Jack Oakie

Jack Oakie, born Lewis Delaney Offield on November 12, 1903, in Sedalia, Missouri, was an American actor whose career spanned Broadway, film, radio, and television. His father, James Madison Offield, worked as a grain dealer, and his mother, Evelyn Offield, was a psychology teacher. When Oakie was five, the family relocated to Muskogee, Oklahoma, a move that gave rise to his "Oakie" nickname. He spent much of his youth in Oklahoma, with periods living at his grandmother's home in Kansas City, Missouri, where he attended Woodland Elementary and sold newspapers for The Kansas City Star. He later recalled earning particularly strong income selling election extras in November 1916, when Woodrow Wilson won re-election to the presidency.

Before entering show business, Oakie worked as a runner on Wall Street and was present in the vicinity of the Wall Street bombing on September 16, 1920. During his time in New York he began performing in amateur theatre as a mimic and comedian. His professional stage debut came in 1923 as a chorus boy in Little Nellie Kelly, a production by George M. Cohan. His first name, Jack, was taken from the name of the first character he played on stage. His Broadway work continued through 1927 and included the production Innocent, which ran during the 1924–1925 season, as well as the musical Artists and Models.

In 1927, Oakie left Broadway for Hollywood, arriving at the tail end of the silent film era and appearing in five silent pictures during 1927 and 1928. He signed with Paramount Pictures in 1927, and made his first talking film, The Dummy, in 1929. When his Paramount contract concluded in 1934, he transitioned to freelance work and went on to appear in 87 films, the majority produced during the 1930s and 1940s. His frequent appearances in college-themed pictures during the 1930s earned him the informal title "The World's Oldest Freshman." He was also known for refusing to wear screen makeup and for his repeated use of the double-take as a comedic device. In the 1933 film Too Much Harmony, the role of his character's mother was played by his actual mother, Mary Evelyn Offield.

Oakie's most celebrated film performance came in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator in 1940, in which he portrayed Benzino Napaloni, the dictator of Bacteria, a character conceived as a broad parody of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. The role earned Oakie a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Between 1936 and 1938, he hosted his own radio program, and later in his career he appeared in television episodes including three appearances on The Real McCoys in 1963 as Uncle Rightly, a 1964 episode of Breaking Point, and episodes of Daniel Boone and Bonanza, both in 1966.

Oakie married actress Venita Varden in 1936. The couple separated in 1938 when Varden obtained an interlocutory decree of divorce, later reconciled, and ultimately divorced in 1944. Varden died in 1948 in the crash of United Airlines Flight 624 at Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. In 1950, Oakie married actress Victoria Horne. The couple lived at their eleven-acre estate in Northridge, California, known as "Oakridge," located at 18650 Devonshire Street in the San Fernando Valley. The property had previously been the "Marwyck" estate of actress Barbara Stanwyck, and its original residence was designed by architect Paul Williams. Oakie planted a citrus orchard on the grounds and bred Afghan Hounds, at one point keeping as many as 100 dogs on the property. The Paul Williams house and grounds are designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument number 484.

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 in Glendale. Following his death, Victoria Oakie bequeathed the Oakridge estate to the University of Southern California, which subsequently sold it to developers. The City of Los Angeles acquired the property in December 2009 with plans to use it as a park and community event center.

His legacy has been recognized through several institutional honors. In 1981, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences established the annual Jack Oakie Lecture on Comedy in Film. In 2003, the Jack Oakie Endowed Chair in Comedy was created at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. Oakie has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6752 Hollywood Boulevard, and his hand and footprints are preserved at Grauman's Chinese Theater. A plaque marks the site of his birth home in Sedalia, Missouri. His autobiography, Jack Oakie's Double Takes, was published posthumously in 1980 by his widow through Strawberry Hill Press.