40 Details About Danny Kaye That May Come As A Surprise To Fans

Kaye was born in America, but his parents were actually Jewish Ukrainians. And his full given name? That was in fact David Daniel Kominsky. Later in life, he switched to a shortened version of his middle name and began using the last name Kaye, which his brother Larry also took on.

Like many comedians the world over, Kaye was a big fan of pranks. “He likes practical jokes,” a 1946 Time magazine article said of the star. “One time in Hollywood, he wore a false beard home, begged for food at his own back door, [and] was promptly kicked out by his stern cook.”

In 1971 Dick Cavett asked Kaye, “Who do you hate?” And the entertainer mused, “I don’t think I really hate anybody… life is too short.” He added, “If I am injured in any way, I remove myself completely, and it’s as though it never existed, or they never existed.”

Kaye absolutely loved Chinese food. He didn’t have much luck with it at first: his daughter once recounted how he had tried to order chicken at a Chinese restaurant by doing an impression of the bird. All the same, in the ’70s he began teaching classes on how to cook the cuisine.

Kaye’s only wife was a woman named Sylvia Fine — an accomplished musician with experience on Broadway. Only trouble was that Fine’s parents didn’t entirely approve of the long-haired actor their daughter had brought home… Undeterred, the couple eloped. Later, in order to placate mom and dad, Kaye and Fine had a proper wedding ceremony at a synagogue.

Some very prestigious people were Danny Kaye fans. In February 1948 the star came to Britain, and members of the royal family watched him perform. We’re talking about King George VI, his wife Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Prince Philip, and the future Queen Elizabeth. Wow!

Kaye was highly praised for his musical skills. He even conducted the New York Philharmonic among other orchestras — despite the fact that he couldn’t actually read music! He was open about this, though, and his wife Sylvia believed he had a musical ability that simply came naturally. 

Kaye had a few brushes with death during his time. In 1934 — so, before he became a household name — he was performing with a troupe in Osaka, Japan, when a typhoon hit. Debris struck Kaye’s hotel room and could well have killed him, but he decided to take to the stage anyway and entertain the terrified people huddled in the building. No matter what, the show went on.

During a 1963 interview with Studs Terkel, Kaye proudly announced, “I don’t train in any sense. I live a fairly quiet life, and I take very good care of my health. And I think the greatest requisite for good health is something that has been bandied about now for a long time. I am 6 feet tall, and I weigh 153 pounds.”

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was Kaye’s favorite flick in his silver-screen repertoire. And after years of Hollywood attempting to remake the movie for a modern-day audience, Ben Stiller finally pulled it off in 2013. Sadly Kaye never got to see how his successor did in the famous role, as he passed away in 1987.

In 1965 Kaye took on a role that would come to define his entire life — and it wasn’t in a movie or on stage. It was the position of UNICEF’s inaugural Goodwill Ambassador, and he threw himself into it with characteristic aplomb. Being an ambassador led him to befriend people all over the world — especially children.

Kaye wasn’t a big fan of journalists. In 1947 he told The Salt Lake Tribune, “I’m scared silly of newspaper people. Every time I make a statement, it seems to appear in print with a different meaning than I intended. I don’t believe the distortion is deliberate. But reporters unconsciously color my statements with their own emotion, perspective, and interpretation.”

In Kaye’s heyday, movies were in black and white, so audiences could never quite determine his hair color. In actual fact, he was a redhead — albeit one who dyed his hair blonde in the early years for the screen. He was also encouraged to have a nose job for aesthetic purposes, but he completely refused.

It’s no surprise that Kaye was a bit of a class clown at Brooklyn’s Thomas Jefferson High School. And he was seemingly more interested in making his fellow students laugh than actually learning, as he didn’t get his diploma. Still, it didn’t seem to do him much harm. Kaye went on to achieve a lot of incredible things despite his lack of academic success.

