Editing Bob Hope (section)

== Other ventures ==
=== Academy Awards host ===
Hope was [[Master of Ceremonies|host]] of the Academy Awards ceremony 19 times between 1939 and 1977. His supposedly-feigned desire for an Oscar became part of his act.{{sfn|Grudens|2002|p=154}} While introducing the 1968 telecast, he quipped, "Welcome to the Academy Awards, or, as it's known at my house, [[Passover]]."{{sfn|McCaffrey|2005|p=56}} Although he was never nominated for an Oscar, the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] honored him with four honorary awards, and in 1960 presented him with the [[Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award]], given each year as part of the Oscars ceremony.

=== USO Involvement ===
[[File:BobHopeUSO.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Hope at a [[USO]] show]]
{{see also|United Service Organizations#Honoring Bob Hope|label 1=USO&nbsp;– Honoring Bob Hope}}
While aboard {{RMS|Queen Mary}} when World War II began in September 1939, Hope volunteered to perform a special show for the passengers, during which he sang "Thanks for the Memory" with rewritten lyrics.{{sfn|Friedrich|1986|p=26}} He performed his first USO show on May 6, 1941, at [[March Air Reserve Base|March Field]] in California,{{sfn|Grudens|2002|p=113}} and continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II, later during the [[Korean War]], the Vietnam War, the third phase of the [[Lebanon Civil War]], the latter years of the [[Iran–Iraq War]], and the [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]].{{sfn|Grudens|2002|pp=181–182}} His USO career lasted a half-century during which he headlined 57 times.{{sfn|Grudens|2002|pp=181–182}}

He had a deep respect for the men and women who served in the armed forces, and this was reflected in his willingness to go anywhere to entertain them.<ref name="King" /> However, during the highly controversial [[Vietnam War]], Hope had trouble convincing some performers to join him on tour, but he was accompanied on at least one USO tour by [[Ann-Margret]]. [[Opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War|Anti-war sentiment]] was high, and his pro-troop stance made him a target of criticism from some quarters. Some shows were drowned out by boos; others were listened to in silence.{{sfn|Grudens|2002|pp=251, 254, 258}}

The tours were funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, Hope's television sponsors, and by [[NBC]], the network that broadcast the television specials created after each tour from footage shot on location. However, the footage and shows were owned by Hope's own production company, which made them very lucrative ventures for him, as outlined by writer [[Richard Zoglin]] in his 2014 biography ''Hope: Entertainer of the Century''.

[[File:Bob hope lackland afb.jpg|thumb|upright|Hope at [[Lackland Air Force Base]] in Texas in 1990]]
[[File:Bob Hope and Ann Jillian.jpg|thumb|Hope and actress [[Ann Jillian]] perform in the USO Christmas Tour during [[Operation Desert Shield]], 1990]]

Hope sometimes recruited his own family members for USO travel. His wife, Dolores, sang from atop an armored vehicle during the Desert Storm tour, and granddaughter Miranda appeared alongside him on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean.<ref name="King"/> Of Hope's USO shows in World War II, novelist [[John Steinbeck]], who then was working as a war correspondent, wrote in 1943:

{{blockquote|sign=|source=|When the time for recognition of service to the nation in wartime comes to be considered, Bob Hope should be high on the list. This man drives himself and is driven. It is impossible to see how he can do so much, can cover so much ground, can work so hard, and can be so effective. He works month after month at a pace that would kill most people.{{sfn|Steinbeck|1958|p=65}}}}

Along with his best friend Bing Crosby, Hope was offered a commission in the United States Navy as lieutenant commander during World War II, but FDR intervened, believing it would be better for troop morale if they kept doing what they were doing by playing for ''all'' branches of military service.{{sfn|Hope|1990|p=119}}

For his service to his nation through the USO, he was awarded the [[Sylvanus Thayer Award]] by the [[United States Military Academy]] at West Point in 1968, the first entertainer to receive the award.<ref name="Thayer award"/><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=May 15, 1968|page=2|title=On The Campus Fronts}}</ref> A 1997 act of [[United States Congress|Congress]] signed by President [[Bill Clinton]] named Hope an "Honorary Veteran". He remarked, "I've been given many awards in my lifetime, but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most is the greatest honor I have ever received."{{sfn|Faith|2003|p=429}} In an homage to Hope, comedian/TV host [[Stephen Colbert]] carried a golf club on stage during the week of USO performances he taped for his TV show ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' during the 2009 season.<ref name="LA Times June 2009"/>

''Dear Bob...: Bob Hope's Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of World War II,'' written by Martha Bolton (first woman staff writer for Bob Hope) and Linda Hope (his eldest daughter), is a collection of some of his letter to the troops.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/D/Dear-Bob |title=Dear Bob}}</ref>

===Sports car racing===
During a short stint in 1960, Hope became a part owner of the [[Riverside International Raceway]] in [[Moreno Valley, California]], along with [[Los Angeles Rams]] co-owner Fred Levy Jr.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/23/obituaries/fred-levy-jr-football-team-owner-89.html |title=Fred Levy Jr.; Football Team Owner, 89 |agency=Associated Press |work=The New York Times |date=April 23, 1991 |access-date=February 7, 2025 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> and oil tycoon Ed Pauley for $800,000 (adjusted to $7.0 million in 2020). [[Les Richter]] was made president of the raceway.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-07-sp-405-story.html|title=Last Go-Round Recalls Legends of Famed Track : And Now, Riverside Roars Into History|date=August 7, 1988|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=April 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113032649/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-07-sp-405-story.html|archive-date=January 13, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>