21 Facts About Frank Fontaine

Frank Fontaine was an American stage, radio, film and television comedian, singer, and actor.

Frank Fontaine's father, Ray Fontaine, of French-Canadian descent, was a popular vocalist whose career in Canada resulted in his being compared to Bing Crosby.

Frank Fontaine left school and married Alma Clair Wakeham, his high school sweetheart, on April 17,1937, at age sixteen, two days before his 17th birthday.

Frank Fontaine would rearrange his schedule so that he was never away from them for too long.

Frank Fontaine is best known for his appearances on television shows of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, including The Jack Benny Program, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Tonight Show, and The Ed Sullivan Show.

Frank Fontaine was featured on the radio version of The Jack Benny Program.

Frank Fontaine's goofball laugh and other vocal mannerisms made a hit with the audience, and Benny brought him back for several more radio shows between 1950 and 1952.

Frank Fontaine later appeared on four of Jack Benny's television shows between 1951 and 1961.

In 1952, Fontaine starred in The Frank Fontaine Show, a weekly variety program on CBS radio.

Frank Fontaine was heard regularly on The Bob Hope Show on radio.

Frank Fontaine was hired by TV producer Ben Frye to be the master of ceremonies of his new series Showtime.

Frank Fontaine's role was to stand in front of a theater curtain, offer a comic monologue, and then introduce each filmed performance as though the artists were taking the stage in person.

In 1962, comedian Jackie Gleason invited Frank Fontaine to appear on Gleason's weekly American Scene Magazine series on CBS-TV.

Frank Fontaine said, 'Art Carney's going into a play and Jackie needs someone else to work with.

Frank Fontaine made 88 American Scene Magazine appearances between 1962 and when the series ended in 1966.

Frank Fontaine received mention in satirist Tom Lehrer's 1965 song "National Brotherhood Week", from the album That Was the Year That Was.

Frank Fontaine was credited in Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker's song Jingle Bells Imitations, which was the flip side of their Jingle Bell Rock record.

Frank Fontaine continued to reside in his home state of Massachusetts, and appeared in nightclubs and on television.

Children had always enjoyed seeing Crazy on television, so Frank Fontaine visited the bedridden children in full costume as Crazy.

In early August 1978, Frank Fontaine was in Spokane, Washington, to perform at the Eagles International convention, headlining its Vaudeville Night with Arthur Godfrey and Corbett Monica at the Opera House on Friday, August 4, and was scheduled to lead the parade through the city the following afternoon as grand marshal.

Frank Fontaine had just completed a live stage benefit show, having accepted a check for $25,000 which he planned to donate for heart research, when he collapsed and died of a heart attack at age 58.