Danny Kaye#Filmography

David Daniel Kaminsky was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 18, 1911 (though he would later say 1913),{{cite news| first=Dena| last=Kaye| title=Interview| website=Turner Classic Movies| date=January 18, 2013| quote=Her father was actually born in 1911, but for reasons unknown to her, changed it to 1913.}}FBI records and SSDI show 1911.{{cite web| url=http://www.legacy.com/ns/obitfinder/ssdi-search.aspx?daterange=1980-1989&firstname=danny&lastname=kaye&countryid=1&stateid=0&affiliateid=-1| title=1980–1989 Obituaries [SSDI search]| access-date=March 23, 2014| website=Legacy.com/SSDI| url-access=subscription}} to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants Jacob and Clara (née Nemerovsky) Kaminsky. He was the youngest of three sons. His parents and older brothers Larry and Mac left Yekaterinoslav (then part of Novorossia in the Russian Empire) two years before Danny's birth; he was their only son born in the United States.{{cite book |editor-last=Adir |editor-first=Karen |title=The Great Clowns of American Television |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jr9L--C4tMC&q=danny+kaye&pg=PA247 |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2001 |page=270 |isbn=978-0-7864-1303-4 |access-date=January 18, 2011}}

He attended Public School 149 in East New York, Brooklyn (eventually renamed to honor him){{cite web| title=Welcome P.S. 149 Danny Kaye| url=http://schools.nyc.gov/schoolportals/19/k149/default.htm| website=New York City Department of Education| access-date=January 8, 2013}}—where he began entertaining his classmates with songs and jokes.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kO5VAAAAIBAJ&pg=7184,629748| title=World-renowned comedian dies| date=March 4, 1987| newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard| access-date=December 15, 2010}} He attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, but he did not graduate.

His mother died when he was in his early teens. Not long after, Kaye and his friend Louis ran away to Florida. Kaye sang while Louis played the guitar, and the pair eked out a living for a while. When Kaye returned to New York, his father did not pressure him to return to school or work, giving his son the chance to mature and discover his abilities. Kaye said that as a young boy, he had wanted to be a surgeon, but the family could not afford medical education.{{cite news| title=Mrs. Danny Kaye Proves a Genius| last=Battelle| first=Phyllis| date=May 8, 1959| newspaper=The Milwaukee Sentinel}}

After leaving school, he held a succession of jobs as a soda jerk, auto insurance investigator, and office clerk. Most ended with him being fired. He lost the insurance job when he made an error that cost the insurance company $40,000 ($600,000 in 2019 adjusted for inflation).{{cite web |url=http://www.dannykaye.net/02061949.html |title=Transcript: Jinx Falkenburg Interviews Danny Kaye |date=February 6, 1949 |access-date=July 25, 2019 |archive-date=July 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725011852/http://www.dannykaye.net/02061949.html |url-status=dead}} A dentist who hired him to look after his office over lunch and run errands fired him when he found Kaye using his dental drill on the office woodwork. In 1939, Kaye met the same dentist's daughter, Sylvia Fine, at an audition, and in 1940, they eloped.{{cite web| url=https://officialdannykaye.com/bio| title=Danny Kaye: Entertainer, Humanitarian, Renaissance Man| language=en-US| access-date=October 17, 2023| archive-date=July 25, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725011843/https://officialdannykaye.com/bio| url-status=usurped}}{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776720-1,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106174945/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776720-1,00.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=November 6, 2012| title=Git Gat Gittle| date=March 11, 1946| magazine=Time| access-date=January 14, 2011}} He learned his trade in his teenaged years in the Catskills as a tummler (M.C.) in the Borscht Belt.

Kaye's first break came in 1933 when he joined the Three Terpsichoreans, a vaudeville dance act. They opened in Utica, New York, where he used the stage name Danny Kaye for the first time. The act toured the United States and in Asia with the show La Vie Paree. The troupe left for a six-month tour of Asia on February 8, 1934. During its stay in Osaka, Japan, a typhoon hit the city. The troupe's hotel suffered heavy damage. The strong wind hurled a piece of the hotel's cornice into Kaye's room. By evening's performance time, the city was in the grip of the storm. With no power, the audience became restless and nervous. To calm them, Kaye went on stage holding a flashlight to illuminate his face and sang every song he could recall as loudly as he was able.

The experience of trying to entertain audiences who did not speak English inspired him to do the pantomime gestures, songs, and facial expressions that eventually made his reputation. Sometimes, he found them necessary when ordering a meal. Kaye's daughter Dena relates a story her father told about being in a restaurant in China and trying to order chicken. Kaye flapped his arms and clucked, giving the waiter an imitation of a chicken. The waiter nodded in understanding, bringing Kaye two eggs. His interest in cooking began on the tour.{{cite news| url=https://newspapers.com/article/rapid-city-journal-life-with-my-zany-fat/133629096/| title=Life With My Zany Father – Danny Kaye| last=Kaye| first=Dena| date=January 19, 1969| newspaper=Rapid City Journal| access-date=October 17, 2023| url-access=subscription}}

Jobs were in short supply when Kaye returned to the United States, and he struggled for bookings. One job was working in a burlesque revue with fan dancer Sally Rand. After the dancer dropped a fan while trying to chase away a fly, Kaye was hired to watch the fans, so they were always held in front of her.

In 1937, Kaye's film début came from a contract with New York-based Educational Pictures for a series of two-reel comedies. He usually played a manic, dark-haired, fast-talking Russian in these low-budget shorts, opposite young hopefuls June Allyson and Imogene Coca.{{cite web| title= Danny Kaye's "First Film" a Fraud| quote=Many sources assert that Kaye's debut was in a 1935 comedy short Moon Over Manhattan, but he does not appear in the film| url=http://thedannykayeshow.blogspot.com/2013/02/danny-kayes-first-film-fraud.html| website=The Danny Kaye Show| date=February 27, 2013}} The Kaye series ended abruptly when the studio shut down in 1938. He was working in the Catskills in 1937 under the name Danny Kolbin.{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/images/vc53ap1.jpg |title="Highlights and Shadows"-front of program |date=July 4, 1937 |website=The President Players |access-date=February 25, 2011}}{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/images/vc53ap2.jpg |title="Highlights and Shadows" – inside of program |date=July 4, 1937 |website=The President Players |access-date=February 25, 2011}}

His next venture was a short-lived Broadway show with Sylvia Fine as the pianist, lyricist, and composer. The Straw Hat Revue opened on September 29, 1939, and closed after 10 weeks, but critics noticed Kaye's work.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=T9paAAAAIBAJ&pg=5291,8225005 |title=Who Is Sylvia? |date=October 30, 1960 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=January 18, 2011}} The reviews brought an offer for both Kaye and his bride Sylvia to work at La Martinique, a New York City nightclub. Kaye performed with Sylvia as his accompanist. At La Martinique, playwright Moss Hart saw Danny perform, and that led to Hart's casting him in his hit Broadway comedy Lady in the Dark.

