• LIFE

Jackie Gleason’s Centennial: How the Comedian Became ‘Mr. Saturday Night’

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The mood of the photo essay is a strange one: Jackie Gleason’s soon-to-be hit show The Honeymooners was about to hit the airwaves, but the star’s look in the pages of that 1955 issue of LIFE was melancholy. The entertainer, as the magazine explained, had “just become, by financial standards at least, history’s greatest comedian.” He was raking in millions between his weekly Jackie Gleason Show and new contracts with Buick and CBS for The Honeymooners. “No other actor in the world,” the magazine declared, “ever had it so good as this 39-year-old, Brooklyn-born comedian with a 265-pound body, a bellowing voice and a superb instinct for theater.”

But Gleason, who was born 100 years ago on Feb. 26, 1916, was an exacting perfectionist behind the scenes. He often found himself managing feelings of despondency when his team failed to meet expectations:

All he wants from his writers, besides sympathy, is one single 65-page script a week; it need only be funny, original, human, fast-moving and honestly motivated. From his cast he expects only that they be able to memorize the script letter-perfect after he has revised it from beginning to end, sometimes on the afternoon of the show. As to the musicians, cameramen, dancers, designers and others of his staff, his sole request is that they outperform any others in the business.

This meticulous side may have come as a surprise to some of LIFE’s readers, who were certainly more familiar with Gleason’s outsize public persona than with his private self—but one doesn’t earn the nickname “Mr. Saturday Night” without outworking his competitors. And though he was gravely serious on set, Gleason had no trouble celebrating the finer things (like custom-made suits, fine cuisine and generous helpings of scotch) during his downtime. Of the comedian, who died in 1987 at 71, LIFE wrote: “A man of boundless appetite, Gleason figures that you only live once and might as well live it up.”

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Jackie Gleason on the set of The Honeymooners, 1955.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Jack Benny plays violin in a hotel room while Jackie Gleason looks on, 1955. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Caption from LIFE. Script change is made right on set even though skit is practically ready to go on air.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Caption from LIFE. Swollen ankles which have been soaked in dressing room tub are rested as Gleason rehearses one of Honeymooners skits with Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Andrews.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Jackie Gleason performs in his TV show, The Honeymooners.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Jackie Gleason on the set of The Honeymooners.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Caption from LIFE. Absorbed listener, Gleason turns his back on dancers called to rehearse for his show and hangs dreamily over phonograph playing one of his own records.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Caption from LIFE. Part-time "bon-vivant," who now goes out rarely, Gleason is more interested in joking with executive director Jack Philbin than in Latin Quarter chorus.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Caption from LIFE. An unimpressed Gleason watches monitor screen as dancers rehearse and choreographer June Taylor awaits his unpredictable verdict.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Caption from LIFE. Moment to rest is taken on way to studio with his cast and Manager "Bullets" Durgom.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The Honeymooners actor Jackie Gleason in 1954.
Caption from LIFE. Solitary composer sits at his ornate spinet creating chords by trial and error until he finds one that will soothe his soul and maybe sell some records.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com