Name	Eddie Cantor (Edward Israel Iskovitz)
Eye Color	Brown - Dark
Hair Color	Black
Date of Birth	January 31, 1892
Birthplace	New York City
Star Sign	Aquarius
Died	October 10, 1964 (Aged 72)
Location of Death	Beverly Hills, CA
Cause of Death	heart failure
Nationality	United States
Ethnicity	White
Religion	Jewish
Occupation	Actor
Celebrity Index	Ed
Claim to Fame	Banjo Eyes
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Trivia and Quotes

Quotes

Making light of losing most of his money in the stock market crash, 1929: "Well, folks, they got me in the market just like they got everybody else. In fact, they`re not calling it the stock market any more. They`re calling it the stuck market."

[After attending the premiere of the film The Eddie Cantor Story (1953)] "If that was my life, I didn`t live."

[on Al Jolson] He was more than just a singer or an actor. He was an experience.

[On happiness] "Slow down and enjoy life. It`s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why."

Trivia

At one time, when the rights to The Wizard of Oz (1939) were owned by Samuel Goldwyn, Cantor was considered for the role of the Scarecrow. Goldwyn eventually sold the rights to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Both his parents died before he was a year old, and he was adopted and raised by his maternal grandmother, Esther Lazarowitz Kantrowitz, who died on January 29, 1917, two days before he signed a long-term contract with Florenz Ziegfeld to appear in his `Follies`. "Kantrowitz" was the name mistakenly assigned to the boy instead of his actual name, Iskowitz, by a public school registrar. It was shortened to Cantor. Eddie was the nickname given him by his girlfriend, Ida Tobias, whom he later married.

Eddie Cantor was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2000.

Following his financial loss in the stock market crash of 1929, Eddie Cantor wrote a short humorous book entitled, "Caught Short."

He invented the name "March of Dimes" for the donation campaigns of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (polio), a play on the "March of Time" newsreels. 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 mail room was deluged with 2,680,000 dimes.

Often ate the breakfast staple cornflakes and milk for dinner at fancy restaurants. It had been the foodstuff he could afford as an up-and-coming comedian, and due to some personal quirk, he preferred it even after he was rich and famous.

President of Screen Actors Guild (SAG). [1933-1935]

Received a Special Academy Award in 1956 for distinguished service to the film industry.

Theme song: "One Hour With You."

• Eddie Cantor and Ida Tobias Cantor
• Eddie Cantor and Clara Bow

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