George Burns — comedian with roots in the Russian Empire
George Burns was one of America's most beloved entertainers — a comedian, actor, and writer whose career spanned nearly nine decades from vaudeville to his Oscar-winning performance in The Sunshine Boys at age 79. His deadpan timing and cigar-in-hand persona made him a permanent fixture of American comedy.
Tracing the roots — Austria / Russia
Born Nathan Birnbaum in New York in 1896 to Lippe and Hadassah Birnbaum, Jewish immigrants from Austria and Russia (Russian Empire), he grew up in the tenements of the Lower East Side. The vaudeville stage was his escape from poverty, and the Russian-Jewish immigrant hunger to entertain drove him to perform well into his tenth decade.
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Austria / Russia. At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
A career defined by ambition
"You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old."