Reviewing that 1985 film, John J. O'Connor said in The New York Times that Mr. Gleason was ''flashy, expansive, shamelessly sentimental'' and concluded that he and Mr. Carney remained ''delightful old pros. But when Jackie Gleason was brilliant, it was, in part, because he had brilliant people around him writing, producing and directing. He was 65 years old. [41], Although another plane was prepared for the passengers, Gleason had enough of flying. On the night of December14, 1925, Gleason's father disposed of any family photos in which he appeared; just after noon on December15, he collected his hat, coat, and paycheck, and permanently left his family and job at the insurance company. Born in Brooklyn. His pals at Lindy's watched him spend money as fast as he soaked up the booze. Rhapsody", "On the Beach" and "To a Sleeping Beauty", among numerous Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. He went into downtown Tulsa, walked into a hardware store, and asked its owner to lend him $200 for the train trip to New York. Gleason, who brightened television's Golden Age as bus driver Ralph Kramden on ''The Honeymooners'' and won an Academy Award nomination as a pool player in ''The June 25, 1987 MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) _ Jackie Gleason and his TV show entourage gave Miami Beach six years of showbiz glamour that changed the face of South Florida, tourism and business officials say. They were divorced in 1971. Gleason wrote, produced and starred in Gigot (1962), in which he played a poor, mute janitor who befriended and rescued a prostitute and her small daughter. Among the things he wanted to do was to enjoy himself, and he did that mightily: His huge appetite for food -he could eat five lobsters at a sitting -sometimes pushed his weight up toward 300 pounds. His last film performance was opposite Tom Hanks in the Garry Marshall-directed Nothing in Common (1986), a success both critically and financially. They will now each receive one-third of his estate, rather than one-fourth. Honeymooners' star Sheila MacRae dies They included the society playboy Reginald van Gleason, Joe the Bartender, Charlie the Loudmouth and Ralph Kramden, the fumbling, blustering bus driver. Elaine Stritch had played the role as a tall and attractive blonde in the first sketch but was quickly replaced by Randolph.