On August 2000, cable television station TvLand unveiled an eight-foot bronze statue of Gleason as Ralph Kramden. The statue was placed in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.
On January 20, 1961, a game show he co-developed, "You're In the Picture" (1960), premiered on CBS. The premise was to have celebrity guests place their heads into a cutout scene and ask the host questions as to guess what picture or historical scene they were in. The show's concept was ill-conceived, especially for co-creator and host Gleason, and was blasted by critics and viewers alike. On the next week's broadcast Gleason apologized to the viewers, saying, "Honesty is the best policy. We had a show last week that laid the biggest bomb! I've seen bombs in my day, but this one made the H-bomb look like a two-inch salute." The time slot was filled with a variety program; "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1961).
Once said that Orson Welles bestowed his "The Great One" nickname upon him.
Prone to excess with wine, women, song and work, a lifestyle which often led to exhaustion. In such cases, he would check into a hospital for some needed rest. But one famous story has it, when Gleason really felt "sick", he checked himself OUT of the hospital, and went home to be taken care of!
Recorded a number of albums featuring instrumental "mood music" (what is now known today as "lounge music"). Gleason served as producer, band-leader, and (on occasion) vibraphone player, despite the fact that he couldn't read sheet music. Several of the albums included original compositions by Gleason. One album, "Lonesome Echo", topped the charts in 1955, and featured an album cover with original art by Salvador Dalí.
The Miami Beach Auditorium was re-named the Jackie Gleason Theater and is located on 17th Street and Washington Avenue on South Beach.
The popular Hanna-Barbera character Fred Flintstone was based on him, as the Flintstones animated series was loosely based on the Honeymooners. Upon realizing this, Gleason tried to file a lawsuit against Hanna-Barbera but was dissuaded from doing so by friends and colleagues who advised him that it would be bad for his reputation if he became known as "the man who killed Fred Flintstone.".
The set of "The Honeymooners" (1955) show was based on Jackie's childhood home on Chauncey Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant (originally Bushwick) area of Brooklyn, New York. The apartment building is still there and looks very much the same as in Jackie's time.
There were plans to reunite him with Art Carney for Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979). They were to play two men who would be stationed on top of a Ferris Wheel. However, Gleason's representatives informed the producers that he would not perform with Carney. But by 1985, just two years before he died, he was reunited with Art Carney in "Izzy and Moe" (1985). They even shared over the credits billing, with Carney first, but lower left, and Gleason second, but upper right.
Was a mentor and frequent drinking buddy of Frank Sinatra. It was Gleason who first introduced Sinatra to Jack Daniels whiskey, which became Sinatra's signature drink.
Won Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "Take Me Along" over his two also-nominated co-stars, Walter Pidgeon and Robert Morse .