1. Jack Oakie portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's The Great Dictator, receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
21 Facts About Jack Oakie
1. 2.
Jack Oakie was born in Sedalia, Missouri, at 522 W Seventh St His father, James Madison Offield, was a grain dealer, and his mother, Evelyn Offield, was a psychology teacher.
3.
Jack Oakie's adopted first name, Jack, was the name of the first character he played on stage.
4.
Jack Oakie recalled years later that he made especially good money selling "extras" in November 1916 during the presidential election campaign that resulted in Woodrow Wilson's re-election.
5.
Jack Oakie worked as a runner on Wall Street and narrowly escaped being killed in the Wall Street bombing of September 16,1920.
6.
Jack Oakie worked in various musicals and comedies on Broadway from 1923 to 1927, when he moved to Hollywood to work in movies at the end of the silent film era.
7.
Jack Oakie appeared in five silent films during 1927 and 1928.
8.
Jack Oakie made his first talking film, The Dummy, in 1929.
9.
When his contract with Paramount ended in 1934, Jack Oakie decided to freelance.
10.
Jack Oakie was remarkably successful, appearing in 87 films, most made in the 1930s and 1940s.
11.
Jack Oakie was known for refusing to wear screen make-up of any kind, and the frequent use of double-take in his comedy.
12.
Jack Oakie portrayed Benzino Napaloni, the boisterous dictator of Bacteria, in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
13.
Not being limited by a film studio contract, Jack Oakie branched into radio and had his own radio show between 1936 and 1938.
14.
Jack Oakie died in 1948 in the crash of United Airlines Flight 624 at Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania.
15.
Jack Oakie died on January 23,1978, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 74 from an aortic aneurysm.
16.
Jack Oakie's remains were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale in Los Angeles County.
17.
Jack and Victoria Oakie lived their entire married life at "Oakridge", their 11-acre estate at 18650 Devonshire Street in Northridge, a suburb of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley.
18.
Jack Oakie planted a citrus orchard and bred Afghan Hounds, at one time having up to 100 dogs on the property.
19.
Victoria Jack Oakie continued to live there after her husband's death and bequeathed the estate to the University of Southern California, which sold it to developers.
20.
The Jack Oakie Endowed Chair in Comedy at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California was established in 2003.
21.
Jack Oakie is mentioned in the Coen brothers film Barton Fink as the favorite actor of Charlie, a character played by John Goodman.