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American Morning
Interview With Tom O'Neil
Aired July 28, 2003 - 09:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got Tom O'Neil from "In Touch" magazine. I think he joins us by phone now. Tom, are there?
TOM O'NEIL, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Yes, I'm here.
O'BRIEN: Hey, thanks for joining us. Wow. Just a huge loss. I have to say, not, I think, unexpected with the poor health that we all knew Bob Hope was in. But a huge loss nonetheless. Right?
O'NEIL: We just lost our king. Not just our showbiz king here in America, but kind of like our father figure overall.
This is a man we celebrated Christmas with every year with his specials. This is -- I think the most defining characteristic about this huge talent, it was that he wasn't one of those social misfit comics. He was every man. He was you and me. And he golfed with presidents. And that kind of personable every-man quality he had is extraordinary in a business that celebrates freaks.
And he also brings, by the way, talking about his regal side, he reigns in "The Guinness Book of World Records," by the way, as the Entertainer Most Honored in History with the most awards. He's received 1,500. And, it's official, a poll run by ABC back in the late 1990s he was named Entertainer of the Century.
O'BRIEN: He never won an Oscar for his acting. I guess, you know, we heard a clip a moment ago where he was joking about that. But he did win, I think, four Academy Awards. What did he win for?
O'NEIL: I think he won for -- hold on. I think he just won for on the on the honorary side? He never won any competitive category I know of. What he did win for was -- he won a lot Emmys. At the Oscars -- excuse me, he won four honorary awards. He won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and specific ones thanking him for his contribution to the Academy, that kind of thing.
O'BRIEN: You know, I know -- and you could just see in the faces of the soldiers when he would perform at the USO, I mean he was hilariously funny. And to watch the soldiers sit out there and crack up as well, you know, to some degree I have to imagine that he defined, for the most part, you know, the folks who entertained the troops. Is that true? You think that's fair to say?
O'NEIL: Oh, yes. And because he was one of them, there was a bond, an extraordinary bond that he could have with those servicemen so that he wasn't just a guy putting on a show to entertain them, he was that crucial link home. He was think best buddy and their Uncle, you know, Bob. And he was that lifeline they had almost spiritually to the people they loved back home.
O'BRIEN: He was given the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, of course a massive, massive honor from the British Empire. And I guess he was quoted as saying, "I'm speechless. Seventy years of ad-lib material and I am speechless." Obviously honored to be given that award.
Is there a sense of what one thing or two things were the most important to him in his career, which had so many highlights?
O'NEIL: I think the fact that,as he said in that package you just showed where -- it was the final thing he said there where he was proud to have excelled in every medium. That's what's extraordinary about this man. Even Vaudeville. The first job he had was dancing in Fatty Arbuckle's Vaudeville act in Cleveland, Ohio when he was a kid. He was on Broadway in the 1930s as a huge hit in a show called "Roberta." And then, of course, all his many successes in radio, television and in film. Those Road Movies with Bing Crosby buy are classic.
O'BRIEN: Oh, hilarious. No question about it.
O'NEIL: And what a decent man in every way. You know, he lived in the spotlight his whole life and was never singed with scandal. This man stayed married to the same woman since 1933, they adopted four children. He was just the model man in every way.
O'BRIEN: Tom O'Neil from "In Touch" magazine. Tom, thanks for joining us with your insight. Appreciate it.
O'NEIL: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 28, 2003 - 09:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got Tom O'Neil from "In Touch" magazine. I think he joins us by phone now. Tom, are there?
TOM O'NEIL, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Yes, I'm here.
O'BRIEN: Hey, thanks for joining us. Wow. Just a huge loss. I have to say, not, I think, unexpected with the poor health that we all knew Bob Hope was in. But a huge loss nonetheless. Right?
O'NEIL: We just lost our king. Not just our showbiz king here in America, but kind of like our father figure overall.
This is a man we celebrated Christmas with every year with his specials. This is -- I think the most defining characteristic about this huge talent, it was that he wasn't one of those social misfit comics. He was every man. He was you and me. And he golfed with presidents. And that kind of personable every-man quality he had is extraordinary in a business that celebrates freaks.
And he also brings, by the way, talking about his regal side, he reigns in "The Guinness Book of World Records," by the way, as the Entertainer Most Honored in History with the most awards. He's received 1,500. And, it's official, a poll run by ABC back in the late 1990s he was named Entertainer of the Century.
O'BRIEN: He never won an Oscar for his acting. I guess, you know, we heard a clip a moment ago where he was joking about that. But he did win, I think, four Academy Awards. What did he win for?
O'NEIL: I think he won for -- hold on. I think he just won for on the on the honorary side? He never won any competitive category I know of. What he did win for was -- he won a lot Emmys. At the Oscars -- excuse me, he won four honorary awards. He won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and specific ones thanking him for his contribution to the Academy, that kind of thing.
O'BRIEN: You know, I know -- and you could just see in the faces of the soldiers when he would perform at the USO, I mean he was hilariously funny. And to watch the soldiers sit out there and crack up as well, you know, to some degree I have to imagine that he defined, for the most part, you know, the folks who entertained the troops. Is that true? You think that's fair to say?
O'NEIL: Oh, yes. And because he was one of them, there was a bond, an extraordinary bond that he could have with those servicemen so that he wasn't just a guy putting on a show to entertain them, he was that crucial link home. He was think best buddy and their Uncle, you know, Bob. And he was that lifeline they had almost spiritually to the people they loved back home.
O'BRIEN: He was given the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, of course a massive, massive honor from the British Empire. And I guess he was quoted as saying, "I'm speechless. Seventy years of ad-lib material and I am speechless." Obviously honored to be given that award.
Is there a sense of what one thing or two things were the most important to him in his career, which had so many highlights?
O'NEIL: I think the fact that,as he said in that package you just showed where -- it was the final thing he said there where he was proud to have excelled in every medium. That's what's extraordinary about this man. Even Vaudeville. The first job he had was dancing in Fatty Arbuckle's Vaudeville act in Cleveland, Ohio when he was a kid. He was on Broadway in the 1930s as a huge hit in a show called "Roberta." And then, of course, all his many successes in radio, television and in film. Those Road Movies with Bing Crosby buy are classic.
O'BRIEN: Oh, hilarious. No question about it.
O'NEIL: And what a decent man in every way. You know, he lived in the spotlight his whole life and was never singed with scandal. This man stayed married to the same woman since 1933, they adopted four children. He was just the model man in every way.
O'BRIEN: Tom O'Neil from "In Touch" magazine. Tom, thanks for joining us with your insight. Appreciate it.
O'NEIL: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