In 1941, aged 30, Kaye scored a triumph playing Russell Paxton in Lady in the Dark, starring Gertrude Lawrence. His show-stopping number was "Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)" by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin in which he sang the names of a string of Russian composers at breakneck speed, seemingly without taking a breath.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rkIqAAAAIBAJ&pg=3849,3453774| title=Danny Kaye: King of Comedy| last=Remington| first=Fred| date=January 12, 1964| newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press| access-date=March 10, 2011}} In the next Broadway season, he was the star of a show about a young man who is drafted called Let's Face It!.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X7EtAAAAIBAJ&pg=4949,1337710| title=Danny Kaye as Musical Draftee Brightens the Broadway Scene| last=Edel| first=Leon| date=November 8, 1941| newspaper=Montreal Gazette| access-date=October 17, 2023}}

His feature-film début was in producer Samuel Goldwyn's Technicolor 1944 comedy Up in Arms, a remake of Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor comedy Whoopee! (1930).{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aX8uAAAAIBAJ&pg=5349,3577434|title=Danny Kaye Makes Successful Debut in 'Up in Arms'| date=May 20, 1944| last=Whittaker| first=Herbert| newspaper=Montreal Gazette| access-date=January 22, 2011}} Rival producer Robert M. Savini cashed in by compiling three of Kaye's Educational Pictures shorts into a patchwork feature entitled The Birth of a Star (1945). Studio mogul Goldwyn wanted Kaye's prominent nose fixed to look less Jewish;{{cite book| last=Kanfer| first=Stefan| title=A Summer World: The Attempt to Build a Jewish Eden in the Catskills From the Days of the Ghetto to the Rise and Decline of the Borscht Belt| year=1989| publisher=Farrar, Straus & Giroux| location=New York| isbn=978-0-3742-7180-0| page=157| url=https://archive.org/details/summerworldattem0000kanf/page/156/mode/2up?q=kaye| edition=1st}} Kaye refused, but he did allow his red hair to be bleached blond, apparently because it looked better in Technicolor.{{cite web| last=Nolan| first=J. Leigh| title=Danny! Danny Kate F.A.Q.s| url=http://www.dannykaye.net/dkfaq.htm#hair| access-date=January 8, 2013| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123173728/http://www.dannykaye.net/dkfaq.htm#hair| archive-date=January 23, 2013}}

File:Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas trailer.jpg trailer]]

Kaye starred in a radio program, The Danny Kaye Show, on CBS from 1945 to 1946.{{cite news| title=Helen and Danny: O-Kaye! Crowd Howls| date=February 2, 1946| last=Foley| first=Roy L.| newspaper=The Milwaukee Sentinel}} The program's popularity rose quickly. Within a year, he tied with Jimmy Durante for fifth place in the Radio Daily popularity poll. Kaye was asked to participate in a USO tour following the end of World War II. It meant that he would be absent from his radio show for nearly two months at the beginning of the season. Kaye's friends filled in with a different guest host each week.{{cite web| url=http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Danny-Kaye-Show.html| title=Danny Kaye| website=DigitalDeli| access-date=January 14, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106215433/http://digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Danny-Kaye-Show.html| archive-date=January 6, 2012}} Kaye was the first American actor to visit postwar Tokyo. He had toured there some ten years before with the vaudeville troupe.{{cite news| title=Riding the Airwaves| author=BCL| date=November 12, 1945| work=The Milwaukee Journal}}{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6C8rAAAAIBAJ&pg=2576,3628988| title=Lily Pons the Guest Star Tonight of Danny Kaye, Back from Tour| date=November 23, 1945| newspaper=Montreal Gazette| access-date=January 15, 2011}} When Kaye asked to be released from his radio contract in mid-1946, he agreed not to accept a regular radio show for one year and only limited guest appearances on other radio programs.{{cite news| first=Dorothy| last=Manners| title=Danny Kaye released from his radio contract| newspaper=The Milwaukee Sentinel| date=May 3, 1946}} Many of the show's episodes survive today, notable for Kaye's opening signature patter ("Git gat gittle, giddle-di-ap, giddle-de-tommy, riddle de biddle de roop, da-reep, fa-san, skeedle de woo-da, fiddle de wada, reep!").

Kaye starred in several movies with actress Virginia Mayo in the 1940s, and is known for films such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), The Inspector General (1949), On the Riviera (1951) co-starring Gene Tierney, Knock on Wood (1954), White Christmas (1954), The Court Jester (1956), Me and the Colonel (1958), and Merry Andrew (1958). Kaye starred in two pictures based on biographies, Hans Christian Andersen (1952) the Danish storyteller and The Five Pennies (1959) about jazz pioneer Red Nichols. His wife, writer/lyricist Sylvia Fine, wrote many of the tongue-twisting songs for which Kaye became famous. She was also an associate film producer.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AH4tAAAAIBAJ&pg=5142,2228369| title=Danny Kaye Film Set At Warner's| author=Brady, Thomas F.| date=November 13, 1947| newspaper=Montreal Gazette| access-date=January 18, 2011}} Some of Kaye's films included the theme of doubles, two people who look identical (both Danny Kaye) being mistaken for each other to comic effect.{{cite web| url=https://loc.gov/exhibits/danny-kaye-and-sylvia-fine/danny-kaye-in-film.html| title=Danny Kaye in Film – Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine: Two Kids from Brooklyn| date=February 14, 2013| website=Library of Congress| access-date=February 1, 2019}}{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}Image:Danny Kaye ww2 45.jpg While his wife wrote most of Kaye's material, he created much of it himself, often while performing. Kaye had one character he never shared with the public; Kaplan, the owner of a rubber company, came to life only for family and friends. His wife, Sylvia, described the Kaplan character:{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4T01AAAAIBAJ&pg=7384,576802| title=It Happened Last Night| last=Wilson| first=Earl| date=July 4, 1959| newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune| access-date=January 18, 2011}}{{blockquote|He doesn't have any first name. Even his wife calls him just Kaplan. He's an illiterate, pompous character who advertises his philanthropies. Jack Benny or Dore Schary might say, "Kaplan, why do you hate unions so?" If Danny feels like doing Kaplan that night, he might be off on Kaplan for two hours.}}

When he appeared at the London Palladium in 1948, he "roused the Royal family to laughter and was the first of many performers who have turned British variety into an American preserve." Life described his reception as "worshipful hysteria" and noted that the royal family, for the first time, left the royal box to watch from the front row of the orchestra.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ci41AAAAIBAJ&pg=2305,591697| title=Kaye: everyone's favourite| author=Young, Andrew| date= March 4, 1987| newspaper=The Glasgow Herald| access-date=December 15, 2010}}{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TtQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1357,1943058| title=Danny Kaye Won't Talk of Royalty| author=Januzzi, Gene| date=October 23, 1949| newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette| access-date=January 15, 2011}}{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s-orAAAAIBAJ&pg=1385,2017653| title=Danny Kaye Is a Real Showoff| author=Handsaker, Gene| date=October 11, 1948| newspaper=Kentucky New Era| location=Hopkinsville| access-date=March 12, 2011}} He related that he had no idea of the familial connections when the Marquess of Milford Haven introduced himself after a show and said he would like his cousins to see Kaye perform. Kaye stated he never returned to the venue because no way existed to recreate the magic of that time.{{cite news| url=https://www.nydailynews.com/1996/12/10/the-many-lives-of-danny-kaye/| title=The Many Lives of Danny Kaye| author=Bianculli, David| date=December 10, 1996| newspaper=Daily News|location=New York| access-date=October 17, 2023| url-access=subscription}} Kaye had an invitation to return to London for a Royal Variety Performance in November of the same year.{{cite web| url=http://www.eabf.org.uk/royal-variety-performance/archive/1940s/1948| title=Royal Variety Performance| year=1948| website=Entertainment Artistes Benenevolent Fund| access-date=January 22, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110209133256/http://www.eabf.org.uk/royal-variety-performance/archive/1940s/1948| archive-date=February 9, 2011}} When the invitation arrived, Kaye was busy with The Inspector General (which had a working title of Happy Times). Warner Bros. stopped the film to allow their star to attend.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=824rAAAAIBAJ&pg=4316,3809280| title=Royal Invitation for Danny Kaye| date=October 20, 1948| newspaper=Montreal Gazette| access-date=January 22, 2011}} When his Decca labelmates The Andrews Sisters began their engagement at the London Palladium on the heels of Kaye's successful 1948 appearance there, the trio was well received and David Lewin of the Daily Express declared: "The audience gave the Andrews Sisters the Danny Kaye roar!"

