The Road to Ninety : FROM RADIO AND TELEVISION, TO MOVIES AND USO TOURS, BOB HOPE HAS ENDURED FOR NINE DECADES

Bob Hope isn’t sure how he’ll be celebrating his 90th birthday on May 29.

“I think my wife has something planned,” says Hope, who made his show business debut in vaudeville 69 years ago in the “Fatty Arbuckle Revue.”

“I’ve heard her talk about it.”

NBC, though, isn’t keeping its plans a secret. Hope has been with the network a staggering 55 years and it’s pulling out all the stops to wish him a happy birthday. Its present: a star-studded, three-hour tribute, “Bob Hope: The First 90 Years,” airing Friday.

And last month, the peacock network dedicated NBC Studios in Burbank to Hope, who starred in his first TV special for NBC in 1950.

Hope, who was a dance instructor, newspaper reporter and amateur boxer before turning to show biz, is taking these birthday tributes in stride. “Isn’t it something,?” he says, laughing. “I am kind of happy about it.”

“The First 90 Years” is a trip down the Hope memory lane. “This show will be driven by Hope’s career,” says daughter Linda, who is executive producer. “When somebody performs, they are not going to perform their latest hit, they are going to perform music Hope has introduced over the years or sang in a movie. Hopefully, it will contribute to the public’s awareness of who Bob is and has done throughout these 90 years.”

Taped earlier this month, the special is hosted by Johnny Carson, Roseanne and Tom Arnold, Walter Cronkite, Angela Lansbury, Jay Leno, Paul Reiser, Tom Selleck and Betty White. Also included is never-before-seen footage, including home movies Hope shot while in vaudeville and clips from his Broadway shows “Roberta” (1933) and “Red, Hot and Blue” (1936).

Linda Hope has been “blown away” working on the special because she always took her dad for granted. “He has been my dad and I grew up with him,” she says. “It was never a big deal to me, but I must say going back and looking at the enormity, the volume of work this man has done, I am just absolutely impressed by the excellence of it. It has been fascinating for me as a daughter.”

Adds Linda: “When you think about it, he is a man who has had his foot in every decade of this century and really witnessed this century. One of the reasons NBC really wanted to pay tribute was because network heads have come and gone and Hope has been a constant. I think the only person who has been there longer than him is the peacock!”

Hope has no intention of slowing down. Not only does he continue to golf every day, his handicap is currently an impressive 12.

Linda Hope admits she can barely keep up with her father and mother Delores, who has just cut her first album. “They are both very involved, whether it be in show business things or charity-related things,” she says. “They have calendars that are booked for ages. I think that really is to a large measure what keeps them going.”

Hope agrees. “You are meeting people who you like,” he explains. “You are happy, you laugh a little bit and you exercise. I think you can’t do much better than that.”

“Bob Hope: The First 90 Years” airs Friday at 8 p.m. on NBC.