1. Jamie Farr was born on Jameel Joseph Farah; July 1,1934 and is an American comedian and actor.
34 Facts About Jamie Farr
1. 2.
Jamie Farr was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1985.
3.
Jamie Farr was born Jameel Joseph Farah on July 1,1934 in Toledo, Ohio, the son of Jamelia and Samuel Farah.
4.
Jamie Farr's father, who owned a grocery store, was an immigrant from the Beqaa Valley area of what is Lebanon and his mother, a seamstress, was a first-generation Lebanese American who grew up in Iowa.
5.
Jamie Farr grew up in Northern Toledo, which had a sizeable Lebanese population, in a diverse neighborhood.
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Jamie Farr had at least one sibling, an older sister, Yvonne, who died in 2012.
7.
Jamie Farr's first acting gig was at age 11, when he won two dollars in a local acting competition.
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Jamie Farr graduated from Woodward High School in 1952 and left for California later that year, where he attended classes at Pasadena Playhouse.
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Jamie Farr was credited as Jameel Farah, as he would not take on the name Jamie Farr until 1959 after his stint in the army.
10.
Jamie Farr worked at a chinchilla farm for extra money.
11.
Jamie Farr was drafted in 1957, and underwent basic training at Fort Ord in California Jamie Farr was made a Broadcast Specialist and worked on training videos in various roles at Fort Knox, the Army Pictorial Service, and Fort Huachuca before shipping out to Korea.
12.
When Jamie Farr went to say goodbye to Skelton, Skelton handed him a stack of one hundred dollar bills to send home and told Jamie Farr he was hiring him as a writer.
13.
Jamie Farr completed his military career with an additional two years on inactive reserve.
14.
For several years, the producers and the studio dodged his requests for a contract, which Jamie Farr suspected was so they didn't have to increase his salary.
15.
Jamie Farr frequently mentioned hot dogs from Tony Packo's Cafe and was a fan of the baseball team, the Toledo Mud Hens.
16.
Jamie Farr was the sole cast member who had actually served in Korea, and the dog tags he wore as Klinger were his own from his time in the service.
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Jamie Farr made frequent guest appearances on several other game shows, including The $100,000 Pyramid, Super Password, and Body Language.
18.
Jamie Farr played the Sheik in The Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run II, and Speed Zone and was the only actor to have appeared in all three Cannonball Run films.
19.
Jamie Farr appeared in TV commercials, including for Wonder Bread, Mars bars, and IBM computers.
20.
Jamie Farr had wanted to play this role since seeing the show in high school.
21.
Jamie Farr replaced Nathan Lane in the role last minute, only having two weeks and one full-cast rehearsal before the show opened.
22.
Jamie Farr hosted a daily radio travel feature called Travelin' Farr.
23.
Jamie Farr collapsed during a dinner show in Edmonton in 2014 and was transported to the hospital.
24.
Jamie Farr finished out the week of shows until an understudy was found, then flew home to California, where he had a stent put into his heart to treat atherosclerosis.
25.
Jamie Farr met his wife Joy Ann Richards, a model, shortly after returning from military service.
26.
In 2021, Jamie Farr told We Are the Mighty that James Jabara was his cousin.
27.
Jamie Farr has battled severe rheumatoid arthritis since the early 1990s.
28.
Jamie Farr shared that Skelton was one of his favorite comedians growing up.
29.
When Skelton died in 1997, his widow asked Jamie Farr to be a pallbearer at his funeral.
30.
Public records show that Jamie Farr has contributed financially to the Republican National Committee and Republican Party candidates multiple times since 1988, including to the campaigns of Darrell Issa, who grew up in Ohio and is of Lebanese ancestry, and Joe Leibham.
31.
Jamie Farr has remained deeply loyal to his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, and the city has returned the sentiment.
32.
The frog is named after Jamie Farr and is dressed in a babushka and red lipstick in homage to Klinger.
33.
Originally at the Highland Meadows Golf Club, where the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic was held, it is kept at Bittersweet Farms.
34.
Jamie Farr hosted the event for 28 years until it was rebranded the Marathon Classic in 2012.