Editing Jack Benny (section)

== Final years ==
[[File:Jack benny special january 1974.JPG|thumb|Benny in [[Mod (subculture)|mod]] attire on his January 1974 special]]
After his broadcasting career ended, Benny performed live as a violinist<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcOkEBpaDJw | title=What's My Line? Jack Benny; Vincent Edwards; Panel: Phyllis Newman, Tony Randall (Jun 5, 1966) | website=[[YouTube]] | date=January 28, 2015 }}</ref> and as a standup comedian.

In the 1960s, Benny was the headlining act at Harrah's Lake Tahoe with trumpeter [[Harry James]], clown [[Emmett Kelly]] and singer [[Ray Vasquez]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Lyons |first=Leonard |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1960-08-12/ed-1/seq-27/ |title=The Lyon's Den |work=The Evening Star |location=Washington, D.C. |date=1960 |page=B-7 |access-date=2022-01-20 }}</ref>

Benny made one of his final television appearances on January 23, 1974, as a guest on ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'', during which he recreated several classic radio skits with Mel Blanc<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw7rIQrO5II| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211107/Pw7rIQrO5II| archive-date=2021-11-07 | url-status=live|title="Tonight Show" aired 01/23/74|website=[[YouTube]]|access-date=October 5, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> the day before his final television special aired. Benny was preparing to star in the film version of [[Neil Simon]]'s ''[[The Sunshine Boys (1975 film)|The Sunshine Boys]]'' when his health failed later the same year. He prevailed upon his longtime best friend, [[George Burns]], to take his place on a nightclub tour while preparing for the film. Burns ultimately had to replace Benny in the film as well, going on to win an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for his performance.

Benny made one last appearance on ''The Tonight Show'' <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52ET5s-vb_4| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211107/52ET5s-vb_4| archive-date=2021-11-07 | url-status=live|title=1974 – Jack Benny's Last TV Appearance|website=[[YouTube]]| date=July 23, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> on August 21, 1974, with [[Rich Little]] as guest host. According to his own statement during that appearance, Benny was still expecting to star in ''The Sunshine Boys''. He also made several appearances on ''[[The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast]]'' in his final 18 months, roasting [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Johnny Carson]], [[Bob Hope]] and [[Lucille Ball]], in addition to himself being roasted in February 1974.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} The Lucille Ball roast, his last public performance, aired on February 7, 1975, several weeks after his death.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Monush|first=Barry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNCGDwAAQBAJ&q=lucille+ball+roast+jack+benny&pg=PT420|title=Lucille Ball FAQ: Everything Left to Know About America's Favorite Redhead|year=2011|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-55783-940-4|language=en}}</ref>

===Death===
[[File:Jack Benny Grave.JPG|thumb|Tomb of Jack Benny, at Hillside Memorial Park]]
In October 1974, Benny cancelled a performance in Dallas after suffering a dizzy spell, coupled with numbness in his arms. Despite a battery of tests, Benny's ailment could not be determined. When he complained of stomach pains in early December, a first test showed nothing, but a subsequent examination showed that he had inoperable [[pancreatic cancer]]. Benny went into a coma at home on December 22, 1974.<ref name=book/>{{rp|293–294}} While in a coma, he was visited by close friends, including [[George Burns]], [[Bob Hope]], [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Johnny Carson]], [[John Rowles]] and then Governor [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/28/archives/jack-benny-80-dies-of-cancer-on-coast-jack-benny-80-dies-of-cancer.html|title=Jack Benny, 80, Dies of Cancer on Coast|first=Richard F.|last=Shepard|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 28, 1974|access-date=October 5, 2020|archive-date=August 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820125058/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/28/archives/jack-benny-80-dies-of-cancer-on-coast-jack-benny-80-dies-of-cancer.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He died on December 26, 1974, at age 80.

His funeral at [[Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery]] in [[Culver City, California]] on December 29 had 1,800 attendees; it was the biggest funeral for a Hollywood personality since [[Harry Cohn]] in 1958.<ref name=service>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Daily Variety]]|page=1|last=Archerd|first=Army|author-link=Army Archerd|title=More Than 1800 Attend Hillside Memorial Park Services For Jack Benny}}</ref> Burns, Benny's best friend for more than fifty years, attempted to deliver a eulogy but broke down shortly after he began and was unable to continue. Hope also delivered a eulogy in which he stated, "For a man who was the undisputed master of comedic timing, you would have to say this is the only time when Jack Benny's timing was all wrong. He left us much too soon."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNRptoRrpBk Jack Benny's Funeral at Hillside Memorial Park] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526104000/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNRptoRrpBk |date=May 26, 2015 }} YouTube. Retrieved February 1, 2015.</ref> [[Pallbearer]]s included Sinatra, [[Mervyn LeRoy]], [[Gregory Peck]], [[Milton Berle]], [[Billy Wilder]], [[Irving Fein]], [[Leonard Gershe]], [[Fred de Cordova]] and [[Armand Deutsch]].<ref name=service/> Benny was interred in the main mausoleum of the cemetery.<ref name=service/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OPRKEpwjfLQC&q=jack+benny+hillside+memorial&pg=PA362|title=Hollywood: The Movie Lover's Guide: The Ultimate Insider Tour of Movie L.A.|first=Richard|last=Alleman|year= 2013|publisher=Crown/Archetype|isbn=9780804137775|via=Google Books}}</ref> His will arranged for a single long-stemmed red [[rose]] to be delivered to his widow, Mary Livingstone, every day for the rest of her life.<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/glurge/jackbenny.asp Posthumous Roses] snopes.com. Retrieved February 1, 2015.</ref> Livingstone died eight and a half years later on June 30, 1983, at the age of 78.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Obituaries|date=July 6, 1983|work=Variety|issue=10|volume=311|page=78|id={{ProQuest| }} }}</ref>

In trying to explain his successful life, Benny summed it up by stating: "Everything good that happened to me happened by accident. I was not filled with ambition nor fired by a drive toward a clear-cut goal. I never knew exactly where I was going."<ref name=book/>{{rp|301}}

Upon his death, Benny's family donated his personal, professional and business papers, as well as a collection of his television shows, to [[UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television|UCLA]]. The university established the Jack Benny Award for Comedy in his honor in 1977 to recognize outstanding people in the field of comedy. [[Johnny Carson]] was the first award recipient.<ref>Brent Lang, [http://www.thewrap.com/article/apatow-recieves-jack-benny-award-17560 Apatow to Receive Jack Benny Award] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100521162612/http://www.thewrap.com/article/apatow-recieves-jack-benny-award-17560 |date=May 21, 2010 }}, ''TheWrap.com'', Map 19, 2010</ref> Benny also donated a [[Stradivarius]] violin (purchased in 1957) to the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qKwwAAAAIBAJ&pg=5498,7923419&dq=benny+stradivarius+philharmonic&hl=en|title=Benny's Violins Given to Philharmonic|work=Lakeland Ledger|date=October 29, 1975|access-date=January 31, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Watkins|first=Nancy|title=Now cut that out!|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=February 13, 2005|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/02/13/now-cut-that-out-2/|access-date=January 31, 2015}}</ref> Benny had quipped, "If it isn't a $30,000 Strad, I'm out $120."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7chOAAAAIBAJ&pg=4277,2931739&dq=benny+stradivarius&hl=en|title=Sour Note – Before He Plays|work=The Deseret News|date=November 13, 1964|author=Lundstrom, Harold|access-date=January 31, 2015|archive-date=November 25, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125061735/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7chOAAAAIBAJ&pg=4277%2C2931739&dq=benny%20stradivarius&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref>