Are you sure? Well after seeing a photo of his Chinese kitchen it got me thinking, "Wow, do I really know Danny Kaye?"

Danny_Kaye_2

Once I began reading I realized there's a lot I didn't know about him. For instance, he's an original owner of the Seattle Mariners baseball team. Before that he was a lifelong fan of the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers and recorded a song called The D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song.

He left school at 13 to pursue a career in acting.

He also had a longstanding interest in medicine and was permitted to observe surgery on several occasions.

Over the course of his career he raised over $5,000,000 in support of musicians pension funds.

It is rumored that he had an affair with Sir Laurence Olivier in the 50s, while both were married, that spanned 10 years . 

Danny (Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The)_01

He was infected with Hepatitis C from a blood transfusion while undergoing heart bypass surgery in 1983. Four years later he died of a heart attack.

The theater and demonstration kitchen underneath the library at the
Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York is named for him.

He loved cooking.

Danny kayes kitchen

“My father’s Chinese kitchen was his private theater,” wrote Danny
Kaye’s daughter, Dena Kaye, about the room her father loved most in the
family’s Beverly Hills residence. “He was the same entertainer at the
stove as he was on stage. Audrey Hepburn said it was like watching a
great ballet dancer. Rudolf Nureyev described him as ‘a balletic
matador.’ Everyone got up to watch him cook (he never sat down until
dessert), and once he’d carefully plated a dish and put it on the
table, he’d bellow, like a drill sergeant, ‘Don’t look at it! Eat it!’”

And he had a gorgeous dining room in which to eat all that yummy food with guests like Shirley MacLaine, Cary Grant, Michael Caine, and Itzhak Perlman…

Danny 

I love how all of the greenery outside continues inside with the wallpaper and green chairs.

He lived a rich life.

 

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6 responses to “Do You Know Danny Kaye?”

  1. Di Overton Avatar

    Wow fascinating. How did you find all this out?

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  2. Visual Vamp Avatar

    Just fabulous!
    Hollywood actors of this era had real personalities, didn’t’ they?
    Now it’s all manufactured cookie cutter reality TV celebs.
    Thanks for sharing this!
    xo xo

    Like

  3. Sylvie Avatar

    Bonjour Di, Some of it came from Wikipedia and some from Architectural Digest. I mean to put those links in the post.
    I couldn’t agree with you more V-V.

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  4. Sandy Avatar

    What a wonderful post!

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  5. Kyle Harrison Avatar

    That kitchen looks terrific! The ambiance is perfect for a Sunday morning coffee or tea. The green accents on the wall did the trick; the bamboo effect gives the room a light, breezy feeling. A few bamboos outside should also compliment the walls.

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  6. Mike Avatar

    I love how not only is the wall paper a bit green but the chairs are too.

    Like

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