LOS ANGELES -- Dolores Hope, the sultry-voiced songstress who was
married to Bob Hope for 69 years and sometimes sang on his shows for
U.S. troops and on his television specials, has died at age 102.
Hope family spokesman Harlan Boll said Hope died Monday of natural causes at home in Los Angeles. He did not elaborate.
Bob Hope died at age 100 on July 27, 2003.
At her 100th birthday party, Hope appeared little changed: Her white
hair was richly coiffed, her skin smooth and her voice deep and warm.
She was brought to the party in a wheelchair but was alert and happy as
she greeted old friends and posed for photographs.
Hope mused, "I thought it was going to be just another birthday."
In 1933, when Bob Hope was appearing in his first Broadway show,
"Roberta," his friend and fellow cast member George Murphy persuaded him
to visit the Vogue Club to "hear a pretty girl sing." She was Dolores
Reade, a dark beauty whose singing of "It's Only a Paper Moon" entranced
the young comedian.
"I'll never forget what a wonderful singer she was," said Rip Taylor. "In fact, that's how Bob and Dolores met.
It seems to me that they were always laughing."
Hope returned every night and soon he was escorting her to her hotel
after her shows. They married Feb. 19, 1934, and she quit nightclubs to
join his vaudeville act. Then she retired.
"Bob was the hot thing in New York then," she recalled in 1997. "I thought I'd better stay home and take care of Bob."
When they moved to Hollywood in 1938 for the beginning of his film
career, Dolores stayed home and devoted her time to raising the four
children the Hopes adopted: Linda, Anthony, Kelly and Nora.
"I had such a huge admiration for both of them," said Julie Newmar.
"The quality it takes to get just one year older, says a lot about that
fact that she lived to 102."
She continued singing at parties, and in the 1940s she began
accompanying Hope on his Christmas trips to entertain U.S. troops. In
1966 she sang "Silent Night" to hushed thousands of GI's who then rose
and gave her a thunderous ovation, many with tears in their eyes.
In 1990, Mrs. Hope accompanied Bob on his last Christmas visit to
American forces, visiting troops who were in Saudi Arabia for Operation
Desert Storm. Marie Osmond, Ann Jillian and the Pointer Sisters did not
perform, to avoid offending Saudi sensibilities about women
entertainers. But Dolores Hope was approved and sang "White Christmas"
to a rapt audience.
"She was the first lady of the USO," said Carol Channing. "They
didn't come any more patriotic, caring or talented than Dolores."
She was born Dolores DeFina in 1909 in New York's Harlem to an
Italian father and Irish mother, and grew up in the Bronx. Her diction
faintly echoed the Bronx upbringing.
"My father died when I was very young, and there was just my mother,
my sister and me," she remarked in 1982. "Were we a needy family? I
always like what General Eisenhower said: 'We were poor and didn't know
it.'"
She began singing early, worked as a model and a Ziegfeld showgirl
and at 20 sang with George Olson's band. She adopted the name Dolores
Reade, borrowed from stage actress Florence Reed. In her 80s, Dolores
revived her singing career, recording three albums of old and new
standards and appearing at New York's Rainbow and Stars as guest with
Rosemary Clooney.
Aside from overseeing two homes-- the 18,000 square-foot mansion in
North Hollywood and the 25,000 square-foot hilltop home in Palm Springs
-- Dolores Hope worked indefatigably for numerous charities. From 1969
to 1976 she served as president of the Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm
Desert, Calif., then becoming chairwoman.
In 1982, she explained her philosophy: "I like being with people, but
I also need to have my time alone. I think it's terribly important to
have some time during the day when you stop and take all the energy that
you have given out and pull it back in, find the source of your energy.
Then you work from there."
By Bob Thomas, The Associated Press
Associated Press Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang contributed to this report.
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