---
name: "Jack Benny"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jack-benny"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "14 February 1894"
died: "26 December 1974"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T12:02:53.496664+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Jack Benny

Actor. Born 14 February 1894 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Died 26 December 1974.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 14 February 1894, Chicago, Illinois, United States
- **Died:** 26 December 1974
- **Also known as:** Джек Бенни, Benjamin Kubelsky

## Fi1m on Jack Benny

> Jack Benny makes wounded vanity funny by giving it time to show itself. His pauses and unhurried delivery need the right film; in *To Be or Not to Be*, Ernst Lubitsch puts an actor's self-importance to work.

Joseph Tura wants to be admired in *To Be or Not to Be* (1942). Jack Benny keeps that wish visible when the actor has more urgent matters to attend to. We laughed at his misplaced professional pride because Benny makes it persist when almost anyone else would have forgotten it. There is no suggestion that Tura is a neglected genius who deserves our sympathy.

Benny's long pauses and understated delivery give an audience time to spot the foolishness for itself. His familiar public character was vain, stingy and permanently 39, with inept violin-playing added to the indignities. There is a risk of such a figure becoming a collection of expected jokes. Benny works best when the writing gives those weaknesses consequences, rather than simply waiting for us to recognise them.

His film career began in 1929, but radio made him a star from 1932. *Broadway Melody of 1936* (1935) and *Charley's Aunt* (1941) put that comic timing into musical comedy and farce. His film vehicles did not always capture the full effect of his broadcasting persona. *The Horn Blows at Midnight* (1945) was his last starring film, with occasional cameos following as radio and television took priority.

Lubitsch and screenwriter Edwin Justus Mayer give Benny a particularly good reason to bring that familiar vanity into a film. Tura's need to perform becomes useful, and Benny can play the more demanding improvisation without abandoning the character established at the start. He remains someone whose colleagues would have good reason to find him tiresome. Lubitsch lets the comedy grow more urgent without insisting that the man should become less absurd.

Even *To Be or Not to Be* is slow to get going. It is worth allowing the film that time for a performance so unwilling to flatter its character. Start with Tura before assuming that any starring vehicle will serve Benny equally well.

## Biography

Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky) was an American actor and comedian. He began performing in vaudeville in 1912, initially as a violinist, before developing a comedy act that included deliberately poor violin playing. He served in the US Navy during the First World War and returned to vaudeville afterwards.

Benny achieved major success on radio from the 1930s and on television from the 1950s with *The Jack Benny Program*. His film roles included Joseph Tura in *To Be or Not to Be* (1942). He also appeared in *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World* (1963) and other films, often in cameo or uncredited parts. He died in 1974.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *To Be or Not to Be* (1942), Fi1m 87, as Joseph Tura — [page](https://film.one/film/to-be-or-not-to-be.md)

## Also known for

- *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World* (1963), Man in Car in Desert (uncredited)
- *Studio 54* (2018), Self (archive footage)
- *Rock-a-Bye Baby* (1958), Carlos, the matador (uncredited)
- *Gypsy* (1962), Jack Benny (uncredited)
- *The Honey Pot* (1967), Violinist Outside Restaurant (uncredited)
- *The Lucy Show* (1962), Harry Tuttle, Jack Benny
- *A Guide for the Married Man* (1967), Technical Adviser
- *That's Entertainment, Part II* (1976), (archive footage)

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jack-benny