Doctor: Hope may go home by end of holiday

Hope

BURBANK, California (CNN) -- Bob Hope's physician said Friday his patient is recovering surprisingly quickly from his mild case of pneumonia.

"I'm impressed with how quickly he has responded," said Dr. Lee Kagan, an internist at Providence/St. Joseph's Medical Center. "Actually, for a 98-year-old man, he has turned around as quickly as I might have expected from a much younger person."

VIDEO Entertainer Bob Hope checked into a Los Angeles hospital to receive treatment for pneumonia. CNN's Lauren Hunter reports (August 30) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Kagan said Hope remains in stable condition. "Although he has been weakened by his illness, his condition continues to improve, and we are confident he will go home by the end of the Labor Day weekend," he said.

But Hope is not expected to be released before Sunday, his publicist, Ward Grant, told CNN.

He said Hope is requiring less supplemental oxygen. Hope was admitted to the hospital Sunday evening after he experienced difficulty breathing.

"He looks stronger. He looks like he is nearly back to his baseline condition," Kagan said.

Hope's wife of 67 years, Dolores, and his daughter, Linda, have been at his side throughout his hospital stay.

Among thousands of get-well wishes, Hope received a phone call Thursday from former President Gerald R. Ford and his wife, Betty, Grant said.

The entertainer was hospitalized in June 2000 for gastrointestinal bleeding. Grant said the current hospitalization is unrelated to any previous health problem.

Hope, a native of Eltham, England, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, after his parents moved to the United States.

He became an American citizen and, after a brief amateur boxing career in the early 1920s, performed in vaudeville and on Broadway before launching a film career in 1938 that included starring roles in 54 feature films, including his "On the Road" movies with Bing Crosby that began in 1940 with "The Road to Singapore."

He became perhaps best known for entertaining U.S. troops, taking an ever-changing troupe of performers to the battlefronts of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East and the Gulf War.

He was a television pioneer, signing with NBC for a series of specials that spanned decades and included annual Christmas shows and broadcasts from the Soviet Union and China.

He also hosted the Academy Awards for years, though he never won one for a movie performance. But he did get five special Oscars for his humanitarian acts and contributions to the industry.

His last movie was in 1985, "Spies Like Us."

He and Dolores were married in 1934 and have four children.