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DANNY KAYE: UNICEF'S JESTER (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 8th March 2025
Michael Freedland tells the story of Danny Kaye.
One of the world's greatest entertainers, Kaye also became the first Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.
Featuring:
David Puttenham
Roger Moore
Sylvia Fine
Larry Gelbart
Anton Mosimann
Alfred Marx
Danny died in 1987 aged 76.
Producer: Libby Cross
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2007.
CONVERSATION EXTRA - DANNY KAYE (320kbs-m4a/55mb/24mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 8th March 2025
Hollywood star Danny Kaye talks to Tony Thomas about his career acting in films like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, as well as campaigning for UNICEF.
The son of Ukrainian immigrants (then part of Russia), Danny Kaye was born in New York in 1913 – and died in Los Angeles in 1987 aged 76.
He was a multitalented actor, comedian, singer and dancer. He began his career as an entertainer in hotels. His quicksilver thinking led him to play multiple roles in the same film, as twins or look-alikes, including Wonder Man (1945), On the Riviera (1951) and On the Double (1961).
Danny Kaye's best remembered for starring in the biopic Hans Christian Andersen (1952), and as song and dance double act with Bing Crosby in White Christmas (1954).
He toured his one man comedy and music show to brilliant reviews. Later in life he became known for his charity and humanitarian work with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
One of a series of classic in depth, long-form interviews unearthed by 4 Extra from tapes deep in the BBC archives.
This 24 minute version is all that survives in the archive of an original 40 minute interview.
Producer: Michael Raper
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1969.