At 19, Jackie Gleason left his mother’s wake with almost nothing. He found subway fare in his pocket and walked out of the Brooklyn apartment where Mae Gleason had raised him alone. His older brother had died when he was three. His father left when he was nine and never returned. After Mae died, there was no parent waiting and no diploma. He moved in with other performers and looked for nightclub work. Some nights dinner was hot water and free cafeteria condiments. Born Herbert John Gleason on February 26, 1916, he quit high school at 16, hung around poolrooms, and took a job as a theater master of ceremonies for four dollars a night. After his mother died, comedy had to pay the rent. His first club job nearly ended when he bombed and was fired. He returned for the second set, won the crowd, and stayed. Jack Warner signed him in 1941, but Hollywood did not make him a star. He returned east, worked clubs and Broadway, and tried television. The Life of Riley lasted one season. On Cavalcade of Stars he began building characters from the people he knew. Ralph Kramden changed everything. CBS made him a star. Then came the 39 filmed episodes of The Honeymooners. When the series ended, he stopped rather than weaken it. He also made music. Music for Lovers Only spent 153 weeks in Billboard’s Top 10. He won a Tony Award for Take Me Along and earned an Oscar nomination as Minnesota Fats in The Hustler. The teenager from the pool halls now held the screen with a cue and a stare. He had two daughters with Genevieve Halford. Later marriages followed, the last to Marilyn Taylor. At 61 he found another big audience as Sheriff Buford T. Justice in Smokey and the Bandit. His final film was Nothing in Common with Tom Hanks. Jackie Gleason died of cancer on June 24, 1987, at 71, with Marilyn beside him. His daughters had visited days earlier. The boy who once left with almost nothing did not leave alone. He spent a lifetime turning loneliness into laughter. ❤️