Jack Oakie

For the American art director active 1913–1959, see Jack Okey.

Jack Oakie
Oakie in 1941
Born	Lewis Delaney Offield (1903-11-12)November 12, 1903 Sedalia, Missouri, U.S.
Died	January 23, 1978(1978-01-23) (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1923–1971
Spouses	Venita Varden ​ ​ (m. 1936; div. 1945)​ Victoria Horne ​ ​ (m. 1950)​

Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940), receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Early life

Jack Oakie was born in Sedalia, Missouri, at 522 W. Seventh St. His father, James Madison Offield (1880–1939), was a grain dealer, and his mother, Evelyn Offield (nee Jump) (1868–1939), was a psychology teacher. When he was 5, the Offield family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma, the source of his "Oakie" nickname. His adopted first name, Jack, was the name of the first character he played on stage. Young Lewis/Jack grew up mostly in Oklahoma but also lived for periods of time with his grandmother in Kansas City, Missouri. While there he attended Woodland Elementary and made spending money as a paperboy for The Kansas City Star. He recalled years later that he made especially good money selling "extras" in November 1916 during the presidential election campaign that resulted in Woodrow Wilson being re-elected.

Early career

Oakie worked as a runner on Wall Street and narrowly escaped being killed in the Wall Street bombing of September 16, 1920. While in New York, he also started appearing in amateur theatre as a mimic and a comedian, finally making his professional debut on Broadway in 1923 as a chorus boy in a production of Little Nellie Kelly by George M. Cohan.

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. Oakie appeared in five silent films during 1927 and 1928. As the age of the "talkies" began, he signed with Paramount Pictures in 1927. He made his first talking film, The Dummy, in 1929.

Film career

When his contract with Paramount ended in 1934, Oakie decided to freelance. He was remarkably successful, appearing in 87 films, most made in the 1930s and 1940s. In the film Too Much Harmony (1933), the part of Oakie's on-screen mother was played by his real mother, Mary Evelyn Offield. During the 1930s, he was known as "The World's Oldest Freshman", as a result of appearing in numerous films with a collegiate theme. He was also known for refusing to wear screen make-up of any kind, and the frequent use of double-take in his comedy. Oakie was quoted as saying of his studio career:

The pictures I made were called the bread and butter pictures of the studio. They cost nothing and made millions, and supported the prestige productions that cost millions and made nothing.

Oakie portrayed Benzino Napaloni, the boisterous dictator of Bacteria, in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940), for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. This role was a broad parody of the fascist dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini, then in power.

With Tina Louise in The New Breed TV series, 1961.

Television and radio

Not being limited by a film studio contract, Oakie branched into radio and had his own radio show between 1936 and 1938.

Late in his career he appeared in various episodes of a number of television shows, including The Real McCoys (1963, three times as Uncle Rightly), Breaking Point (Episode #22 A Child of the Center Ring,1964), Daniel Boone (1966), and Bonanza (1966).

Personal life

Oakie was married twice. His first marriage to Venita Varden in 1936 ended in 1938 when Venita got an interlocutory decree of divorce. They reconciled, but finally divorced in 1944. She died in 1948 in the crash of United Airlines Flight 624 at Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania.

Oakie's second marriage was in 1950, to actress Victoria Horne, with whom he lived at "Oakridge" until his death in 1978.

Jack Oakie died on January 23, 1978, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 74 from an aortic aneurysm. His remains were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale in Los Angeles County.

Oakridge estate

Jack and Victoria Oakie lived their entire married life at "Oakridge", their 11-acre (4.5 ha) estate at 18650 Devonshire Street in Northridge, a suburb of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. They acquired the former "Marwyck" estate of actress Barbara Stanwyck in 1940. Stanwyck commissioned the original residence designed by Paul Williams. Oakie planted a citrus orchard and bred Afghan Hounds, at one time having up to 100 dogs on the property.

Victoria 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. After two failed attempts to develop the property, Oakridge was acquired by the City of Los Angeles in December, 2009. Oakridge is considered to be one of the last remnants of the large Northridge equestrian estates, famed for former thoroughbred breeding. The city plans to use the property as a park and community event center. The Paul Williams house and the grounds are Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #484.

Legacy

In 1981, the "Jack Oakie Lecture on Comedy in Film" was established as an annual event of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the inaugural presentation, Oakie was described as "a master of comic timing and a beloved figure in the industry."

The Jack Oakie Endowed Chair in Comedy at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California was established in 2003.

Jack Oakie's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6752 Hollywood Boulevard, and his hand and footprints can be found at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

A small display celebrating the comedy and fame of Jack Oakie is at Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. There is also a display case of his personal effects, jewelry, etc. at the Valley Relics Museum in Van Nuys, California. There is a plaque in the ground in front of the home where he was born in Sedalia, Missouri.

