Bob Hope goes home from hospital

Bob Hope

BURBANK, California (CNN) -- Bob Hope was released from the hospital Thursday after a 12-day stay for treatment of pneumonia.

"Mr. Hope is doing fine and eating well. However, it will be several more weeks before he is fully recovered from this illness," said his physician, Dr. Lee Kagan, in a statement released by the entertainer's publicist.

Hope, 98, was released from Providence St. Joseph Medical Center here at 9:45 a.m. (12:45 p.m. EDT) and returned with his wife, Dolores, to their home in Toluca Lake.

Asked what he wanted for dessert for his first lunch at home in a while, the comedian, according to the press release, replied, "I don't care ... as long as it's coffee ice cream."

At the recommendations of his doctor, the legendary entertainer entered the medical center on August 26, after he complained of breathing difficulties. Hope's condition was diagnosed as mild pneumonia.

A native of Eltham, England, Hope 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 his wife Dolores were married in 1934 and have four children.