Profile of Red Skelton on Famous Like Me

Bernard Richard "Red" Skelton (July 18, 1913 – September 17, 1997) was an American comedian born in Vincennes, Indiana who started in vaudeville as a teenager, worked his way up to Broadway shows, secondary roles in MGM movies, radio performances and finally popularity in the early days of TV. His eponymous variety show ran alternately on the television networks CBS and NBC from 1951 through 1971. (See: The Red Skelton Show.)

During World War II, Skelton helped sell war bonds, and served as a private in an entertainment unit.

He is best remembered for taking on the persona of circus clowns in traditional makeup — a role that may have come naturally to Skelton, since his father, who died shortly before his birth, had worked as a clown for the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His best-known clown persona was "Freddy the Freeloader", who had traditional tramp clown makeup. Another popular character was goofy "Clem Kadiddlehopper". Skelton was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989.

Near the end of his life, Skelton said his daily routine included writing a short story a day and composing a piece of music a day (which he would then sell to providers of background music such as Muzak). He was also an accomplished painter, mostly painting clowns as his subjects. His original paintings of clowns now sell for thousands of dollars.

Red Skelton died in a Palm Springs, California hospital of an undisclosed illness. At the time of his death, he lived in Anza, California. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California.

Filmography

• Having Wonderful Time (1938)
• Seeing Red (1939) (short subject)
• Flight Command (1940)
• The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941)
• Whistling in the Dark (1941)
• Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941)
• Lady Be Good (1941)
• Ship Ahoy (1942)
• Maisie Gets Her Man (1942)
• Panama Hattie (1942)
• Whistling in Dixie (1942)
• Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)
• Thousands Cheer (1943)
• I Dood It (1943)
• Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)
• Radio Bugs (1944) (short subject) (voice)
• Bathing Beauty (1944)
• The Luckiest Guy in the World (1946) (short subject) (voice)
• Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
• The Show-Off (1946)
• Merton of the Movies (1947)
• The Fuller Brush Man (1948)
• A Southern Yankee (1948)
• Neptune's Daughter (1949)
• The Yellow Cab Man (1950)
• Three Little Words (1950)
• Duchess of Idaho (1950) (cameo)
• The Fuller Brush Girl (1950) (cameo)
• Watch the Birdie (1950)
• Excuse My Dust (1951)
• Texas Carnival (1951)
• Lovely to Look At (1952)
• The Clown (1953)
• Half a Hero (1953)
• The Great Diamond Robbery (1953)
• Hollywood Goes to War (1954) (short subject)
• Susan Slept Here (1954) (cameo)
• Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
• Public Pigeon No. One (1957)
• Ocean's Eleven (1960)
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)

External Links

• Red Skelton at the IMDB
• Official website of Red Skelton

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Red Skelton