Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yakhoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American night club comedian and television and film actor and producer, whose career spanned five decades. Thomas was best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy (also known as The Danny Thomas Show). He was also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He is the father of Marlo Thomas, Terre Thomas, and Tony Thomas.
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As a "starving actor" Thomas made a vow: If he found success, he would open a shrine dedicated to St Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. In 1962, Thomas founded the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, with help from Dr. Lemuel Diggs and close friend, Miami, Florida auto magnate Anthony Abraham. The hospital has treated thousands of children for cancer. In 1996, Dr. Peter Doherty of St. Jude's, was the co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on how the immune system kills virus-infected cells.[10]
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As a "starving actor" Thomas made a vow: If he found success, he would open a shrine dedicated to St Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. In 1962, Thomas founded the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, with help from Dr. Lemuel Diggs and close friend, Miami, Florida auto magnate Anthony Abraham. The hospital has treated thousands of children for cancer. In 1996, Dr. Peter Doherty of St. Jude's, was the co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on how the immune system kills virus-infected cells.[10]
Thomas died on February 6, 1991, of heart failure at age 79. He had filmed a commercial for St. Jude Hospital a few days before his death, which aired posthumously. He is interred in a mausoleum on the grounds of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. He was a posthumous recipient of the 2004 Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
On February 16, 2012, the United States Postal Service issued a first class forever stamp honoring Thomas. It has a portrait of Danny Thomas in the foreground and a picture of St. Jude.
Someone once told Danny Thomas that to convince the poor to believe in hope and God, he must go to them with a Bible in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other. "My loaf of bread is the hospital," the comedian says.
Danny's daughter Marlo Thomas tells the story of St. Jude's here.
Someone once told Danny Thomas that to convince the poor to believe in hope and God, he must go to them with a Bible in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other. "My loaf of bread is the hospital," the comedian says.
Danny's daughter Marlo Thomas tells the story of St. Jude's here.
Thomas was a Freemason and as such spoke highly of the fraternity. You can read his remarks here.
All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don't discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.
"No child should die in the dawn of life."
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1 comment:
Thanks for the reminder. I had forgotten about him. I still remember a wonderful joke he told once on a talk show. Unfortunately it requires a dialect to be funny so it wouldn't work in written form.
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