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As a child, he attended P.S. 22 and left after the fourth grade due to economic reasons. Father of actor Ronnie Burns. Was a regular on the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts." He was even a guest of honor in 1978. At the time of his Oscar win, he was the oldest recipient of an Oscar. He was 80 when he won the 1976 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for The Sunshine Boys (1975). This record was surpassed by Jessica Tandy in 1990. However, as of 2007 he still is the oldest recipient of an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Actually wore a hairpiece for most of his performing career; appears briefly without it in The Sunshine Boys (1975). Took the name "Burns" from the Burns Brothers Coal Company, whose trucks he'd stolen lumps from growing up, to help heat the family home. "George" was a sobriquet his brother occasionally used. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 78-80. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387 In the beginning of their partnership, Gracie Allen played the straight character and Burns had the funny lines. When he realized Gracie got more laughs, he switched their roles. Discovered Ann-Margret and made her his opening act in Las Vegas. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 82-84. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. In the movie 18 Again! (1988) Burns' character celebrates his 81st birthday, although Burns himself was already 92 years old. Was very good friends with Harpo Marx. The whales in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) were named George and Gracie after Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen. According to Phyllis Diller's autobiography "Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse", in the late 1960s Broadway producer David Merrick approached Burns with the idea of him playing Horace Vandergelder in "Hello, Dolly!" with his good friend Jack Benny in drag as Dolly Levi. The intention was to turn Broadway on its ear and revive flagging interest in the show, which had been running since 1964, originally with Carol Channing as Dolly Levi. This idea never came to fruition. (Diller did appear in the show for 3 months in 1970.). Pictured with wife Gracie Allen on a 44¢ USA commemorative postage stamp, issued 11 August 2009, in the Early TV Memories issue honoring "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" (1950).