Danny Thomas, Entertainer and Philanthropist, Dies

Entertainer Danny Thomas, best known for his 1950s television series “Make Room for Daddy” and his patronage of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, died of a heart attack early today. He was 79.

Norman Brokaw, head of the William Morris Agency and Thomas’ long-time agent, said the actor suffered an apparent heart attack at his Trousdale Estates home about 1:30 a.m.

Paramedics took Thomas to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead in the emergency room at 2:01 a.m., hospital spokesman Ron Wise said.

Thomas celebrated his birthday Jan. 6. He had just completed a tour to promote his autobiography, “Make Room for Danny.”

“He was a sweet, sweet man,” Brokaw said. “I grew up with him in the business. He was a marvelous man.”

Thomas is survived by his wife, Rosemarie, and his children, Marlo, Teresa and Tony.

Marlo Thomas, wife of TV talk-show host Phil Donahue, for a time eclipsed her father’s fame with her “That Girl” TV series in 1966. Tony Thomas is a television producer.

Thomas was born Amos Jacobs on Jan. 6, 1912, in Deerfield, Mich., to Lebanese parents and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. He adopted his professional name during a nightclub date in Chicago in 1940.

Last September, Thomas made a surprise visit to the small town where he was born, touring the village of about 1,000 people and popping in at some stores and St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, where he was baptized 79 years ago.

Thomas was most proud of humanitarian works, his countless acts of charity and work for worthy causes.

He endowed St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., as a shrine to his patron saint--the patron saint of the hopeless to whom he prayed when he was a $2-a-night nightclub comic with a wife who wanted him to go into the grocery business.

A religious man, Thomas once said, “My purpose in life is to propagate the philosophy of man’s faith in man, based upon my own belief that unless man re-establishes his faith in his fellow beings, he can never establish a faith in God.”

Among his best-known television credits was “Make Room for Daddy,” which debuted on ABC in 1953 and ran for 11 years. Thomas won five Emmy awards for the program, which became one of the most successful shows in TV history.

Thomas was also a businessman, forming his own company to produce television programs.