Bob Hope, 98, Gets Treatment for Pneumonia

Comedian Bob Hope, who was hospitalized in Burbank with mild pneumonia, was conscious, breathing with oxygen and taking potent antibiotics, his doctor Wednesday.

The 98-year-old comic was having trouble breathing Sunday at his Toluca Lake home. Doctors and relatives decided to take him to the hospital, said Dr. Lee Kagan at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center.

Although he was admitted in serious condition, “he is in much improved condition and stable. I would say he is not serious at this point,” Kagan said.

Hope is able to talk some and use hand gestures, Kagan said. He is expected to stay in the hospital for several days.

The comedian’s wife, Dolores, and daughter, Linda, have been at the hospital.

Hope was hospitalized last summer with gastrointestinal bleeding but recovered. Although he is frail from age, Hope has remained in relatively good health throughout the year, spokesman Ward Grant said.