Jackie Mason was an American stand-up comedian and film and television actor who was known for his impeccable comic timing, widely regarded as one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time. He became known for his performance as a one-man Broadway shows thanks to his show, “Cadyshack II”.
His 1986 one-man show, “The World According to Me!” earned him several awards; Special Tony Awards, Ace Award, Emmy Award alongside a Grammy nomination. He even wrote and performed six one-man shows on Broadway and even worked as a voice-over actor as Rabbi Hyman Krustofski in an episode of, “The Simpsons”.
He holds the record for the longest-running one-man show in Broadway history and the longest-running stand-up show in the history of London’s West End. After providing uncountable contributions in the entertainment field for over 65 years, he died on June 9, 2021, at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being hospitalized for over two weeks at age of 93.
What was Jackie Mason Famous for?
- Famous as a stand-up comedian and actor.
- Known for his performance in “Caddyshack II”.
Where was Jackie Mason From?
Jackie Mason was born on June 9, 1928, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States. His birth name was Yacov Moshe Hakohen Maza. His nationality was American. Mason belonged to White ethnicity while Libra is his zodiac sign.
Born as the fourth child to his Jewish parents in Wisconsin, Eli Maza(father) and Bele Gitlin(mother), Jackie grew up in a family surrounded by ‘rabbis’, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and his great-great-grandfather. When Mason was just five years old, his family moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, where he spent his childhood.
He even worked as a busboy at resorts in the Borscht Belt while he was a teenager and also became a cantor at age of 18. He attended the City College of New York from where he got graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in his double major of English and sociology in 1953.
He spent most of his formative years training to be a ‘rabbi’ and even spent three years in Latrobe, Pennsylvania as a rabbi which he left after his father died in 1959.
When Did Jackie Mason Die?
Jackie Mason died recently on July 24, 2021, at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was 93 years old at the time of his death. He was hospitalized for over two weeks until his last breath and is survived by his wife and daughter.
His sudden death left many of his admirers, celebrities, and other notable figures in tears.
In honor of Mason, actor Henry Winkler tweeted; “truly one of the funniest shows I have ever seen .. ever .. thank you, Jackie, and now you get to make heaven laugh.”
While Sean Hannity(FOX personality) respectfully claimed; “irreverent, iconoclastic, funny, smart and a great American patriot.”
Jackie Mason’s Career Highlights
- Jackie Mason started his career as a comedian starting from the Fieldston Hotel in Swan Lake, New York in 1955. However, he has fired from the job soon after.
- He then made an on-and-off appearance on an American TV variety show, “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1960. His career however downfell around this time as he was accused of showing “The Finger” on the show.
- He made his Broadway theater debut as Jewish widower Nat Weiss in the comedy play, “A Teaspoon Every Four Hours” in 1969.
- After more than a decade, his career revived after he made an appearance in the hit film, “The Jerk” in 1979.
- He got his breakthrough when he started his comedy show, “The World According To Me” in 1980. The show turned out to be a huge success running for 367 performances in its first run and earning him several awards.
- He earned popularity for starring in the movie, “Caddyshack II” in 1988.
- He also made appearances on program shows, “Chicken Soup”, “Brand New”.
- He then made a guest appearance as a voice-over of Rabbi Hyman Krustofski in an episode “Like Father, Like Clown” of the popular show, “The Simpsons” in 1992, for which he even won an Emmy award.
- His popular two-act Broadway show, “Politically Incorrect”(1994–95) ran for 347 performances at Broadway’s John Golden Theater.
- He started his daily talk show titled “The Jackie Mason Show” in 2005.
- He even hosted the weekly PBS television talk show, “Crossing The Line” and the BBC radio show, “The Mason- Felder Report” alongside Raoul Lionel Felder.
- Since 2006, he hosted a nationally syndicated radio program on the “The Talk Radio Network” for two years till 2008.
- His full-length feature film, “One Angry Man” was released in 2010.
- His most recent and the only last movie was “Jackie Goldberg: Private Dick” which was released in 2011.
Source: @thesun
Was Jackie Mason Married? Who was his wife?
Jackie Mason was a married man and had been married just once throughout his life till his death at age of 93. His only marriage was with Jyll Rosenfeld, with whom he got married on August 14, 1991. At the time of their marriage, Mason was 63 while his wife was just 37 years old. Despite the huge age gap of over 26 years, their marriage lasted for over 29 years until he died in 2021.
The couple had a daughter together named Sheba Mason whom they welcomed even before their marriage in 1985. His only daughter, Sheba is also following her father’s footsteps becoming a comedian.
Besides, he was an admirer of Rabbi Meir Kahane and even had served as the honored speaker at a fundraising event related to Kahane. Mason even had co-founded the organization One Jerusalem in response to the Oslo peace agreement in 2001.
Jackie Mason’s Net Worth
Jackie Mason had quite good earnings from his professional career as an actor and comedian. Having his career started initially as a stand-up comedian at Fieldston Hotel at age of 27 in 1955, Mason managed to establish himself to be one of the loved, talented and respected comedians of all time in his 66 years long career run.
His source of income was surely his amazing stand-up comedy shows, appearances on series, movies, and also his comedy sketches on several shows. Including which he had a net worth estimated to be around $9 million.
Jackie Mason’s Height
Jackie Mason was a good-looking guy with average body size in his 90s at the time of his death. He had a height of 5ft. 4inch.(1.65m) while his body weighs around 70kg. He had a fair complexion with a wrinkled face, a sweet smile embraced with light brown hair and green eyes.
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