He hosted the 24th Academy Awards in 1952. The program was broadcast on radio; telecasts of the Oscar ceremony came later. During the 1950s, Kaye visited Australia, where he played Buttons in a production of Cinderella in Sydney. In 1953, Kaye started a production company, Dena Pictures, named for his daughter. Knock on Wood was the first film produced by his firm. The firm expanded into television in 1960 under the name Belmont Television.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nAlBAAAAIBAJ&pg=3858,794217| title=Friday Film Notes-Danny--Producer| last=Goldie| first=Tom| date=July 10, 1953| newspaper=Evening Times| location=Glasgow| access-date=October 17, 2023}}{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GWscAAAAIBAJ&pg=2662,2550219| title=Danny Kaye Founds Film Firm| date=December 6, 1960| newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press| access-date=March 10, 2011}}

Kaye entered television in 1956, on the CBS show See It Now with Edward R. Murrow.{{cite news| title=Found at Last: A Happy Comedian| author=McManus, Margaret| date=September 23, 1956| newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal }} The Secret Life of Danny Kaye combined his 50,000-mile, ten-country tour as UNICEF ambassador with music and humor.{{cite news| url=https://newspapers.com/article/the-miami-news-danny-kaye-gives-tv-its-f/133631683/| title=Danny Kaye Gives TV Its Finest 90 Minutes| last=Mercer| first=Charles| date=December 5, 1956| newspaper=The Miami News| access-date=October 17, 2023}}{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7_YvAAAAIBAJ&pg=7030,339720| title=Color Shows, Danny Kaye, Draw Attention| author=Pearson, Howard| date=December 3, 1956| newspaper=The Deseret News| location=Salt Lake City| access-date=January 19, 2011}} His first solo effort was in 1960 with a one-hour special produced by Sylvia and sponsored by General Motors, with similar specials in 1961 and 1962.

File:Danny Kaye portrait.jpg

He hosted The Danny Kaye Show from 1963 to 1967; it won four Emmy awards and a Peabody award.{{cite news| title=Danny Kaye always excelled as an entertainer and in life| last=Drew| first=Mike| date=March 4, 1987| newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal}}{{cite web| url=http://www.mateas.com/DannyKaye/TV1963Season.htm| title=The Danny Kaye Episode Guide| website=Mateas Media Consulting| access-date=February 2, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029160104/http://www.mateas.com/DannyKaye/TV1963Season.htm| archive-date=October 29, 2009}} His last cinematic starring role came in 1963's The Man from the Diners' Club.

Beginning in 1964, he acted as television host to the CBS telecasts of MGM's The Wizard of Oz. Kaye did a stint as a What's My Line? mystery guest on the Sunday-night CBS-TV quiz program. Kaye was later a guest panelist on that show. He also appeared on the interview program Here's Hollywood. In the 1970s, Kaye tore a ligament in his leg during the run of the Richard Rodgers musical Two by Two, but went on with the show, appearing with his leg in a cast and cavorting on stage in a wheelchair.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=u64tAAAAIBAJ&pg=2126,4385316| title=Real people go to matinees and Danny Kaye loves 'em| author-link=William A. Raidy| first=William A.| last=Raidy| date=February 17, 1971| newspaper=Montreal Gazette| access-date=January 19, 2011}} He had done much the same on his television show in 1964, when his right leg and foot were burned from a cooking accident. Camera shots were planned so television viewers did not see Kaye in his wheelchair.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sgBWAAAAIBAJ&pg=3155,3543465| title=Accident Confines Danny Kaye to Chair| last=Lowry| first=Cynthia| date=April 17, 1964| newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard| access-date=January 15, 2011}}

In 1976, he played Geppetto in a television musical adaptation of Pinocchio with Sandy Duncan in the title role. Kaye portrayed Captain Hook opposite Mia Farrow in a musical version of Peter Pan featuring songs by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. He later guest-starred in episodes of The Muppet Show and The Cosby Show, and in the 1980s revival The Twilight Zone.

In many films, as well as on stage, Kaye proved to be an able actor, singer, dancer, and comedian. He showed his serious side as ambassador for UNICEF and in his dramatic role in the memorable TV film Skokie, when he played a Holocaust survivor. Before his death in 1987, Kaye conducted an orchestra during a comical series of concerts organized for UNICEF fundraising. Kaye received two Academy Awards - an Academy Honorary Award in 1955 and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1982. That year, he received the Screen Actors Guild annual award.

In 1980, Kaye hosted and sang in the 25th anniversary of Disneyland celebration and hosted the opening celebration for Epcot in 1982 (EPCOT Center at the time). Both were aired on primetime television in the U.S.{{cite web |url=https://www.dizavenue.com/2015/03/disney-documentary-hour-disneylands.html |title=Disney Avenue: Disney Documentary Hour: Disneyland's 25th Anniversary |website=Diz Avenue |access-date=July 7, 2018 |archive-date=July 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707172711/https://www.dizavenue.com/2015/03/disney-documentary-hour-disneylands.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.thisdayindisneyhistory.com/EpcotGrandOpening.html |title=EPCOT Grand Opening |website=thisdayindisneyhistory.com |access-date=July 7, 2018}}

File:Danny Kaye visit to Israel (997009327076905171).jpg, Meitar collection, National Library of Israel]]

While Kaye claimed he could not read music, he was said to have perfect pitch.{{cite web| title=Danny Kaye – Gentleman Icon| url=https://theperfectgentleman.tv/danny-kaye-gentleman-icon/| first=Zacchary| last=Falconer-Barfield| date=October 15, 2014| website=The Perfect Gentleman| access-date=October 17, 2023| archive-date=September 22, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922123736/https://theperfectgentleman.tv/danny-kaye-gentleman-icon/| url-status=dead}} A flamboyant performer with his own distinctive style, "easily adapting from outrageous novelty songs to tender ballads" (according to critic Jason Ankeny), in 1945, Kaye began hosting his own CBS radio program, in which he performed a number of hit songs, including "Dinah" and "Minnie the Moocher".{{cite web| first=Jason| last=Ankeny| url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/danny-kaye-mn0000029750/biography| title=Danny Kaye biography at| website=AllMusic| access-date=January 13, 2015}}

