TCM to Celebrate 100th Birthday of DANNY KAYE, 1/20

Related: TCM

TVGuide.com reports that Turner Classic Movies will honor legendary entertainer Danny Kaye on what would have been his 100th birthday, January 20th. The channel will air a 24-hour marathon of his films beginning at 6am/5c.

The line-up will include Up in Arms, Hans Christian Anderson, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Court Jester. Also in the broadcast will be an episode of Kaye's Emmy-winning 1963-67 variety series The Danny Kaye Show and his 90-minute interview with Dick Cavett from 1971.

Dena Kaye, the comedian's only child who is leading a host of celebratory events in honor of her father commented, "So many people say, 'Who? What? He's dead! Who cares? There are probably three generations unaware of my father. A lot of people know White Christmas but it's been my dream to introduce them to the rest of his work. I want them to know he was the coolest!"

Among the other events honoring Kaye will be tributes at Lincoln Center, the Paley Center, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as a UNICEF humanitarian award and the kick off of a Danny Kaye website by the Library of Congress.

"He was a very modest man," Dena says of her late fathr. "He'd have been much more thrilled about the recognition from UNICEF because he gave his life to the organization. He'd be pleased by the reminder that we all need to help others."

"My father and I never discussed his work, which is something I deeply regret," Dena says. "I guess I was just too young and too shy to ask about it. But, boy, I sure could tell you what he thought about his golf swing, or baseball, or his love for flying planes or his cooking. He'd much rather talk about the great hole-in-the-wall restaurants he'd discovered than talk about Danny Kaye, the performer. He was such an authentic person. Nothing phony about him. His career was just one of the many things he did well."

Danny Kaye was an actor, singer, dancer and comedian. He was inexhaustibly gifted. Best known for film performances in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Hans Christian Andersen, The Court Jester, and White Christmas, Kaye was equally as popular on Broadway, in productions like Lady in the Dark, and for his CBS television specials and variety hour. His one-man stage show wowed audiences in Las Vegas, New York and London, where his reception was described as "worshipful hysteria" by Life magazine.