At a glance
- Age
- 55
- Born
- November 4, 1879
- From
- Oologah
- Nationality
- United States
Biography
The quips that still circulate — dry, plain-spoken jabs at politics and public life — came from a man who wrote more than 4,000 syndicated newspaper columns and delivered his commentary to a national audience through the 1920s and 30s. By the middle of that decade he was hugely popular in the United States for his political wit, and he was also one of the better-paid stars working in Hollywood.
He was born in 1879 in Oologah, in the Indian Territory that later became Oklahoma, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. The nickname that stuck to him, "Oklahoma's Favorite Son", came from that beginning. His working life ran through vaudeville, acting and humorous social commentary, and it took him around the world three times. He appeared in 71 films.
In August 1935 he was flying with the aviator Wiley Post when their small aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Utqiaġvik, in northern Alaska. Both men died. He was 55.
He was born in 1879 in Oologah, in the Indian Territory that later became Oklahoma, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. The nickname that stuck to him, "Oklahoma's Favorite Son", came from that beginning. His working life ran through vaudeville, acting and humorous social commentary, and it took him around the world three times. He appeared in 71 films.
In August 1935 he was flying with the aviator Wiley Post when their small aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Utqiaġvik, in northern Alaska. Both men died. He was 55.
