To many, Jackie Gleason is synonymous with the loud, short-tempered Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners. While Gleason was a larger-than-life entertainer, the brilliant man behind the act was full of unusual interests and personal quirks that set him apart from his peers. From his tough Brooklyn childhood to his obsession with UFOs, “The Great” Jackie Gleason was much more than just a TV star.
Brooklyn roots and a tough childhood
Jackie Gleason was born Herbert Walton Gleason Jr. on February 26, 1916, in Brooklyn, New York, where his childhood was marked by tragedy and hardship.
His older brother, Clement, died of meningitis when Jackie was only three years old, and in 1925, his father abandoned the family, leaving Jackie and his mother with no income.
He was a real-life pool hustler
Ages before becoming “Minnesota Fats,” Jackie Gleason got an on-the-job education in the pool halls. When his father left the family, young Jackie dropped out of school, finding work as a “rack boy”, where he learned to hustle unsuspecting players, including new high school graduates.
“On graduation day, everybody’d get these gold pins,” he shared during an interview for New York Magazine. “And I’d play them for their gold pins. Then I’d take the pins to the hockshop and get maybe $20, and nobody ever asked what a ten-year-old kid was doing with all these gold pins.”
Gleason later put his billiards skills to good use as George Hegerman (Minnesota Fats) in 1961’s The Hustler, alongside Paul Newman and George C. Scott. He performed all the trick shots himself, nabbing a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his work.
No need to rehearse
Jackie Gleason displayed his genius for ad-libbed humor at a young age, good-naturedly insulting the principal during an eighth-grade school play. (He picked up a fallen microphone and Gleason wisecracked, “That’s the first thing you have ever done for this school.” The principal was among those who thought it was hilarious.)
Gleason, with his belief that fresh, spontaneous delivery made for funnier television, later became famous for refusing to rehearse. This drove his co-stars on The Honeymooners mad, especially because his unpredictable timing could easily throw them off. But audiences loved the natural, chaotic, authentic-feeling energy Gleason delivered. His improvisational style became one of the Great One’s trademarks.
In her memoir, Love, Alice: My Life as a Honeymooner, co-star Audrey Meadows recalled that she was initially dismayed by Gleason’s refusal to rehearse but grew to understand his method. “Jackie was just captured by the spirit of his momentary idea and moved with it. He was living the role, and the audience knew that and was living it with him.”
‘The Great One’
Throughout his career, Jackie Gleason was known as “The Great One.” The nickname was bestowed by the legendary actor and director Orson Welles.
According to Gleason, Lucille Ball also picked up on it. “I’m really not offended by [the name],” he joked in a 1984 interview with Morley Safer for 60 Minutes.
Safer then asked if Gleason ever believed the nickname was true. “You just saw me play pool, didn’t you?” Gleason deadpanned.
“The Great One” stuck and is still synonymous with Gleason.
He found unexpected success in music
While Jackie Gleason is best known for his comedy and acting, casual fans might be surprised to learn that he was also a success in the world of music. Although he wasn’t formally trained as a musician, he had an excellent ear and could communicate his ideas to a professional arranger.
In 1952, Gleason released Music for Lovers Only, an album of popular love songs. He hired and conducted a sixty-piece orchestra with a large string section. Biographer James Bacon wrote that for his debut album, Gleason “picked all the songs he liked to drink by at 2 A.M. — “I’m in the Mood for Love,” “I Only Have Eyes for You,” and “My Funny Valentine.”
Music for Lovers Only set a record for the longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten album chart, 153 weeks. Gleason released more than a dozen additional albums throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, many of which became staples of cocktail parties and romantic evenings.
In the biography How Sweet It Is, Bacon noted that the famous conductor Percy Faith once wrote to Gleason to ask, “If you can’t read music, how can you compose and conduct like you do?” to which Gleason replied, “Well, if you write a story, you don’t need a typewriter. Shakespeare didn’t have one.”
He had an obsession with UFOs and the paranormal
Jackie Gleason was fascinated by UFOs and other paranormal phenomena. An avid reader and collector of books on the subject, he amassed an extensive private library focused on UFOs, parapsychology, and the occult. After Gleason’s death, his collection of books was donated to the University of Miami.
