Hollywood Memorial

An American comedian, singer, actor, songwriter familiar to Broadway, radio and early television audiences, this ‘Apostle of Pep’ was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing antics about his wife Ida and five children. His eye-rolling song-and-dance routines eventually led to his nickname, Banjo Eyes. Cantor’s eyes became his trademark, often exaggerated in illustrations, and leading to his appearance on Broadway in the musical ‘Banjo Eyes’ (1941). He was President of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) [1933-1935], and invented the name ‘March of Dimes’ for the donation campaigns of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (polio). He began the first campaign on his own radio show in January 1938, asking people to mail a dime to the nation’s most famous polio victim, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Other entertainers joined in the appeal via their own shows and the White House was deluged with 2,680,000 dimes. Cantor received a Special Academy Award in 1956 for distinguished service to the film industry. He is in a crypt at Hillside Memorial Cemetery.