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BILL attended Emerson College. He was in the U.S. Army during WWII. He originated the JOSE JIMENEZ character in 1959, making his first appearance on THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW in the "Man on the Street" sketches. BILL made appearances on DANNY THOMAS'S, MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY series as JOSE, the Elevator Operator. NBC agreed to do THE BILL DANA SHOW without a pilot being made. Enter "THE BILL DANA SHOW" in TVTOME'S Search box for more information.

BILL also created several JOSE JIMENEZ comedy records which met with success. Records like JOSE THE ASTRONAUT endeared him to AMERICANS and he became an honorary Mercury astronaut and was in several NASA promotional ads.

BILL DANA is not Hispanic in orgin. He was born in Massachusetts of Hungarian-Jewish ancestry. Unfortunately, cross-ethnic humor became a no-do and he had to put aside his JOSE character. However, he went on to become an accomplished story writer. His ALL IN THE FAMILY episode, starring SAMMY DAVIS, JR. won an EMMY.