Danny Kaye was one of the most successful actors and comedians of his time, and a genuine polymath. He once said “Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can at it.” And that’s precisely what he did.
He was almost entirely self-taught in a number of complex disciplines to the point where, if he had actually wanted to formally pursue any of them as a career, he could have done so.
At a young age he became fascinated by medicine and surgery. He grew up poor, and when his mother died when he was a young teen, Danny (born David Daniel Kaminsky) had to quit high school to get a job, so going to college and medical school was out of the question. But he read medical books, and as his success and fame in the entertainment world grew, he befriended a great many doctors, including one of the preeminent heart surgeons of the day, Dr. Michael DeBakey, whom he would pepper with well-informed questions.
Kaye would often go to hospitals to observe surgeries from the viewing gallery, and on a number of occasions, he would be allowed to stand amongst the doctors and nurses as they performed the procedures, and at least a few times he was allowed to help sew the sutures into the patients! He spoke with such knowledge about medical science, many doctors invariably asked him which medical school he had attended. Ultimately, Kaye was given honorary memberships in both the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
He took up golf for relaxation and exercise, and became so good at it, many professionals said he could have gone pro and won big prize money. He eventually gave up playing because it wasn’t enough of a challenge for him, and thus was not the diversion from other cares that he sought.
He became interested in flying, got his pilot’s license, and proceeded to master flying virtually every type of plane available, up to and including jumbo passenger jetliners.
Although he never completed high school, he was self-taught in business, and personally oversaw a number of highly lucrative investments, including radio stations, a recording studio, and part ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.
He had a lifelong interest in cooking, and later in his life he studied the art of Chinese cooking. I don’t mean the Chinese you get at your local carryout, but rather genuine traditional cuisine. He trained under professional Mandarin chefs in San Francisco, and was so enthusiastic about his cooking, he had elaborate Chinese kitchens built into his home in California, and another in his apartment in New York City.
Additionally, in his California home, he had built, adjacent to the kitchen, a complete Chinese restaurant, and he would invite guests over for dinners which he would prepare himself from scratch, served by Chinese waitresses hired for the evening. He became so well versed in the art that eventually he was sought out to teach others how to properly prepare traditional dishes. Kaye’s cooking was so highly regarded, he remains to this day the only non-professional chef to receive the prestigious Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France honor.
His longtime charitable work with UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) was very nearly as well known in the 1950s and 1960s as his entertainment successes. He wasn’t simply the celebrity face of the organization…he threw himself into the work, traveled the world, helped raise millions of dollars in donations, and intimately educated himself about just about every facet of the organization and its mission.
When UNICEF received the Nobel Peace Prize, the United Nations asked Kaye to be the one to accept it and make the formal speech.
Danny Kaye tends to be a forgotten figure today, a hazily-remembered movie comic at most, recalled best when White Christmas comes on TV. But he was without a doubt one of the most fascinating individuals of his time.