Jack Oakie is mentioned in the Coen Brothers film Barton Fink as the favorite actor of Charlie, a character played by John Goodman.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1923	His Children's Children	Minor Role	Uncredited Lost film
	Big Brother	Bit Part	Uncredited Lost film
1924	Classmates	Bit Part	Uncredited Lost film
1928	Finders Keepers	B.B.Brown
	Road House	Sam
	The Fleet's In	Searchlight Doyle	Lost film
	Someone to Love	Michael Casey	Lost film
1929	Sin Town	"Chicken" O'Toole
	The Dummy	Dopey Hart
	Chinatown Nights	The Reporter
	The Wild Party	Al
	Close Harmony	Ben Barney
	The Man I Love	Lew Layton
	Street Girl	Joe Spring	USA title: Barber John's Boy
	Hard to Get	Marty Martin
	Fast Company	Elmer Kane
	Sweetie	Tap-Tap Thompson
1930	Hit the Deck	Bilge	Lost film
	The Social Lion	Marco Perkins
	The Sap from Syracuse	Littleton Looney	aka The Sap from Abroad
	Let's Go Native	Voltaire McGinnis
	Paramount on Parade	Himself, as one of the MC's
	Sea Legs	Searchlight Doyle
1931	The Gang Buster	"Cyclone" Case
	June Moon	Frederick Martin Stevens
	Dude Ranch	Jennifer
	Touchdown	Babe Barton	UK title: Playing the Game
1932	Dancers in the Dark	Duke Taylor
	Sky Bride	Alec Dugan
	Make Me a Star	Himself	Uncredited
	Million Dollar Legs	Migg Tweeny
	Once in a Lifetime	George Lewis
	Madison Square Garden	Eddie Burke
	If I Had a Million	Pvt. Mulligan
	Uptown New York	Eddie Doyle
1933	From Hell to Heaven	Charlie Bayne
	Sailor Be Good	Kelsey Jones
	The Eagle and the Hawk	Mike Richards
	College Humor	Barney Shirrel
	Too Much Harmony	Benny Day
	Sitting Pretty	Chick Parker
	Alice in Wonderland	Tweedledum
1934	Looking for Trouble	Casey
	Murder at the Vanities	Jack Ellery
	Shoot the Works	Nicky Nelson	UK title: Thank Your Stars
	College Rhythm	Francis J. Finnegan
1935	The Call of the Wild	Shorty Hoolihan
	The Big Broadcast of 1936	Spud Miller
1936	King of Burlesque	Joe Cooney
	Collegiate	Jerry Craig	UK title: Charm School
	Colleen	Joe Cork
	Florida Special	Bangs Carter
	The Texas Rangers	Henry B. "Wahoo" Jones
	That Girl from Paris	Whammo Lonsdale
1937	Champagne Waltz	Happy Gallagher
	Super-Sleuth	Willard "Bill" Martin
	The Toast of New York	Luke
	Fight for Your Lady	Ham Hamilton
	Hitting a New High	Corny Davis
1938	Radio City Revels	Harry Miller
	The Affairs of Annabel	Lanny Morgan
	Annabel Takes a Tour	Lanny Morgan	aka Annabel Takes a Trip
	Thanks for Everything	Bates
1940	Young People	Joe Ballantine
	The Great Dictator	Benzino Napaloni	Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Tin Pan Alley	Harry Calhoun
	Little Men	Willie the Fox
1941	The Great American Broadcast	Chuck Hadley
	Navy Blues	Cake O'Hara
	Rise and Shine	Boley Bolenciecwcz
1942	Song of the Islands	Rusty Smith
	Iceland	Slip Riggs	UK title: Katina
1943	Something to Shout About	Larry Martin
	Hello Frisco, Hello	Dan Daley
	Wintertime	Skip Hutton
1944	It Happened Tomorrow	Uncle Oscar Smith, aka Gigolini
	The Merry Monahans	Pete Monahan
	Sweet and Low-Down	Popsy
	Bowery to Broadway	Michael O'Rourke
1945	That's the Spirit	Steve "Slim" Gogarty
	On Stage Everybody	Michael Sullivan
1946	She Wrote the Book	Jerry Marlowe
1948	Northwest Stampede	Mike Kirby (Clem)
	When My Baby Smiles at Me	Bozo Evans
1949	Thieves' Highway	Slob
1950	Last of the Buccaneers	Sgt. Dominick
1951	Tomahawk	Sol Beckworth	UK title: Battle of Powder River
1956	Around the World in 80 Days	Captain of the 'SS Henrietta'
1959	The Wonderful Country	Travis Hyte
1960	The Rat Race	Mac, Owner of Macs Bar
1961	Lover Come Back	J. Paxton Miller
1966	Daniel Boone (1964 TV series)	Otis Cobb	S3/E3 "Goliath"

Bibliography

• Jack Oakie (1980). Jack Oakie's Double Takes. Strawberry Hill Press. ISBN 0-89407-019-3. Autobiography published posthumously by Oakie's widow on January 1, 1980. 240 pages.
• Victoria Horne Oakie (1994). "Dear Jack": Hollywood birthday reminiscences to Jack Oakie. Strawberry Hill Press. ISBN 978-0-89407-113-3. Letters of congratulation and reminiscence sent from almost 150 celebrities to Jack Oakie in celebration of his 70th birthday. Compiled & edited by Mrs Oakie to commemorate his 90th birthday. 140 pages.

External links

• Jack Oakie discography at Discogs
• Jack Oakie at IMDb 
• Jack Oakie at the Internet Broadway Database
• Works by Jack Oakie at Open Library
• JACK OAKIE CELEBRATION OF COMEDY IN FILM at oscars.org
• Biography of Jack Oakie
• Movie Figures Hear Jack Oakie Eulogized as Genius of Comedy
• NY Times Biography of Jack Oakie Archived 2003-08-14 at the Wayback Machine
• Jack Oakie at Find a Grave
• Photographs of Jack Oakie