Danny Thomas moved from being a nightclub entertainer to one of the hosts of NBC's All Star Revue in the early days of television. He flopped and left television briefly, only to return with Make Room For Daddy, one of the most popular family comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Thomas' production company was also responsible for television shows such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Andy Griffith Show. Thomas also founded the St. Jude's Research Hospital, which is dedicated to finding cures for catastrophic children's diseases. The hospital opened in 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Thomas is the father of Marlo Thomas, star of the TV sitcom That Girl, which ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971; Marlo Thomas was once married to TV host Phil Donohue... Danny Thomas and his wife Rose Marie are buried in a memorial garden on the grounds of St. Jude's.