Red Skelton
Personal Info
Known For Actor
Gender Male
Birthday 1913-07-18
Deathday 1997-09-17 (84 years old)
Place of Birth Vincennes, Indiana, USA
Also Known As Ред Скелтон, Richard Red Skelton, Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton, Richard Bernard Skelton
Red Skelton
Biography
The son of a former circus clown turned grocer and a cleaning woman, Red Skelton was introduced to show business at the age of 7 by Ed Wynn, at a vaudeville show in Vincennes. At age 10, he left home to travel with a medicine show through the Midwest, and joined the vaudeville circuit at age 15. At age 17, he married Edna Marie Stilwell, an usher who became his vaudeville partner and later his chief writer and manager. He debuted on Broadway and radio in 1937 and on film in 1938. His ex-wife/manager negotiated a seven-year Hollywood contract for him in 1951, the same year The Red Skelton Hour (1951) premiered on NBC. For two decades, until 1971, his show consistently stayed in the top twenty, both on NBC and CBS. His numerous characters, including Clem Kaddiddlehopper, George Appleby, and the seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe delighted audiences for decades. First and foremost, he considered himself a clown, although not the greatest, and his paintings of clowns brought in a fortune after he left television. His home life was not completely happy--two divorces and a son Richard who died of leukemia at age 9--and he did not hang around with other comedians. He continued performing live until illness, and he was a longtime supporter of children's charities. Red Skelton died at age 84 of pneumonia in Rancho Mirage, California, on September 17, 1997. Red is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Benediction.
Known For
Actor
as Himself (Host)/Various Characters
as Buffalo Bob Smith / Howdy Doody (archive footage)
as Self
as From 'Bathing Beauty' (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Himself
as Freddie the Freeloader
as (archive footage)
as Father Time / Baby Bear (voice)
as (archive footage)
as Host
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Self (uncredited)
as Self
as Self
as Self (uncredited)
as Freddie the Freeloader
as Aubrey Filmore in 'A Southern Yankee' (archive footage)
as Self
as Self
as Rusty Morgan
as Red Skeleton
as Drunk in Barbary Coast Saloon
as Self
as Self - Cameo / Clem Kadiddlehopper
as Self - Recipient
as Main
as Oswald from North Dakota (uncredited)
as Ambrose C. Park
as Rusty Morgan
as Ben Dobson
as Dodo Delwyn
as Self
as Al Marsh
as Self
as Cornie Quinell
as Joe Belden
as Host
as Rusty Cammeron
as Red Skelton - Fuller Brush Man (uncredited)
as Harry Ruby
as Augustus 'Red' Pirdy
as Self
as Self
as Self - Mystery Guest
as Jack Spratt
as Aubrey Filmore
as Red Jones
as Self
as Clem Kadiddlehopper
as Merton Gill aka Clifford Armytage
as J. Aubrey Piper
as J. Newton Numbskull (segment "When Television Comes")
as Stephen "Steve" Sherman Elliott
as (archive footage)
as Wally 'The Fox' Benton
as Red Skelton
as Joseph 'Joe' Rivington Renolds
as Louis Blore / King Louis XV
as Wally Benton
as Red
as Herbert P. 'Hap' Hixby
as Merton K. Kibble
as Joe 'Red' Willet
as Vernon Briggs
as Wally Benton
as Vernon Briggs
as Lieut. 'Mugger' Martin
as Red / Doorman / Coatroom Attendant / Waiter / Emcee
as Red
as Itchy
Writer
as Writer
as Writer
as Writer
as Writer
Producer
as Producer