In 1947, Kaye teamed up with The Andrews Sisters (Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne) on Decca Records, producing the number-three Billboard hit "Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)". The success of the pairing prompted both acts to record through 1950, producing such rhythmically comical fare as "The Woody Woodpecker Song" (based on the bird from the Walter Lantz cartoons and a Billboard hit for the quartet), "Put 'em in a Box, Tie 'em with a Ribbon (And Throw 'em in the Deep Blue Sea)", "The Big Brass Band from Brazil", "It's a Quiet Town (In Crossbone County)", "Amelia Cordelia McHugh (Mc Who?)", "Ching-a-ra-sa-sa", and a duet by Danny and Patty Andrews of "Orange Colored Sky". The acts teamed for two yuletide favorites - a frantic, harmonic rendition of "A Merry Christmas at Grandmother's House (Over the River and Through the Woods)" and a duet by Danny and Patty, "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth".{{cite book| last=Sforza| first=John| title=Swing It! The Andrews Sisters Story| url=https://archive.org/details/swingitandrewssi00sfor/page/116/mode/2up?q=%22kaye+roar%22| publisher=University of Kentucky Press| year=2000| page=117| isbn=978-0-8131-2136-9}}

Kaye's début album, Columbia Presents Danny Kaye, had been released in 1942 by Columbia Records with songs performed to the accompaniment of Maurice Abravanel and Johnny Green. The album was reissued as a Columbia LP in 1949 and is described by the critic Bruce Eder as "a bit tamer than some of the stuff that Kaye hit with later in the '40s and in the '50s, and for reasons best understood by the public, doesn't attract nearly the interest of his kids' records and overt comedy routines".{{cite web| first=Bruce| last=Eder| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/danny-kaye-mw0001447249|title=Danny Kaye 1949 album review| website=AllMusic| access-date=January 13, 2015}}

In 1950, a Decca single, "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts", was released, and became another chart hit for him. His second Columbia LP album Danny Kaye Entertains (1953, Columbia) included five songs recorded in 1941 from his Broadway musical Lady in the Dark, most notably "Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)".{{cite web| first=Bruce| last=Eder| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/danny-kaye-entertains-mw0001452035| title=Danny Kaye Entertains record review| website=AllMusic| access-date=January 13, 2015}}

Following the success of the film Hans Christian Andersen (1952), two of its songs written by Frank Loesser and sung by Kaye, "Thumbelina" and "Wonderful Copenhagen", reached the charts; the former title became a minor US hit, and the latter reached number five on the UK Singles Chart.{{cite book| last=Whitburn| first=Joel| url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/248/mode/2up?q=thumbelina| title=Joel Whitburn's Pop memories, 1890-1954: the history of American popular music: compiled from America's popular music charts 1890-1954| year=1986| page=248| publisher=Record Research| isbn=978-0-8982-0083-6| location=Menomonee Falls, Wis.}} In 1953, Decca released Danny at the Palace, a live recording made at the New York Palace Theater,{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Danny-Kaye-Danny-At-The-Palace/master/471611|title=Danny at the Palace|work=Discogs|access-date=January 13, 2015}} followed by Knock On Wood (Decca, 1954) a set of songs from the movie of the same name sung by Kaye, accompanied by Victor Young and His Singing Strings.{{cite web| url=http://www.discogs.com/Danny-Kaye-Knock-On-Wood/release/5289812| title=Knock on Wood OST| website=Discogs| access-date=January 13, 2015}}

File:Danny Kaye-Nancy Wilson - 1965.JPG appearing on his show in 1965]]

In 1956, Kaye signed a three-year recording contract with Capitol Records, which released his single "Love Me Do" in December of that year.[http://www.45cat.com/record/cl14672 Love Me Do/Ciu Ciu Bella]. Record details @ 45cat The B-side, "Ciu Ciu Bella", with lyrics written by Sylvia Fine, was inspired by an episode in Rome when Kaye, on a mission for UNICEF, befriended a 7-year-old child with polio in a children's hospital, who sang this song for him in Italian.{{cite news| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=egoEAAAAMBAJ&q=danny%20kaye%20ciu%20ciu%20bella%20billboard&pg=PA30| title=Kaye Signs 3-Year Pact With Capitol| magazine=Billboard| date=December 15, 1956| page=30| access-date=October 17, 2023}}

In 1958, Saul Chaplin and Johnny Mercer wrote songs for Merry Andrew, a film starring Kaye as a British teacher attracted to the circus. The score added up to six numbers, all sung by Kaye; conductor Billy May's 1950 composition "Bozo's Circus Band" (renamed "Music of the Big Top Circus Band") was deposited on the second side of the Merry Andrew soundtrack, released in 1958.{{cite web| first=William| last=Ruhlmann| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/merry-andrew-original-soundtrack-mw0000417149| title=Merry Andrew soundtrack| website=AllMusic| access-date=January 13, 2015}} A year later, another soundtrack came out, for The Five Pennies (in which Kaye starred as 1920s cornet player Red Nichols), featuring Louis Armstrong.{{cite web| url=http://www.discogs.com/Danny-Kaye-2-Louis-Armstrong-The-Five-Pennies/master/143201| title=The Five Pennies| website=Discogs| access-date=January 13, 2015}}

In the 1960s and 1970s, Kaye regularly conducted world-famous orchestras, although he had to learn the scores by ear.{{cite web| url=http://dannykaye.com/bio| title=Danny Kaye official biography| access-date=January 13, 2015| archive-date=August 28, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828102544/http://dannykaye.com/bio| url-status=usurped}} Kaye's style, even if accompanied by unpredictable antics (he once traded the baton for a flyswatter to conduct "The Flight of the Bumblebee") was praised by the likes of Zubin Mehta, who once stated that Kaye "has a very efficient conducting style". His ability with an orchestra was mentioned by Dimitri Mitropoulos, then conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. After Kaye's appearance, Mitropoulos remarked, "Here is a man who is not musically trained, who cannot even read music and he gets more out of my orchestra than I have."{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LIUwAAAAIBAJ&pg=4058,2842167| title=A Conversation With Danny Kaye| last=Goodman| first=Mark| date=December 23, 1979| newspaper=Lakeland Ledger| access-date=March 10, 2011}} Kaye was invited to conduct symphonies as charity fundraisers and was the conductor of the all-city marching band at the season opener of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1984. Over his career, he raised over US$5 million in support of musician pension funds.{{cite web| title=Biography of Danny Kaye| website=The Kennedy Center| url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entitY_id=3748&source_type=A| access-date=March 28, 2015| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226141257/http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entitY_id=3748&source_type=A| archive-date=February 26, 2010 }}

Kaye was sufficiently popular to inspire imitations:

• The 1946 Warner Bros. cartoon Book Revue had a sequence with Daffy Duck wearing a blond wig and impersonating Kaye.{{cite book| last=Barrier| first=Michael| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zDJXnzMh7bkC&pg=PA463| title=Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age| year=2003| page=463| orig-year=1999| publisher=Oxford University Press| via=Google Books| isbn=978-0-1951-6729-0| access-date=September 13, 2016}}
• Satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer's 1953 song "Lobachevsky" was based on a number that Kaye had done, about the Russian director Constantin Stanislavski, with the affected Russian accent. Lehrer mentioned Kaye in an opening monologue, citing him as an "idol since childbirth".{{cite web| last=Lehrer| first=Tom| title=Lobachevsky Lyrics| website=Metrolyrics| url=http://www.metrolyrics.com/lobachevsky-lyrics-tom-lehrer.html| access-date=March 17, 2018| archive-date=March 18, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318120423/http://www.metrolyrics.com/lobachevsky-lyrics-tom-lehrer.html| url-status=unfit}}
• Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster fashioned a short-lived superhero title, Funnyman, taking inspiration from Kaye's persona.

