On this day in 1974, legendary comedian JACK BENNY died of cancer.

Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky in 1894. His father, a Lithuanian immigrant, ran a saloon in Waukegan, Illinois, near Chicago. Benny began playing violin at age six and continued through high school. He began touring on the vaudeville circuit in 1917. In 1918, he joined the navy and was assigned to entertain the troops with his music but soon discovered a flair for comedy as well. After World War I, Benny returned to vaudeville as a comedian and became a top act in the 1920s. In 1927, he married an actress named Sadye Marks; the couple stayed together until Benny’s death in 1974.

Benny’s success in vaudeville soon won him attention from Hollywood, where he made his film debut in Hollywood Revue of 1929. Over the years, he won larger roles, notably in Charlie’s Aunt (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942). But movies were only a sideline for Benny, whose preferred medium was radio.

In March 1932, then-newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan, dabbling in radio, asked Benny to do an on-air interview. Benny reluctantly agreed. His comedy, though, was so successful that Benny was offered his own show almost immediately, which debuted just a few months later. At first a mostly musical show, with a few minutes of Benny’s comedy during interludes, the show evolved to become mostly comedy, incorporating well- developed skits and regular characters. On the show, Benny portrayed himself as a vain egomaniac and a notorious pinchpenny who refused to replace his (very noisy) antique car and kept his money in a closely guarded vault. His regulars included his real-life wife, whose character, Mary Livingstone, deflated Benny’s ego at every opportunity; Mel Blanc, who used his famous voice to play Benny’s noisy car, his exasperated French violin teacher, and other characters; and Eddie Andersen, one of radio’s first African American stars, who played Benny’s long-suffering valet, Rochester Van Jones. The program ran until 1955.

In the 1950s, Benny began experimenting with television, making several specials. Starting in 1952, The Jack Benny Show aired regularly, at first once every four weeks, then every other week, then finally every week from 1960 to 1965. Benny was as popular on TV as on radio. Despite the stingy skinflint image he cultivated on the air, Benny was known for his generosity and modesty in real life.