Kaye’s childhood dream wasn’t to be an entertainer but a doctor. Unfortunately, his family couldn’t afford to send him to medical school, so this ambition fell by the wayside. And at least the star knew he’d brought good to the world in another way. “I never became a doctor, but I like to think I’ve made people happy by making them laugh,” he told the Lakeland Ledger in 1958.

Back in 1963, Kaye told Studs Terkel, “I’m not really a singer, Studs. Oh, I sing songs, that’s quite true, but I'm not a singular singer in a popular sense of the word, that I sing popular songs. I can, but I don’t know if I ever would have been successful had I tried to make my living by just singing.” He felt the same way about dancing, too.

We only have her word to go on, but Shirley MacLaine claimed in her book I’m Over That and Other Confessions that she’d had an affair with Kaye. “I still cook some of the meals he taught me and think sweet thoughts of him,” she wrote. “We had a fabulous relationship full of love, starlit night skies, food, and humor.”

Kaye’s mom Clara may have died while he was still young, but he never forgot her. In tribute, he kept her wedding ring and wore it on his pinky finger for the rest of his life. Look closely, and you may even see it on screen in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

After Kaye met members of the British royal family in 1955, tongues started to wag. One rumor was that he had referred to Princess Margaret as “honey” — a massive no-no. But Kaye explicitly denied this. He told the Oxnard Press-Courier in no uncertain terms, “I know better than that. I call the princess ‘ma’am.’ Why they drag things up like that, I don’t know. It’s not funny.”

Kaye could memorize music and lyrics in mere hours, which led some to believe he had a photographic memory. His wife noted in the 1958 book The Danny Kaye Story, written by Kurt Singer, “My own lyrics slip out from under me, and I am stuck. Not Danny: he remembers every word, every chord. And after a pardonable husbandly dissertation on my inefficiency, we go on from there.”

Kaye didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize himself, but he did accept it for UNICEF in 1965. And this wasn’t just a big moment for him, but for UNICEF itself. Winning such a prestigious international award put the organization on the map and allowed it to do more of its important work. 

Kaye absolutely loved baseball. Not only did he end up penning a famous baseball tune — the 1962 “D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song” — but he also invested in a team. Sadly, it wasn’t the Dodgers! In 1977 he and business partner Lester Smith bought the Seattle Mariners, and they remained joint owners until 1981.

Kaye was philanthropic in his personal life, too. In 1959 The Joplin Globe reported, “Once on a New York street, a little girl asked for [Kaye’s] autograph in a peculiar squeaky voice. Kaye took her home to find out what was wrong with her. Learning from her parents that she had a mental speech block, he sent her to the best doctor he knew and paid the bill.” Awww.

Before he became an international star, Kaye was briefly an insurance investigator. He was fired, however, after managing to lose the company $40,000. Then there was the time he was asked to keep an eye on a dentist’s office — but he just couldn’t resist using one of the drills to make art in the wood around him. Good job he finally found his niche!

Gregory Peck seemed like an unlikely buddy for Kaye, as the two men were very different characters. But in 1983 the Times-News reported that they were indeed pals, observing, “When dining at a restaurant, Danny, ever the extrovert, doesn’t mind being seated at a table where he’ll be visible. Greg, on the other hand, feels more comfortable maintaining a reticent profile, preferring to be placed as far out of the line of public gaze as possible.”

Kaye’s mother Clara always supported her son and appreciated his comic talents. And, naturally, he was devastated when she died. Perhaps feeling he had nothing left to lose, a young Kaye then ran away from home. He and a friend ended up traveling to Florida, where they made a modest living by performing on the street.

Kaye may have been a star of many movies, but he greatly preferred acting on stage. In 1960 he told the Toledo Blade, “Sometimes they turn you loose in a room full of cameras where nobody is even breathing, let alone laughing. There’s nothing that can compare with working on a stage before people.”

Kaye took his role as UNICEF ambassador very seriously indeed. Whenever he went on humanitarian tours for the organization, he paid for them out of his own pocket. He also had the expeditions filmed, and these movies went on to make a whole shedload of money — all of which went towards helping disadvantaged children.