In his later years, Kaye entertained at home as chef. He specialized in Chinese and Italian cooking.{{cite news| url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-03-12/entertainment/8701190948_1_danny-kaye-world-class-chef-stove| title=Kaye Got Rave Reviews For A Starring Role As An Artist In The Kitchen| date=March 12, 1987| first=William| last=Rice| newspaper=Chicago Tribune| access-date=August 3, 2017| archive-date=August 5, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805013139/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-03-12/entertainment/8701190948_1_danny-kaye-world-class-chef-stove| url-status=dead}} He had a custom-made Chinese restaurant installed at the rear of his house by its alley, then had a kitchen and dining area built around it. The stove that Kaye used for his Chinese dishes was fitted with metal rings for the burners to allow the heat to be highly concentrated, and a trough with circulating ice water cooled the area to keep the intense heat tolerable for those who were cooking.{{cite web |url=http://www.today.com/popculture/marcella-hazan-memoir-classic-italian-chef-wbna27054074 |title=Marcella Hazan: Memoir of a classic Italian chef| date=October 6, 2008 |work=Today |access-date=March 10, 2011}} He learned "at Johnny Kan's restaurant in San Francisco and with Cecilia Chang at her Mandarin restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles". He taught Chinese cooking classes at a San Francisco Chinese restaurant in the 1970s.{{cite news |url=https://newspapers.com/article/tri-city-herald-danny-kaye-teaches-chine/133634168/ |title=Danny Kaye Teaches Chinese Cooking |date=January 22, 1974 |agency=Associated Press| newspaper=Tri-City Herald |location=Kennewick, Washington |access-date=October 17, 2023 |url-access=subscription}} The theatre and demonstration kitchen under the library at the Hyde Park, New York, campus of the Culinary Institute of America is named for him.{{cite book| title=Cooking secrets of the CIA| editor=Culinary Institute of America| publisher= Chronicle Books| year=1995| page=[https://archive.org/details/cookingsecretsof00culirich/page/6/mode/2up?q=kaye 7]| isbn=978-0-8118-1163-7| url=https://archive.org/details/cookingsecretsof00culirich| url-access=registration| access-date=January 18, 2011}}

Kaye referred to his kitchen as "Ying's Thing". While filming The Madwoman of Chaillot in France, he phoned home to ask his family if they would like to eat at Ying's Thing that evening; Kaye flew home for dinner. Not all of his efforts in the kitchen went well. After flying to San Francisco for a recipe for sourdough bread, he came home and spent hours preparing loaves. When his daughter asked about the bread, Kaye hit the bread on the kitchen table; his bread was hard enough to chip it. Kaye approached kitchen work with enthusiasm, making sausages and other foods needed for his cuisine. Though it is often claimed that he was a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF), this is not true, as the MOF is restricted to French professionals.{{cite web| url=http://meilleursouvriersdefrance.pro/| title=Annuaire des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France| website=Meilleursouvriersdefrance.pro| access-date=May 8, 2021| archive-date=March 26, 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326163313/http://meilleursouvriersdefrance.pro/| url-status=dead}} Rather, he had cooked for several famous French chefs at his house (all of them MOFs), and they signed an "honorary" Meilleur Ouvrier de France diploma for him.{{cite book| first=Yanou| last=Collart| author-link=Yanou Collart| title=Les étoiles de ma vie| year=2019| isbn=978-2-8098-2653-1| chapter="Danny Kaye, meilleur ouvrier de France"| publisher=L'Archipel}}

Kaye became an aviation enthusiast and pilot. His interest was sparked by his longtime friend, choreographer Michael Kidd, who at the time had recently earned his private pilot's license. Kaye was an enthusiastic and accomplished golfer, but reduced golf activities in favor of flying and started training for his license in 1959.

{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gk4_AAAAIBAJ&pg=3103,2142968| title=Kaye Likes Air| last=Scott| first=Vernon| date=July 14, 1962| newspaper=Windsor Star |access-date=March 18, 2011}} The first plane Kaye owned was a Piper Aztec.{{cite journal| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CSEDAAAAMBAJ&q=danny+kaye&pg=PA76| title=If I Can Fly, You Can Fly| last=Kaye| first=Danny| date=January 1967| journal=Popular Science| access-date=March 11, 2011}}{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TSgmAAAAIBAJ&pg=990,3305946| title=Danny Kaye Likes Flying, TV, Dodgers| last=Thomas| first=Bob| date=September 21, 1965| newspaper=Gettysburg Times| access-date=January 15, 2011}} After this, he became qualified for many types of aircraft, from single-engined light aircraft to multiengine jets.{{cite news| url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oKAyAAAAIBAJ&pg=1197,1151876| title=American League's a new act for Danny Kaye| last=Smith| first=Red| newspaper=The Miami News| date=June 12, 1976| access-date=January 21, 2011}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}

Kaye received a type rating in a Learjet, and he was named vice president of the Learjet Company by Bill Lear as an honorary title (he had no line responsibility at the company).{{cite journal| last1=Pope| first1=Stephen| title=The Last True Learjet| url=http://www.flyingmag.com/last-true-lear-jet| journal=Flying| access-date=July 20, 2016| date=July 6, 2016| quote=Danny Kaye, by the way, never owned a Learjet, though he did receive a type rating ... his friend Bill Lear made him a vice president this was strictly an honorary and symbolic title}} He supported many flying projects. In 1968, he was honorary chairman of the Las Vegas International Exposition of Flight, a show that used many facets of the city's entertainment industry while presenting an air show. The operational show chairman was well-known aviation figure Lynn Garrison. Kaye flew a Learjet to 65 cities in five days on a mission to help UNICEF.

In 1958, Kaye and partner Lester Smith formed Kaye–Smith Enterprises. The company owned a chain of radio stations, mostly in the Pacific Northwest. Other Kaye–Smith divisions included a concert-promotion company, a video-production company, and a recording studio.

A lifelong Dodgers fan, Kaye recorded a song called "D-O-D-G-E-R-S (Oh, Really? No, O'Malley!)", describing a fictitious encounter with the San Francisco Giants, a hit during the real-life pennant chase of 1962.[https://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/dodgers.shtml "D-O-D-G-E-R-S (Oh, Really? No, O'Malley)"] at Baseball Almanac That song is included on Baseball's Greatest Hits compact discs. A good friend of Leo Durocher's, he often traveled with the team. He also possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of the game and was an accomplished second baseman.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=A-EyAAAAIBAJ&pg=3090,1636996 |title=Danny Kaye, comedian who loved children, dead at 74| agency= Associated Press |date=March 4, 1987 |newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star |access-date=December 15, 2010}}

