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Dennis Day (May 21, 1916, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 – June 22, 1988, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is the largest city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated as a beta global city, has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California....
), born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty, was an Irish-American singer and radio and television personality.

Day was born and raised in New York City, the son of Irish immigrants. His father was a stationary engineer
Stationary engineer

A stationary engineer is a licensed operator of boilers, steam turbines, auxiliary equipment or refrigeration machinery. He or she works in factories, offices, hospitals, warehouses, ships or any other locations requiring the use that equipment....
. Day graduated from Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in New York City, and attended Manhattan College
Manhattan College

Manhattan College is a Catholic school Liberal arts colleges in the United States in the Lasallian tradition in New York City. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale, Bronx section of the Bronx, and roughly 10 miles north of Midtown Manhattan....
 in the Bronx, where he sang in the glee club
Glee club

A glee club is a choir, historically of men but also of just women or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in singing short songs. Glee clubs originated in England, but are no longer common in Britain; modern glee clubs are primarily found in North American and Japanese colleges and university....
.

appeared for the first time on Jack Benny's
Jack Benny

Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudeville, and actor for radio programming, television, and film.Widely recognized as one of the leading American entertainers of the 20th century, Benny was known for his comic timing and his ability to get laughs with either a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "...
 radio show on October 8, 1939, taking the place of another famed tenor, Kenny Baker
Kenny Baker (singer/actor)

Kenneth Laurence "Kenny" Baker was an American singer/actor who first gained notice as the featured singer on Jack Benny's radio shows during the 1930s....
.






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Dennis Day (May 21, 1916, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 – June 22, 1988, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is the largest city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated as a beta global city, has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California....
), born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty, was an Irish-American singer and radio and television personality.

Day was born and raised in New York City, the son of Irish immigrants. His father was a stationary engineer
Stationary engineer

A stationary engineer is a licensed operator of boilers, steam turbines, auxiliary equipment or refrigeration machinery. He or she works in factories, offices, hospitals, warehouses, ships or any other locations requiring the use that equipment....
. Day graduated from Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in New York City, and attended Manhattan College
Manhattan College

Manhattan College is a Catholic school Liberal arts colleges in the United States in the Lasallian tradition in New York City. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale, Bronx section of the Bronx, and roughly 10 miles north of Midtown Manhattan....
 in the Bronx, where he sang in the glee club
Glee club

A glee club is a choir, historically of men but also of just women or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in singing short songs. Glee clubs originated in England, but are no longer common in Britain; modern glee clubs are primarily found in North American and Japanese colleges and university....
.

Radio

Day appeared for the first time on Jack Benny's
Jack Benny

Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudeville, and actor for radio programming, television, and film.Widely recognized as one of the leading American entertainers of the 20th century, Benny was known for his comic timing and his ability to get laughs with either a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "...
 radio show on October 8, 1939, taking the place of another famed tenor, Kenny Baker
Kenny Baker (singer/actor)

Kenneth Laurence "Kenny" Baker was an American singer/actor who first gained notice as the featured singer on Jack Benny's radio shows during the 1930s....
. He remained associated with Benny's radio and television programs until Benny's death in 1974. He was introduced (with actress Verna Felton
Verna Felton

Verna Felton was an Emmy-nominated United States actress who was best-known for providing many female voices in numerous Walt Disney Pictures animated films, as well as voicing Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law Pearl Slaghoople for Hanna-Barbera....
 playing his mother) as a young (nineteen year old), naive boy singer — a character he kept through his whole career. His first song was "Goodnight My Beautiful".

Besides singing, Dennis Day was an excellent mimic. He did many imitations on the Benny program of various noted celebrities of the era, such as Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman

Ronald Colman was an England Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actor....
, Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante

James Francis ?Jimmy? Durante was an United States singer, pianist, comedian and actor, whose distinctive gravel delivery, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose ? his frequent jokes about it included a frequent self-reference that became his nickname: "Schnozzola" ? helped make him one of America's most familiar and...
, and James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)

James Maitland Stewart , popularly known as Jimmy Stewart, was an United States film and stage actor best known for his self-effacing persona....
.

From 1944 through 1946, he served in the US Navy as a Lieutenant
Lieutenant

Lieutenant is a military, naval, paramilitary, fire service, emergency medical services or police commissioned officer military rank.Lieutenant may also appear as part of a title used in various other organisations with a codified command structure....
. On his return to civilian life, he continued to work with Benny while also starring his own show, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day (1946-1952). Day's having two programs in comparison to Benny's one was the subject of numerous jokes and gags on Benny's show, usually revolving around Day rubbing Benny's, and sometimes other cast members and guest stars' noses in that fact.

Television

His TV series, The Dennis Day Show (aka The RCA Victor Show) was telecast from 1952 to 1954. Between 1952 and 1978, he made numerous TV appearances as a singer and actor (such as ABC's The Bing Crosby Show
The Bing Crosby Show

The Bing Crosby Show is a 28-episode television situation comedy starring crooner, film star, and businessman Bing Crosby and actress Beverly Garland as a middle-aged couple, Bing and Ellie Collins, rearing two teenaged daughers during the early 1960s....
) and voice for animation (such as the Walt Disney
Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney was a multiple Academy Award-winning American film producer, film director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur and philanthropist....
 feature Melody Time
Melody Time

Melody Time is an animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures. Made up of several sequences set to popular music and folk music, the film is, like Make Mine Music before it, the contemporary version of Fantasia , an ambitious film that proved to be a commercial disappointment upon its o...
, handling multiple characters).

In 1948, Day married Peggy Almquist; the marriage lasted until his death in 1988. The couple had ten children. One of his brothers was wed to actress/singer Ann Blyth
Ann Blyth

Ann Marie Blyth is an Academy Awards United States actor and singer, often cast in Musical theatre, but also successful in dramatic roles....
.

Dennis Day died of Lou Gehrig's disease at age 72 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is the largest city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated as a beta global city, has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California....
. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6646 Hollywood Boulevard. He is interred in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery
Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City

Holy Cross Cemetery is a Roman Catholic Church cemetery located at 5835 West Slauson Avenue in Culver City, California, that is operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles....
.

Discography (partial)

  • Sings Christmas Is for the Family (1959, Design)
  • That's an Irish Lullaby (1959, RCA)
  • Shillelaghs and Shamrocks (1963, Reprise)
  • White Christmas (1965, Design)
  • My Wild Irish Rose (1966, RCA Camden)
  • Clancy Lowered the Boom
    Clancy Lowered the Boom

    "Clancy Lowered the Boom" is a song written by Hy Heath and Johnny Lange in 1947, made famous by Dennis Day on Jack Benny's radio program . The song follows the adventures of an Irish-American stereotype as he "lowers the boom" on any person that gives him "guff"....
     (RCA)
  • Christmas In Killarney
    Christmas in Killarney

    Christmas in Killarney is an Irish Christmas song written by John Redmond, James Cavanaugh and Frank Weldon, copyright 1950. This song has been performed by many artists, most notably Bing Crosby on his album White Christmas ....
     (1950 RCA single)


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