Flying a plane requires skill and nerve, but Kaye was definitely up to the job. He passed his aviation exam with an impressive score of 90 percent. He got the same for the written component, too. Yep, flying was just one of his many natural talents.

Back in the day, health and safety regulations on movie sets were a little more, well, lax than they are now. And Kaye discovered that the hard way filming The Kid From Brooklyn, when one of his co-stars turned out to be a huge, very displeased lion. But he decided no movie was worth putting his life at risk of being attacked by a hungry beast. According to The Milwaukee Journal, Kaye’s exact words were “I am not going to impose my attentions where they are obviously not welcome.”

Kaye performed for audiences all over the world. But, of course, not all of those audiences spoke English, so how was the performer able to slay crowds with a language barrier? Easy. That’s where his extremely expressive style of comedy came from. You don’t need to speak to pull a funny face.

Kaye’s personal life wasn’t always a bed of roses, and there was even a period when he separated from his wife. In 1947 he told the famous gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, “Before we agreed upon it, Sylvia and I sat down and talked over our problems like two intelligent people. Our present separation is an attempt to salvage our marriage, not end it.” And it worked: they ultimately stayed together until Kaye’s death.

Winston Churchill once showed up to a Kaye show — late — and had a word with the star afterward. But the British prime minister was full of praise. According to a piece in The Milwaukee Journal, the legendary world leader told Kaye, “Young man, it’s a good thing you are not a politician. You have a tremendous grip on a crowd and would be a formidable adversary in politics.”

Remember the dentist whose drill the young Kaye “borrowed”? Well, he met that man again — after falling in love with his daughter. Yep, Sylvia noticed the young man working for her father and developed a crush on him. When she took him to meet her folks, however, her dad instantly recognized him as the kid who’d ruined his office. Oops!

Kaye was much more of an introvert than his exuberant stage performances would suggest. In 1969 he told the BBC’s Tony Thomas, “I spend a considerable time alone. [That] is very hard for people to understand, because, y’know, when people see me, they always see me professionally.”

Kaye’s comedy was never cruel, and The Milwaukee Journal noticed. “Danny Kaye’s funny business does not appeal to everyone’s sense of humor. Maybe it is because he is never unkind. His jokes don’t hurt anyone’s feelings. He may make fun of himself, but his repertoire has no mother-in-law jokes, race or nationality prejudice stories, or off-color gags,” the paper explained. Perhaps that’s why his work still stands up today.

Kaye was made of extremely tough stuff. Once, while in his plane, he felt a sudden pain and realized — perhaps because of his interest in medicine — that it was appendicitis. But he didn’t panic: instead, he simply landed the plane and had himself taken to hospital. If he hadn’t realized how serious the pain was, he may well have died.

When Kaye appeared on The Dick Cavett Show in 1971, the host asked him about a story involving the Duchess of Windsor. Apparently, the duchess had been offended by Kaye turning up to a party in a blue suit and had snapped, “Still trying to be terribly funny, Mr. Kaye.” In response, the star was said to have answered, “And you, too, ma’am.” Kaye confirmed that the exchange had happened, but he claimed, “It was an innocent remark which I misinterpreted.”

Sylvia did a lot for her husband throughout their marriage — professionally as well as personally. She wrote lyrics for him, created some of his music, and even served as a producer on a couple of his movies. And after Kaye died, Sylvia reportedly began working on a book about him. Sadly, her own death ensured that the project never came to fruition. 

When Kaye performed in Britain in 1949, huge swathes of the country went crazy for him. Tickets for his show sold out in just days, and a massive crowd of 10,000 fans mobbed him in Glasgow. Kaye was sent countless pieces of fan mail, too, and the Savoy Hotel had to set up a special telephone line to handle the number of fans trying to call him. Talk about Kayemania!

But while Kaye measured up at a respectable 6 feet, he was far from the tallest man of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Some cinematic titans were practically giants in real life! Others, though? Let’s just say you’ll be surprised by James Cagney...

