Bob Hope

On his wartime USO tours he had one ironclad rule that he insisted his fellow performers follow: under no circumstances were they allowed to cry when visiting wounded soldiers in military hospitals. This was often difficult given the amount of suffering they saw, but he told his performers that it was their duty to always smile and provide laughs and good cheer for the troops. According to Hope, he broke his own rule only once. While visiting an army hospital in Italy in 1943, he stopped at the bedside of a wounded soldier who had been in a coma for two months. The soldier suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Hey, Bob Hope! When did you get here?" He had to leave the hospital room to keep the troops from seeing his tears, but he returned a few hours later to present the soldier with his Purple Heart medal.
Despite a well documented reputation for frugality, Hope is believed to have donated an estimated $1 billion to charity.
In 1997 Congress named Hope an honorary U.S. veteran, citing his decades of entertaining troops around the world. He is the only person to receive that distinction.
Has entertained the troops overseas in every war from WWII to the Gulf War
He was the only entertainer to have complete carte blanche to walk on whenever he felt like it on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).

[on being told he was being awarded an honorary knighthood] What an honor and what a surprise for a boy born in England, raised in Cleveland and schooled in vaudeville.
Golf is my real profession--show business pays my greens fees.
You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.
[on his 100th birthday] I'm so old, they've canceled my blood type.
[at the height of the Cold War] We had a very successful trip to Russia. We made it back.