Kaye and his business partner Lester Smith also led an investment group, which was awarded the American League's 13th franchise, which became the Seattle Mariners for US$6.2 million on February 7, 1976.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BDZVAAAAIBAJ&pg=3564,1956170| title=Major League Baseball Returns To Seattle| date=February 9, 1976| newspaper=The Leader-Post| access-date=January 15, 2011}}{{cite news| url=http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/You-Could-Look-It-Up-The-first-time-1110764.php| title=You Could Look It Up: The first time...| newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer| date=March 27, 2003| access-date=October 18, 2023}} The ownership percentages of Kaye, Smith, and two other remaining original investors were reduced to 5% each when George Argyros purchased 80% of the Mariners for $10.4 million on January 30, 1981.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/30/sports/al-owners-approve-2-sales.html| title=A.L. Owners Approve 2 Sales| agency=Associated Press| date=January 30, 1981| newspaper=The New York Times| access-date=October 17, 2023}} Kaye sold all of his business interests to Smith's family in 1985.{{cite web| url=https://www.kayesmith.com/about-us/history/| title=History and Overview| website=KayeSmith| date=July 28, 2023| access-date=October 17, 2023}}

Kaye was an honorary member of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

File:Amerikaanse filmacteur Danny Kaye arriveert op Schiphol.ogv

Working alongside UNICEF's Halloween fundraiser founder, Ward Simon Kimball Jr., the actor educated the public on impoverished children in deplorable living conditions overseas, and assisted in the distribution of donated goods and funds. His involvement with UNICEF came about in an unusual way. Kaye was flying home from London in 1949 when one of the plane's four engines lost its propeller and caught fire. The problem was initially thought serious enough that it might make an ocean landing; life jackets and life rafts were made ready. The plane was able to head back over 500 miles (804.67 km) to land at Shannon Airport, Ireland. On the way back to Shannon, the head of the Children's Fund, Maurice Pate, had the seat next to Danny Kaye and spoke at length about the need for recognition for the fund. Their discussion continued on the flight from Shannon to New York; it was the beginning of the actor's long association with UNICEF.{{cite web| url=http://www.unicefusa.org/partners/ambassadors/danny-kaye/danny-kaye-bio.html| title=Danny Kaye Biography| access-date=March 23, 2014| website=UNICEF}}{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jUIjAAAAIBAJ&pg=2884,742737| title=Crippled Transport Limps to Safety| date=July 8, 1949| newspaper=The Lewiston Daily Sun| access-date=January 19, 2011}}{{cite web| url=http://www.unicef.org/people/people_danny_kaye.html| title=Danny Kaye| website=UNICEF| access-date=January 19, 2011}}

"For all of his success as a performer (...) his greatest legacy remains his tireless humanitarian work—so close were his ties to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) that when the organization received the Nobel Peace Prize, Kaye was tapped to accept it", according to music critic Jason Ankeny.

Proud of his Jewish heritage, he frequently visited Israel as part of tribute and solidarity missions. During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, he visited many wounded Israeli soldiers in hospitals. He also conducted the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra several times in charity concerts.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsrQyS9py4 |title=הבלתי חשובים עונה 3 {{!}} פרק 2 - דני קיי |date=March 21, 2023 |last=כאן 11 - תאגיד השידור הישראלי |access-date=June 18, 2025 |via=YouTube}}

File:Sylvia and Danny Kaye 1945.jpg

Kaye and Sylvia Fine grew up in Brooklyn, living a few blocks apart, but they did not meet until they were working on an off-Broadway show in 1939.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JeAbAAAAIBAJ&pg=2702,4987848| title=A team grew in Brooklyn| date=April 25, 1975| newspaper=The Dispatch| location=Lexington, North Carolina| access-date=March 10, 2011}} Sylvia was an audition pianist.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pfxTAAAAIBAJ&pg=538,1883597| title=Composer Sylvia Fine Can Write Anywhere Anytime| author=Boyle, Hal| date=August 27, 1959| newspaper=St. Joseph News-Press| access-date=November 27, 2010}}{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=27pGAAAAIBAJ&pg=4524,4626774| title=Kaye at the Met| date=April 25, 1975| newspaper=The Evening News| location=Newburgh, N.Y.| access-date=November 27, 2010}}

Sylvia discovered that Danny had worked for her father Samuel Fine, a dentist. Kaye, working in Florida, proposed on the telephone; they were married in Fort Lauderdale{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yk8yAAAAIBAJ&pg=6116,1463811| title=Who Is Sylvia? What Is She? – Danny Kaye's Inspiration| author=Raymer, Dorothy| date=November 6, 1945| newspaper=The Miami News| access-date=January 14, 2011}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} on January 3, 1940.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Cw4bAAAAIBAJ&pg=4302,6871133| title=Film producer, songwriter Sylvia Fine Kaye dies at 78| date=October 29, 1991| newspaper=The Daily News| location=Bowling Green, Ky.| access-date=November 27, 2010}}{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8243280/danny_kaye_to_tv/| title=It Happened Last Night| author=Wilson, Earl| date=July 2, 1959| page=4| newspaper=The Morning Herald| location=Uniontown, Pennsylvania| access-date=January 8, 2017| via=Newspapers.com}} They were married for life, except for a separation in 1947 and 1948, when Kaye was involved with Eve Arden.{{cite web| url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/118153| title=A Song Is Born| website=Turner Classic Movies| access-date=September 8, 2012}}

The couple's only child, daughter Dena, was born on December 17, 1946.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pCxaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6459,3561608 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821073003/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pCxaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JkwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6459,3561608&dq=danny+kaye&hl=en |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 21, 2013 |title=Danny Kaye Awaits Christmas Bulletin On Maternity Front |first=Louella |last=Parsons |date=July 28, 1946 |newspaper=The News and Courier |location=Charleston, South Carolina |access-date=January 14, 2011}} When she was very young, Dena did not like seeing her father perform because she did not understand that people were supposed to laugh at what he did.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ywwrAAAAIBAJ&pg=6191,2517594 |title=A Woman's New York |author=Hughes, Alice |date=January 28, 1953 |newspaper=Reading Eagle |access-date=March 10, 2011}} Kaye said in a 1954 interview, "Whatever she wants to be she will be without interference from her mother nor from me."{{cite news |title=Danny Kaye Looks at Life |author=Perry, Lawrence |date=May 9, 1954 |newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal}}{{cite news |title=Travel writer attends party saluting hotel |author=Boyd, Joseph G. |date=May 23, 1980 |newspaper=The Milwaukee Sentinel}} Dena grew up to become a journalist.{{cite news |url=http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/music/on-100th-anniversary-of-danny-kaye-s-birth-daughter-dena-seeks-to-spread-his-legacy-1.100402 |title=On 100th anniversary of Danny Kaye's birth, daughter Dena seeks to spread his legacy |first=Nekesa Mumbi |last=Moody |newspaper=Times Colonist |location=Victoria, B.C. |date=March 29, 2013 |access-date=November 12, 2017}}

Donald Spoto, the author of Laurence Olivier (HarperCollins), made an unsubstantiated claim that Kaye had a 10-year secret affair with Laurence Olivier.{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-02-25-9201180102-story.html |title=The Other Olivier |date=February 25, 1992 |first=Richard |last=Christiansen |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US |access-date=October 17, 2023}} Despite media rumor since that book's publication, no evidence has been published. English journalist Terry Coleman, who spent four years studying Olivier's archive of letters and memorabilia, could not find evidence of such an affair between Kaye and Olivier. Coleman observed, "I did check it and talked to a number of people. In this mountain of material in the archives, I could not find a hint of an affair with Danny Kaye."{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-31-et-olivier31-story.html |title=Laurence Olivier detailed, to the letter |date=December 31, 2005 |first=Bob |last=Thomas |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |access-date=February 19, 2020}}