Best known for his starring role in the hit television show Cheyenne, Clint Walker had a towering presence on both the small and big screens. And his real-life height more than matched up to it. You see, Walker stood at 6 feet 6 inches, making him one of the tallest actors in Hollywood during the 1950s and 1960s.

After making his big-screen debut in 1948’s Fighter Squadron, Rock Hudson went on to become a hugely popular star over the coming years. But did you know just how tall this guy was? Incredibly, he measured 6 feet 5 inches. Yep, Hudson was massive! We’d have never guessed he was that big, to be honest.

Christopher Lee had been terrifying audiences everywhere going into the 1970s. By that point, he’d already established himself as one of the horror genre’s greatest leading men, not least for his iconic portrayals of Dracula. Lee was an imposing figure, and his height certainly helped in that respect — he stood at a whopping 6 feet 4.5 inches. Surprised?

From the legendary voice to his unique appearance, Vincent Price was well on his way to becoming a Hollywood great throughout the 1950s and 1960s. His horror movies in particular were real gems, such as The Fly and The Pit and the Pendulum. But this might catch you off guard — Price was actually a very tall man. He measured in at 6 feet 4 inches.

Rio Bravo. The Searchers. True Grit. Most actors would’ve given anything to star in just one of those iconic westerns during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Yet John Wayne was the lead in all three, plus a heap more. He was a real titan in that period... figuratively and literally! Wayne measured 6 feet 4 inches. That’s taller than we expected, anyway.

With his steely intensity and magnetic presence, it’s no wonder that Clint Eastwood became a Hollywood star in the 1960s. There were few others like him during that time. And at 6 feet 4 inches, he towered over most. Now, we knew Eastwood was tall in his heyday, but those measurements still surprise us. Talk about a giant.

From The Dirty Dozen to Cool Hand Luke, George Kennedy racked up some impressive credits prior to the 1970s. In addition to his acting talents, he was also a very hard guy to miss — Kennedy measured 6 feet 4 inches. The mere sight of him on-screen immediately grabs your attention before any lines are said.

Did anyone play a bad guy during the Golden Age better than Jack Palance? Personally, we don’t think so. He oozed menace in iconic movies such as Shane. And his height no doubt helped in that regard. Palance came in at 6 feet 3.25 inches, using every inch to his advantage. How could our cinematic heroes overcome a villain that big?

While he might be best known for his legendary turn in The Exorcist, Max von Sydow was already a star ahead of the 1970s. After all, he took on the lead roles in both The Seventh Seal and The Greatest Story Ever Told. The actor was an absolute giant, too — he measured 6 feet 3.25 inches. We always thought von Sydow was a little shorter than that!

James Stewart arguably boasts the greatest list of credits of any actor from Hollywood’s Golden Age. It’s a Wonderful Life, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Vertigo, Rear Window — he starred in all of them. But we never had Stewart down as a particularly tall man. We were wrong, though. The actor stood at an imposing 6 feet 3 inches.

As was pointed out in The Sopranos, Gary Cooper was seen as “the strong, silent type” during his Golden Age run. How about tall, though? Well, the two-time Academy Award winner measured 6 feet 3 inches. It certainly added to his big-screen presence in movies such as High Noon, Sergeant York, and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

It’s easy to forget the number of classics that Fred MacMurray appeared in during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Yes, from Double Indemnity to The Absent Minded Professor, those films wouldn’t be the same without him. Still, though, we had no idea just how tall MacMurray really was. He came in at 6 feet 2.75 inches.

Sidney Poitier was an absolute legend in Hollywood. Not many actors can say they starred in movies as iconic as In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Let alone in the same year! But how about this for a surprise? Poitier was deceptively big, too, measuring 6 feet 2.5 inches.

Ben-Hur. The Ten Commandments. The Greatest Story Ever Told. Charlton Heston really dominated the market when it came to Golden Age epics! And that isn’t even mentioning his other iconic roles in films such as Touch of Evil and Planet of the Apes. He was a true big screen titan — and had the real-life size to match. Yep, Heston was 6 feet 2.5 inches.

