Danny Thomas Dead At Age 79

LOS ANGELES - Emmy Award-winning actor Danny Thomas, star of the popular television series ``Make Room for Daddy'' and the benefactor of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, died today. He was 79.

Thomas was pronounced dead early today at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center about a half hour after he suffered a heart attack at his Beverly Hills home, said hospital spokesman Ron Wise.

Best known as the star of the popular television series ``Make Room for Daddy,'' Thomas had appeared to be in good health and recently completed a tour promoting his new book, ``Make Room for Danny,'' said Norman Brokaw, chairman and chief executive officer of the William Morris Agency.

``It's hard to believe. He really wasn't sick,'' said Brokaw, Thomas' longtime agent.

His daughter, actress Marlo Thomas, is married to talk show host Phil Donahue.

``Make Room for Daddy,'' one of the longest running family comedies, ran from 1953 to 1964. Thomas played a nightclub singer and comedian, Danny Williams. Marjorie Lord played Thomas' second wife, Kathy; Angela Cartwright played her daughter, Linda; and Rusty Hamer played his son, Rusty.

Born Amos Jacobs in Deerfield, Mich., the comedian grew up in a large Lebanese family in Toledo, Ohio. After a number of odd jobs, he moved to Chicago with the aim of becoming a radio actor.

Amos Jacobs was making a good living as a radio actor when he married Rosemarie Mantell in 1936. Their lives changed when Jacobs took a $50-a-week job as emcee at the Northside 5100 Club. He stayed three years, adopted a new name from brothers Danny and Thomas. He moved on to the prestigious Chez Paree in Chicago, then national fame.

Another turning point in Thomas' career came after his success in nightclubs and radio. Movie studios wanted to sign him, but there was one problem, as Thomas remembered:

``Louis B. Mayer said I had the qualities to become a great dramatic actor. He said I could be another David Warfield. I didn't even know who David Warfield was but apparently he was a Broadway star who also had a swarthy complexion.

``Then Mayer told me how Americans go to the movies to live in a dream world, leaving their own humdrum lives behind. They wanted to see beautiful people with perfect faces. So he wanted me to have my nose fixed.

``Afterward my agent, Abe Lastfogel of William Morris, said, `Danny, this is one thing I can't advise you on.' That night he called me at 11 and told me `Yes, I can advise you. You don't have to change your nose. There'll be plenty of work for you anyway.' ''

Lastfogel was right. Danny Thomas starred at MGM and Warner Bros., then moved smoothly into television. His series included ``Make Room for Daddy,'' ``The Danny Thomas Hour,'' ``Make Room for Granddaddy,'' ``The Practice,'' and ``I'm a Big Girl Now.''

Thomas founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., in 1962 and regularly made personal appearances on behalf of the hospital.

The hospital is a leading research center dedicated to finding cures for children's cancer and other catastrophic children's diseases.