Freeman F. Gosden

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 240-241. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith; pg. 17-19, article titled 'Amos and Andy'. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387.

He died of heart failure at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, on the morning of December 10, 1982.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 332-334. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

A longtime friend and neighbor of Frank Sinatra, he was Sinatra's best man at his wedding to fourth wife Barbara Marx in 1976.

He was a writer and actor, known for Check and Double Check (1930), The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951) and The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935). He was married to Jane S. Gosden and Leta Marie Schreiber.

Gosden and Charles J. Correll's "Amos 'n' Andy" (1928-1955) was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.

Gosden and his partner Charles J. Correll began developing their "Amos 'n' Andy" characters, along with over 100 additional minor personalities on Chicago radio in the late 1920s. First heard on WEBH and followed on WGN the team hit gold when they were picked up on NBC's Red Network as a quarter-hour serialized show, captivating audiences each night at 7:00 pm (except Sundays). They were to radio what Milton Berle would be to TV some 20 years later: they popularized a medium, at one point capturing 60% of all radio listenership and being credited for selling 4.4 million radios.

Freeman F. Gosden was born on May 5, 1899 in Richmond, Virginia, USA as Freeman Fisher Gosden.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio at 1777 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.