Hope never found a more adoring audience than the GIs he entertained, sometimes under enemy fire. "He once said that as long as there are troops in a combat area, he could not in good conscience not go," said his USO show writer-director Mort Lachman.

Though Hope for most of his career "was middle of the road" politically, says pal Don Rickles, Vietnam turned him hawkish. He drew close to Vice President Spiro Agnew, feeding him jokes to use about antiwar protesters. In return Hope was sometimes booed on college campuses.

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Hope was conservative when it came to money as well. Though at the time of his death he was worth more than an estimated $100 million (much of it from shrewd investments in Southern California real estate), he never lived lavishly. "He was very conservative with a buck," says longtime performing partner Debbie Reynolds. "He didn't have a private plane until his final years." Still, no one performed at more benefits or raised more money for charities (distributed through the Hopes' own foundation). Asked how much he'd raised, he'd always reply, "Not enough."

Leslie Townes Hope knew about not having enough. He spent his early childhood in the London suburb of Eltham, the fifth of seven sons of Harry, a struggling stonemason, and Avis, a former concert singer. ("Four of us slept in the same bed," he'd later quip. "When we got cold, Mother threw on another brother.") He was 4 when the family left England and settled in Cleveland in 1907. Leslie, who later changed his name to Bob ("it's more 'Hiya, fellas,' " he would say), was encouraged as a boy to recite poetry, dance and play tunes on a comb and tissue. Seeking work where he could find it, he shined shoes, caddied and hustled pool. A good athlete, as a 128-lb. teenager he briefly flirted with a boxing career, going by the name "Packy East." Before Hope dropped out of East High School at 16, though, he had shown promise as a performer, winning a Chaplin imitation contest at 10. In his 20s he hoofed his way through backwoods towns on the vaudeville circuit.