Cast & creator
Benny Goodman
Best known for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Show, What's My Line?
The King of Swing! Famed clarinetist, composer ("Stompin' at the Savoy") and conductor, educated at the Lewis Institute in Chicago and a student of Schillinger and Schoepp. He was a clarinetist with the orchestras of Bix Beiderbecke, Jules Herbuveaux, Arnold Johnson and Ben Pollack, and also played in Broadway theater orchestras. He began to lead his own orchestras in 1934 at the Billy Rose Music Hall, then conducted the orchestra on the weekly radio program "Let's Dance" in 1934-1935, and played at numerous hotels, colleges and theaters. Expanding his musical efforts, he performed in chamber music concerts, later touring throughout the US, Europe, the Far East, South America and the USSR and made many recordings. Joining ASCAP in 1945, his chief musical collaborators included Count Basie, Harry James, Mitchell Parish, Andy Razaf, Edgar M. Sampson, Chick Webb, and Teddy Wilson. Some of his other popular songs and instrumental compositions include "Lullaby in Rhythm," "Don't Be That Way," "Seven Come Eleven," "Flying Home," "Two O'Clock Jump," "Air Mail Special," "Dizzy Spells," "If Dreams Come True," "Georgia Jubilee," "Four Once More," and "The Kingdom of Swing".
Also known as: Benjamin David Goodman, The King of Swing, The Benny Goodman Sextet
31
film credits
15
television credits
44
1929–2026 · acting roles
6.7
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (46)
Showing 46 of 46 credits
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
1961
What's My Line?
Self
1950
The South Bank Show
1978
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest
1968
Le Grand Échiquier
Self
1972
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
1956
The Danny Kaye Show
Self
1963
The Kennedy Center Honors
Self
1978
The Bell Telephone Hour
Self
1959
DuPont Show of the Month
Self
1957Bio’s Bahnhof
Self
1978
Jazz
Self (archive footage)
2001The Big Party
Self
1959
Make Mine Music
Self (voice)
1946
A Song Is Born
Professor Magenbruch
1948
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
1975
Stage Door Canteen
Benny Goodman
1943
The Gang's All Here
Benny Goodman
1943
The World of Polygoon
Self (archive footage)
1994
Birth of the Blues
Self (archive footage)
1941
The Big Broadcast of 1937
Benny Goodman
1936
The All-Star Christmas Show
Self
1958
Hollywood Hotel
Benny Goodman, Leader of His Orchestra
1938
Charlie Parker: Bird Songs
Self (archive footage)
2022
Syncopation
Benny Goodman
1942
Sweet and Low-Down
Benny Goodman
1944
The Sid Caesar Collection: The Magic of Live TV
Self (archive footage)
2000
Sackgasse
Original Music Composer
1963
The Powers Girl
Self - Orchestra Conductor (uncredited)
1943
Two for the Record
Self
1954
Music Land
Orchestra Leader (archive footage)
1955
Swing With Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Tony Bennett
2001
Mitzi... What's Hot, What's Not
Self
1978
Allen in Movieland
Self
1955
Benny Goodman - Adventures In The Kingdom Of Swing
Self (archive footage)
1993
The Shining Future
Self
1944
John Gunther's High Road
Self
1959
Louis Armstrong & Benny Goodman - Sounds in Motion
2000
All the Cats Join In
1946Me and the Boys
Self - Clarinet
1929
Copland Conducts Copland
Self - Clarinet
1976
Tag! You’re It!
Original Music Composer
2026Legends in Concert: Benny Goodman
2004