Burns and Allen of the Academy Awards, a record that would remain until Jessica Tandy won an Oscar for "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1989. Burns, who became a centenarian in 1996, continued to work until just weeks before his death of cardiac arrest on March 19, 1996, at his home in Beverly Hills. In 1929 Burns and Allen made their debut radio performance broadcast in London on the BBC. In the United States, they had failed at a 1930 NBC audition. After a solo appearance by Gracie on Eddie Cantor's radio show, they were heard together on Rudy Vallee's "The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour"
Driving Miss Daisy (play) Tours and Regional National Tours were launched starting in 1988. Julie Harris was the Daisy for the 1st National Tour. Rosemary Prinz also played the role in a second tour. The first production in Chicago was also a long-running production, originally starring Sada Thompson. Ellen Burstyn, Charlotte Rae, and Dorothy Loudon also played Miss Daisy as replacements. West End (1988) The play was produced in London's West End in 1988 at the Apollo Theatre. 1992 Television cast In 1992, the play was filmed for television as a possible series. This production starred Joan Plowright as Miss Daisy, with Robert Guillaume