAACP Special) as Himself • Inquiry (June 13, 1965, June 20, 1965, NBC) as Himself • The Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre: The Big Stomach (November 16, 1966) as the Vast Waistline • The Jackie Gleason Show (September 17, 1966 – September 12, 1970, TV Series) as Himself - Host • ''Here's Lucy: Lucy Visits Jack Benny'' (September 30, 1968) as Ralph Kramden • The Mike Douglas Show (October 15, 1968) as Himself • The David Frost Show (February 17, 1970) as Himself • The David Frost Show (April 6, 1970) as Himself • The David Frost Show (May 7, 1970) as Himself • The Jackie Gleason Special (December 20, 1970) as Ralph Kramden / Reginald Van Gleason III / the Poor Soul • The Mike Douglas Show (November 13–17, 20-24 and 29, 1972) as Himself • The Jackie Gleason Special (November 11, 1973) as Ralph Kramden / Reginald Van Gleason III / the Poor Soul • Show Business Tribute to Milton Berle (1973) • Julie & Jackie: How Sweet It Is! (1974) • Bob Hope Special (1974) as Himself • The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast (1975) as Himself • The Dick Cavett Show (August 30, 1975) as Himself • Dinah! (January 13, 1975) as Himself • Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason: Two for Three (December 3, 1975) as Himself • Super Night at the Super Bowl (1976) as Himself • The Mike Douglas Show (January 12–16, 1976) as Himself • The Honeymooners Second Honeymoon (February 2, 1976) as Ralph Kramden • Donahue (1976) as Himself • The Captain and Tennille (September 20, 1976) as Himself • ''Bing Crosby's White Christmas'' (1976) as Himself • Dinah! (February 11, 1977) as Himself • The Honeymooners Christmas Special (November 28, 1977) as Ralph Kramden • The Honeymooners Valentine Special (February 13, 1978) as Ralph Kramden • The Second Honeymooners Christmas Special (December 10, 1978) as Ralph Kramden • The Mike Douglas Show (May 7, 1980) as Himself • Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (June 3, 1983, TV Movie) as Ernest Johnson • All Star Party for Burt Reynolds (1984) as Himself • 60 Minutes (1984) as Himself • Izzy and Moe (September 23, 1985, TV Movie) as Himself • The Honeymooners Reunion (May 13, 1985) as Ralph Kramden • The 39th Annual Tony Awards (June 2, 1985) as Himself • The Honeymooners Anniversary Celebration (October 18, 1985) as Ralph Kramden • The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (October 18, 1985) as Himself • Gleason: In His Own Words (February 14, 1986) as Himself Stage • Keep Off the Grass (1940) • Hellzapoppin (1942) • Artists and Models (1943) • Follow the Girls (1944) • The Duchess Misbehaves (1945) • Heaven on Earth (1948) • Along Fifth Avenue (1949) • Take Me Along (1959) • Sly Fox (1978) Film • Navy Blues (1941) as Tubby • Steel Against the Sky (1941) as Cliff • All Through the Night (1942) as Starchy (credited as "Jackie C Gleason") • Lady Gangster (1942) as Wilson • Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942) as Hank • Larceny, Inc. (1942) as Hobart • Escape from Crime (1942) as Screwball Evans • Orchestra Wives (1942) as Ben Beck • Springtime in the Rockies (1942) as Commissioner (uncredited) • The Desert Hawk (1950) as Aladdin • The Hustler (1961) as Minnesota Fats • Gigot (1962) as Gigot (also writer) • Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) as Maish Rennick • ''Papa's Delicate Condition'' (1963) as Jack Griffith • Soldier in the Rain (1963) as MSgt. Maxwell Slaughter • Skidoo (1968) as Tony Banks • How to Commit Marriage (1969) as Oliver Poe • ''Don't Drink the Water'' (1969) as Walter Hollander • How Do I Love Thee? (1970) as Stanley Waltz • Mr. Billion (1977) as John Cutler • Smokey and the Bandit (1977) as Sheriff Buford T. Justice of Portague County • Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) as Sheriff Buford T. Justice / Gaylord Justice / Reginald Van Justice • The Toy (1982) as U.S. Bates • The Sting II (1983) as Fargo Gondorff • Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983) as Buford T. Justice • Izzy and Moe (1985) as Izzy Einstein • Nothing in Common (1986) as Max Basner (final film role) Music Singles discography Album discography Compact disc discography ==References==