Gregory Peck was rightly regarded as one of Hollywood’s finest leading men during the Golden Age of cinema. You see, he added real magnetism to his roles, and his size didn’t serve as a hindrance. At 6 feet 2.5 inches, he had a presence that few other actors could match at that time.

To be honest, we never really considered Errol Flynn to be that tall. We had him down at an average height. How about you? Well, we were off the mark! As it turns out, the swashbuckling star of Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood was a pretty big guy. Flynn measured 6 feet 2 inches.

It’s hard to put into words just how influential Orson Welles was as an actor and director in his time. He was responsible for some of the greatest movies Hollywood’s ever produced, after all. But despite his huge impact on the screen, Welles wasn’t exactly a giant at 6 feet exactly. We could’ve sworn he was a few inches bigger!

When you see Boris Karloff’s magnificent portrayal of The Monster in 1931’s Frankenstein, one thing immediately comes to mind — he looks huge. He dominates the screen whenever the cameras focus on him. Yet Karloff himself really wasn’t that big of a guy. The actor was 5 feet 11 inches, which has completely surprised us.

Is Laurence Olivier the best actor in the craft’s history? You’d be hard-pressed to argue against those who believe it. Can you name anyone better? But one thing’s for sure. Olivier certainly wasn’t the tallest. Coming in at 5 feet 10 inches, the legend’s height belied his incredible presence on the big screen.

There were few other actors in the Golden Age who could match Bob Hope’s comedic chops. The much-loved Road to... films certainly wouldn’t have been the same without him. Anyway, for as great as Hope was, it was hard to envisage him as taller than average. Yet he did indeed surpass that mark, standing at 5 feet 10 inches.

Though the term “icon” gets thrown around a lot these days, Steve McQueen deserved that status in Hollywood. This guy was a huge star in his time, starring in hits such as The Great Escape, Bullitt, and The Thomas Crown Affair across the 1960s. Mind you, for as “big” as he was, McQueen wasn’t especially tall at 5 feet 9.5 inches. Trust us, that’s no typo!

Who doesn’t love Paul Newman? He’s often included in the discussion of great Hollywood actors for a reason. But again, his height didn’t really match up to the massive impact he made on the big screen. Yep, Newman only measured 5 feet 9.5 inches. You’d never have guessed it watching his movies, though.

From The Vikings to Spartacus, Kirk Douglas proved that he could carry epic Golden Age pictures much like Charlton Heston. Yet despite their similarities, there was a significant difference between the pair — their respective heights. Surprisingly, Douglas was 5 feet 9 inches, which made him 5.5 inches shorter than Heston. Quite a shock, right?

Top Hat and Holiday Inn are just a couple of Fred Astaire’s more famous movies. He starred in plenty of others, too! The actor’s dance numbers in those films are a real sight to behold. But how tall would you say Astaire was in his heyday? Well, he wasn’t exactly a giant at 5 feet 9 inches.

If there was a Mount Rushmore for actors, Marlon Brando’s face would surely be carved into it. He’s a legendary figure in Hollywood for his work on films such as The Godfather, On The Waterfront, and The Wild One. Guess what, though? Brando barely surpassed the average American height in 1960 at 5 feet 8.75 inches. Who could’ve predicted that?

We never got the impression that Humphrey Bogart was on the shorter side while watching his movies. But there might be a reason for that. Reportedly, Bogart often sported lifted shoes to improve on his height of 5 feet 8 inches. Future screenings of Casablanca and The African Queen won’t be quite the same knowing that!

It’s sometimes easy to forget that James Dean had significant roles in just three movies prior to his tragic passing in 1955. His legacy would suggest that he starred in more. Yet despite Dean’s unmistakable presence in those films, he wasn’t a tall man at 5 feet 8 inches. It says something about his talent that you don’t really notice that, though.