In the 1950s and ‘60s, UFOs were a popular topic in American media. Gleason frequently appeared on Long John Nebel’s radio show, which specialized in paranormal themes. This gave him a platform to share his views and hear from others deeply invested in UFO lore.
In 1963, he spoke candidly to the editor of Panorama, a newsletter for “students and research groups of flying saucers and inter related subjects.” When they asked if he thought the experience of seeing UFOs could be caused by hallucinations or overactive imaginations, “Gleason smile[d] knowingly. ‘If Flying Saucers exist only in the imagination, the countries like Canada and the United States are making saucers in the shape of peoples [sic] imagination,’” he responded.
Did Nixon show him dead alien bodies?
By the 1970s, Gleason’s reputation as a believer was well-known. An intriguing story about him emerged during this era. After he and his second wife, Beverly, separated, she was interviewed for an Esquire article. She revealed in the interview that President Richard Nixon allegedly showed Gleason preserved alien bodies at Homestead Air Force Base one night in ’73 or ‘74.
Multiple versions of the account have circulated since Beverly’s interview. The accuracy of the story remains unverified, and the original article itself is apparently not available anywhere online (spooky, right?) – only references to it. Regardless, the tale continues to resurface.
According to Larry Holcombe in The Presidents and UFOs: A Secret History from FDR to Obama, Gleason was upset that Beverly shared the story but “never denied her account of his late-night trip with the president.”
Ad-libbing at Burt Reynolds’ party
Jackie Gleason and Burt Reynolds became friends while filming Smokey and the Bandit together. Reynolds later recalled what it was like to work with such a skilled ad-libber. “[Gleason] never said a single word in the script,” Reynolds wrote.“ I loved every minute of it, and it was a great lesson: When you’re with somebody that good, just fly with them.”
At the televised “All-Star Party for Burt Reynolds” in December 1984, Gleason surprised everyone by showing up in full costume as Sheriff Buford T. Justice. Playing the blustery Texas lawman one last time, Gleason turned the Hollywood gala into a comedy routine. This was his final on-screen appearance as Justice, following the release of Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983).
‘The Mothership’
While the Nixon/alien story is unverified, there is an unusual house in upstate New York that provides concrete proof of Gleason’s fascination with UFOs. In 1959, he commissioned a circular spaceship-inspired home in Cortlandt Manor, New York. He was working on The Honeymooners at the time, and planned the estate in the Hudson Valley Woods as a refuge from the city.
Nicknamed “The Mothership,” the futuristic property was designed without right angles. It featured a space-age interior, including three bars, a shuffleboard table, marble dance floor, circular library, broadcasting studio, and two guest “spaceship” structures.
In 2025, the house was listed for sale, giving Gleason fans and architecture admirers a chance to ogle the secluded structure online.
Famous relations
Gleason and his first wife, dancer Genevieve Halford, had two children together. Their daughter Linda Gleason, also an actor, married actor and Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Jason Miller, best recognized for his role as Father Damien Karras in the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist.
Linda and Jason had a son, the actor Jason Patric. Patric is known for his work in films like The Lost Boys, Rush, Sleepers, Your Friends & Neighbors, and My Sister’s Keeper.
Gleason and Patric did not know each other well, and as an aspiring actor, Patric wanted to avoid even the appearance of nepotism. “My grandfather was a very talented man but he was never part of my emotional life so I refuse to make him part of my professional life,” he said.
Works cited:
Bacon, J. (2020). How Sweet It Is: The Jackie Gleason Story. Doris Bacon.
Hamill, P. (1985, Sept 23). Gleason’s Second Honeymoon. New York Magazine.
Holcombe, L. (2016). The Presidents and UFOs: A Secret History from FDR to Obama. St.
Martin’s Griffin.
Meadows, A., & Daley, J. A. (1994). Love, Alice: My Life as a Honeymooner. Crown.
Reynolds, B. (2016). But Enough About Me: A Memoir. Penguin.
Stone, F. (1963). Jackie Gleason Reaffirms His Belief in the UFO. Panorama.
