Phil Harris

Award-winning singer, bandleader, and actor Phil Harris helped pioneer musical comedy on the radio and appeared in more than 40 films and television shows. ∙ In 1934, his musical comedy film So This Is Harris! won an Oscar for Best Short Subject (Comedy). ∙ Harris became the bandleader for The Jack Benny Program in 1936 and remained with the iconic radio comedy show until 1952. ∙ First recorded in 1937, his zippy signature song, “That’s What I Like About the South,” became popular when he performed it in the 1945 film I Love a Bandleader. ∙ Starting in 1946, he starred in two comedy radio programs with his movie star wife, Alice Faye: The Fitch Bandwagon and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. ∙ He topped the Billboard Pop Singles chart for four weeks in 1950 with the percussive novelty single “The Thing.” ∙ In the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book, he voiced Baloo, sang the Oscar-nominated song “The Bare Necessities,” and duetted with Louis Prima on “I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song).” ∙ Following his success in The Jungle Book, he voiced characters and sang in the animated Disney films The Aristocats (1970) and Robin Hood (1973).