How about this for a fascinating tidbit? In a book titled Yul Brynner: The Inscrutable King, the following passage touches on the actor’s height. It reads, “Throughout his life, Yul was sensitive about how tall the public thought he was. He refused to divulge exact measurements.” It’s believed that Brynner was around 5 feet 8 inches.

Frank Sinatra’s acting career was nothing to be sniffed at. The famed musician starred in numerous notable Hollywood movies, such as the original Ocean’s Eleven and The Manchurian Candidate. But at just 5 feet 7.5 inches, he was shorter than you might’ve guessed. Personally, we thought he’d be up with the 6-footers!

Known just as much for his acting as his singing, Bing Crosby was in plenty of memorable Golden Age pictures. White Christmas and High Society are just a couple of examples. Mind you, his height of 5 feet 7.5 inches continued to bother him throughout his career. Crosby once said in an interview, “Sure [I’d love to be taller]! Particularly when I’m with a tall leading lady.”

Yes, Singin’ in the Rain is probably Gene Kelly’s most famous movie. He was far from a one-hit wonder, though — the star also enjoyed huge success with films such as An American in Paris and On the Town. Anyway, Kelly’s legendary status can sometimes distract from his below-average height of 5 feet 7.5 inches. Bet you thought he was taller than that, right?

Douglas Fairbanks was one of the great trailblazers in Hollywood. He lit up the early cinema of the 1910s and 1920s with his exciting action movies, paving the way for future swashbucklers. As for his size, though, Fairbanks only measured 5 feet 7 inches. You’d never pick up on that when watching him in full-flight.

From The Invisible Man to Lawrence of Arabia, Claude Rains featured in his fair-share of classic Hollywood movies. Reaching that level of stardom didn’t prove to be easy, though, due to his size. Rains was just 5 feet 6 inches. As acting great John Gielgud once said, “He lacked inches and wore lifts in his shoes to increase his height.”

At 5 feet 6 inches, Alan Ladd wasn’t the biggest leading man in Hollywood’s Golden Age. Yet it didn’t prevent him from enjoying a notable career, starring in the likes of Shane and The Great Gatsby. Mind you, as noted in an interesting interview, his co-star in the latter said some tricks were employed to make him look bigger. “He stood on a box and I wore tennis shoes,” Carole Matthews recalled.

Towards the end of the 1960s, Dustin Hoffman was launched into the Hollywood stratosphere thanks to a pair of iconic hits. Yep, The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy made him a star. He also earned Oscar nods for both of them. Such are his continued talents, that it’s easy to forget that Hoffman is just 5 feet 6 inches!

To say that James Cagney was a versatile ball of energy would be a major understatement. This guy could go from making you laugh in Blonde Crazy to terrifying you in The Public Enemy. He was great. But his “big” performances belied his short stature of 5 feet 5 inches. We thought for sure that Cagney was much larger than that.

How tall would you say Buster Keaton was? We wouldn’t blame you for thinking he was a big dude, such were his larger-than-life comedic performances. That wasn’t actually the case, though. In fact, Keaton was well-below average height at just 5 feet 5 inches. Yes, it’s a surprise to us as well!

How can you sum up Charlie Chaplin in a few words? This man was a true pioneer for comedy in the Golden Age, sporting one of the most recognizable looks in Hollywood’s history. Yet something continued to catch folks off guard when they saw Chaplin in person — his height. You see, he was only 5 feet 4 inches.

With more than 100 credits to his name, you can’t say that Peter Lorre didn’t enjoy a successful film career. The likes of Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon are classics in part because of him. Lorre’s height really shocked us, though. He stood at just 5 feet 3 inches. We knew the actor was on the shorter side, but still!

Unlike a lot of other actors who managed to conceal their heights throughout their performances, Mickey Rooney couldn’t really do that. After all, the four-time Academy Award nominee measured 5 feet 2 inches. Most stars towered over him, yet it didn’t have a negative impact on his career. Along with the award nods, Rooney racked up more than 340 film credits across the years. That’s incredible!