Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie "Gracie" Allen

Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie "Gracie" Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964)

She became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns. Her year of birth is in dispute, but is likely between 1895 and 1902, she was born in San Francisco and public records there were destroyed in the great earthquake and fire of 1906. That actually became one of her signature jokes, a dialogue in which Allen would claim that she was born in 1906, her foil would press her for proof or corroborating information; she would say that her birth certificate had been destroyed in the earthquake, her foil would point out that she was born in July but the earthquake was three months earlier in April, and Allen would simply smile and reply "Well, it was an awfully big earthquake." The Burns and Allen act began with Allen as the straight man, setting up Burns to deliver the punchlines, and get the laughs. In his book Gracie: A Love Story Burns later explained that he noticed Allen's straight lines were getting more laughs than his punchlines, so he cannily flipped the act over, he made himself the straight man and let her get the laughs. The pair moved into radio, television, and even appeared in a few films. Gracie Allen fought a long battle with heart disease, ultimately dying of a heart attack in 1964. Her remains were interred in a crypt at the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. When George died in 1996, he was interred with her.