On January 18, 2013, during a 24-hour salute to Kaye on Turner Classic Movies in celebration of what TCM thought was his 100th birthday, Kaye's daughter Dena revealed to TCM host Ben Mankiewicz that Kaye's stated birth year of 1913 was incorrect, and that he was actually born in 1911.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2012-dec-02-la-et-mn-danny-kaye-classic-hollywood-20121203-story.html |title=Getting reacquainted with Danny Kaye |date=December 2, 2012 |first=Susan |last=King |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US|access-date=October 14, 2019}}

File:Danny Kaye 9 Allan Warren.jpg]]

A lifelong Democrat, he supported Adlai Stevenson's campaign during the 1952 presidential election.Motion Picture and Television Magazine. November 1952, page 33. Kaye was the godfather of actress Mary Louise Weller.{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/439127432/ |title=Playright's Advice Credited in Success| date=August 29, 1982| page=4TV| newspaper=The Victoria Advocate| via=Newspapers.com | access-date=October 18, 2023| url-access=subscription}}

In 1983, Kaye had quadruple bypass heart surgery and contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion.{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9dQ0AAAAIBAJ&pg=5772,634574| title=Actor-comedian Danny Kaye dies| date=March 3, 1987| newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette| access-date=December 15, 2010}} He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the early morning hours of March 3, 1987, aged 76, from complications of heart failure, internal bleeding, and hepatitis C.{{cite book| title=Nobody's Fool: The Lives of Danny Kaye| last=Gottfried| first=Martin| publisher=Simon & Schuster| year=1994| isbn=978-0-6718-6494-1| location=New York| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_x1y9}}{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/04/obituaries/danny-kaye-limber-limbed-commedian-dies.html| title=Danny Kaye, Limber-Limbed Comedian, Dies| newspaper=The New York Times| last=Pace| first=Eric| date = March 4, 1987| accessdate=July 14, 2023| page=A1| url-access=subscription}}

Kaye's body was cremated and his ashes were interred in the foundation of a bench in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.{{cite book| last=Wilson| first=Scott| title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=danny+kaye| edition=3d| page=394| isbn=978-1-4766-2599-7| publisher=McFarland| date=August 19, 2016}} His grave is adorned with a bench that contains friezes of a baseball and bat, an aircraft, a piano, a flowerpot, musical notes, and a chef's toque. His name and birth and death dates are inscribed on the toque. The United Nations held a memorial tribute to him at its New York headquarters on the evening of October 21, 1987.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-23-ca-10800-story.html |title=UN and Friends Pay Tribute to Kaye |date=October 23, 1987 |author=Taylor, Clarke |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=January 19, 2011}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/22/arts/un-praises-danny-kaye-at-tribute.html |title=U.N. Praises Danny Kaye at Tribute |author=Lewis, Paul |date=October 22, 1987 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=March 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130814021705/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/22/arts/un-praises-danny-kaye-at-tribute.html |archive-date=August 14, 2013 |url-status=dead}}

The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College in New York was opened in 1988, with a $1 million gift from Sylvia Kaye.{{cite news|last1=Teltschr|first1=Kathleen|title=Danny Kaye's Widow Backs Theater|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/22/nyregion/danny-kaye-s-widow-backs-theater.html|access-date=February 25, 2019|work=The New York Times|date=November 22, 1987}}

David Koenig reflects, "His legacy has dimmed with the passage of time. His greatest works (...) endure today only as memories in the minds of aging members of his audiences (...) much of his TV work has not aged particularly well. Whimsy was of another time." However, Koenig sees Kaye's film work in a different light, "History has smiled on individual pictures — in particular the holiday staple of White Christmas and The Court Jester... the medieval romp has steadily gained a reputation as one of the greatest comedies of all time."{{cite book |last=Koenig|first=David |year=2012 |title=Danny Kaye King of Jesters |location=Irvine, California |publisher=Bonaventure Press |pages=281–282 |isbn=978-1-9378-7801-6}}

Comedian George Carlin idolized Kaye and wanted to be just like him, and although he eventually realized he wasn't as good an actor as Kaye was, he constantly referred to his sad realization of not being able to attain his boyhood dream of being like Kaye. But near the end of his life, he took more acting roles as he never really gave up on the dream.{{Cite web |date=February 10, 2009 |title=Tributes ~ George Carlin on Danny Kaye {{!}} Make 'Em Laugh |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/makeemlaugh/video/all-interviews/tributes-george-carlin-on-danny-kaye/124/#:~:text=He%20did%20things%20I%20wanted,to%20be%20like%20Danny%20Kaye. |access-date=April 11, 2025 |website=Make 'Em Laugh}}{{Cite web |date=October 4, 2007 |title=George Carlin still furious 50 years on |url=https://variety.com/2007/scene/markets-festivals/george-carlin-still-furious-50-years-on-1117973286/ |access-date=April 11, 2025 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=George Carlin with Tony Hendra |url=https://www.writersblocpresents.com/archives/carlin/carlin.htm |access-date=April 11, 2025 |website=writersblocpresents.com}}

{{Anchor|Honors, awards, tributes}}

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• Kaye was knighted by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark on November 10, 1983. He was awarded the cross of the Knight of the Dannebrog, 1st Class, for his work with UNICEF and longstanding ties with Denmark. Kaye portrayed Hans Christian Andersen in the 1952 film of the same name.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19831110&id=G3obAAAAIBAJ&pg=2375,1855310 |title=Kaye knighted |newspaper=Times-News |location=Hendersonville, North Carolina |date=November 10, 1983 |access-date=March 24, 2014}}
• Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor on February 24, 1986, for his work for UNICEF.
• On June 23, 1987, Kaye was posthumously presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan. The award was received by his daughter Dena.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-22-mn-287-story.html |title=Kaye, Willson to Get Medal of Freedom |date=April 22, 1987 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=January 19, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/062387j.htm |title=Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom |date=June 23, 1987 |website=University of Texas |access-date=March 10, 2011 |archive-date=April 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425021718/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/062387j.htm |url-status=dead}}
• In 1988, Kaye was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/22/theater/theater-hall-of-fame-adds-nine-new-names.html |title=Theater Hall of Fame Adds Nine New Names |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 22, 1988 |access-date=February 6, 2019}}
• UNICEF created the Danny Kaye International Children's Award in his honor, a children's European singing competition shown every year between 1988 and 1992 hosted by Audrey Hepburn and Roger Moore.{{Cite web |title=Danny Kaye International Children's Awards |url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/danny-kaye-international-childrens-awards/1030216322/ |access-date=March 23, 2024 |website=TV Guide |language=en}}

• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in 1951, for On the Riviera
• Received an honorary Academy Award Oscar in 1955 "for his unique talents, his service to the Academy, the motion picture industry, and the American people".
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in 1958, for Me and the Colonel
• Lions Clubs International The first recipient of the Lions Clubs International Foundation's Humanitarian Award. (1973–74){{cite web |url=http://www.lcif.org/EN/apply-for-a-grant/humanitarian-award-winners.php |title=Humanitarian Award Winners |website=Lions Clubs International Foundation |access-date=January 1, 2018}}
• Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1981)
• Asteroid 6546 Kaye
• Three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; for his work in music, radio, and films{{cite news |url=http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/danny-kaye |title=Danny Kaye-Hollywood Star Walk |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=January 19, 2011}}
• Kennedy Center Honor (1984)
• Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade (1984)
• The song "I Wish I Was Danny Kaye" on Miracle Legion's 1996 album Portrait of a Damaged Family
• UNICEF's New York Visitor's Centre is named to honor Danny Kaye.{{cite web |url=http://www.unicef.org/virtualtour |title=Danny Kaye Visitor's Centre Virtual Tour |website=UNICEF |access-date=January 19, 2011 |archive-date=March 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310220014/http://www.unicef.org/virtualtour/ |url-status=dead}}
• In December 1996, the PBS series American Masters aired a special on Kaye's life.{{cite episode |title=Danny Kaye – About the Actor |url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/danny-kaye-about-the-actor/504/ |series=American Masters |date=September 16, 2005 |network=PBS |access-date=January 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115205512/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/danny-kaye-about-the-actor/504/ |archive-date=January 15, 2018}}
• In San Antonio, Texas named a street in the neighborhood Oak Hills Terrace (located in the city's northwest) is named for Danny Kaye near streets bearing other familiar names from TV and movies.{{cite news |url=https://newspapers.com/article/san-antonio-express-adventure-homes-sh/133637415/ |title='Adventure' Homes Shown In Oak Hills |newspaper=San Antonio Express |date=January 16, 1971| page=2G |access-date=October 17, 2023}} The neighborhood was established in the late 1960s.{{cite news |title=Oak Hills Terrace – A 'Back to School' Sale |work=San Antonio Express |date=August 3, 1969 |page=5G}}
• The careers of Kaye and Fine are immortalized in The Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Collection at the Library of Congress. The materials preserved in the collection include manuscripts, scores, scripts, photographs, sound recordings, and video clips.{{cite web |title=The Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Collection: About the Collection |url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/kayefine/kayefine-about.html|website=American Memory |access-date=July 13, 2016}}
• On June 9, 1986, Danny Kaye was crowned King of Brooklyn at the Back to Brooklyn Day Festival. Danny Kaye was there to accept his crown.{{cite news |title=Quirks in the News |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/06/09/Quirks-in-the-News/1639518673600/ |website=UPI Archives |access-date=February 3, 2017}}

• Autumn Laughter (1938) (experimental telecast)
• The Secret Life of Danny Kaye (1956) (See It Now special)
• What's My Line? (1960) (celebrity mystery guest)
• An Hour With Danny Kaye (1960 and 1961) (specials)
• The Danny Kaye Show with Lucille Ball (1962) (special)
• The Danny Kaye Show (1963–1967) (series)
• The Lucy Show: "Lucy Meets Danny Kaye" (1964) (guest appearance)
• Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In (1970)
• Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971) (voice)
• The Dick Cavett Show (1971) (interview guest)
• The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes (1972) (special)
• An Evening with John Denver (1975) (special)
• Pinocchio (1976) (CBS special); live action television musical adaptation starring Kaye as Gepetto and Sandy Duncan in the title role
• Peter Pan (1976) (NBC special); live action television musical adaptation starring Mia Farrow in the title role, and Kaye as Captain Hook
• The Muppet Show (1978) (guest appearance)
• Disneyland's 25th Anniversary (1980) (special guest appearance)
• An Evening with Danny Kaye (1981) (special)
• Skokie (1981) (television movie)
• "Epcot Center: The Opening Celebration" television special (1982) (host and conductor)
• The Twilight Zone: "Paladin of the Lost Hour" (1985) (guest appearance)
• The Cosby Show: "The Dentist" (1986) (guest appearance)

• The Straw Hat Revue (1939)
• Lady in the Dark (1941)
• Let's Face It! (1941)
• Two by Two (1970)

• Danny Kaye (Decca, 1949)
• Gilbert And Sullivan And Danny Kaye (Decca, 1949)
• Danny Kaye Entertains (Columbia, 1950)
• Mommy, Gimme a Drinka Water (Orchestration by Gordon Jenkins) (Capitol, 1958)
• The Five Pennies (with Louis Armstrong, London, 1959)

• Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
• Knock on Wood (Decca, 1954)
• Court Jester (Brunswick, 1956)
• Merry Andrew (1958)

• Danny Kaye for Children (Coral, 1959)
• Danny Kaye Tells 6 Stories from Faraway Places (Golden, 1960)

• Selections from Irving Berlin's White Christmas (1954)
• The Best of Danny Kaye (Decca, 1965)
• Two by Two (Columbia, 1970)
• The Very Best of Danny Kaye (20 Golden Greats) (MCA, 1987)

• "Bloop Bleep" (With Orchestra Directed by Billy May, Decca) US No. 21, 1947
• "Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)" from the Broadway musical Angel in the Wings (Danny Kaye – Andrews Sisters, with Vic Schoen and His Orchestra, Decca) US No. 3, 1947
• "The Woody Woodpecker" (Danny Kaye – Andrews Sisters, With The Harmonica Gentlemen, Decca) US No. 18, 1948
• "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" (With The Harmonaires And Orchestra Directed By Vic Schoen, Decca) US No. 26, 1950
• "C'est Si Bon (It's So Good)" (With Lee Gordon Singers And Vic Schoen And His Orchestra, Decca) US No. 21, 1950
• "Black Strap Molasses" (Danny Kaye – Jimmy Durante – Jane Wyman – Groucho Marx with 4 Hits and A Miss and Orchestra Directed by Sonny Burke, Decca) US No. 29, 1951
• "Thumbelina" (Danny Kaye and Gordon Jenkins and his Chorus and Orchestra, Decca) US No. 28, 1952
• "Wonderful Copenhagen" (Danny Kaye and Gordon Jenkins and his Chorus and Orchestra, Decca) UK No. 5, 1953{{cite web|title=DANNY KAYE – full Official Chart History – Official Charts Company|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/37420/danny-kaye/|url-status=live|access-date=January 2, 2022|website=Official Charts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403214127/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/37420/DANNY-KAYE/ |archive-date=April 3, 2015 }}
• "Little Child (Daddy Dear)" with Dena Kaye (Decca, 1956) US Cash Box No. 25
• "Ciu Ciu Bella" (Capitol, 1956) US Music Vendor No. 76
• "Lullaby in Ragtime" with Eileen Wilson (Dot, 1959) US Music Vendor No. 116
• "D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song (Oh, Really? No, O'Malley)" (Reprise, 1962) US Cash Box No. 113{{cite book| last = Whitburn| first = Joel| title = The Comparison Book Billboard/Cash Box/Record World 1954-1982| publisher = Sheridan Books| year = 2015| isbn = 978-0-89820-213-7|page=119}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/062387j.htm Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425021718/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/062387j.htm |date=April 25, 2011 }}, June 23, 1987. Retrieved March 9, 2015.

{{wikiquote}}

{{Commons}}

• {{IMDb name|1414}}
• {{IBDB name|47550}}
• {{Discogs artist|Danny Kaye (2)}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070825113326/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/on_line/rem_online_korea.htm#kaye Royal Engineers Museum]
• [http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/2666/danny-kaye Literature on Danny Kaye]
• {{Find a Grave|grid=1316|access-date=March 24, 2014}}
• [https://vault.fbi.gov/Danny%20Kaye%20 FBI Records: The Vault – Danny Kaye], fbi.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
• [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu012007 Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Collection] and the [https://www.loc.gov/collections/danny-kaye-and-sylvia-fine/about-this-collection/ Online Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Collection] at the Library of Congress
• [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/108026 Danny Kaye recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings

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