Although Danny Kaye was a world-class musical comedian, he was also known as a tireless crusader for various charities, particularly UNICEF. The Brooklyn-born Kaye got his start as a Borscht Belt entertainer in the 1920s, drawing on his prodigious gifts for mugging, pratfalls, mimicry, and a patented double-talk method of singing and stage patter. He did the international vaudeville circuit, performing all over the world in variety shows and stage reviews, before ultimately landing more serious stage work. His film career was inaugurated in 1944, and he appeared regularly over the course of the next two decades in comic and musical roles, such as his famous turn opposite Bing Crosby in WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954). The '70s and '80s found him tackling more serious acting roles and conducting orchestras for charity events. He died of a heart attack in 1987.