Richard Bernard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913 – September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television acts between 1937 and 1971 and as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. Skelton, who has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, also appeared in vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist. Skelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, then entered into vaudeville in 1934.Skeltons radio career began in 1937, Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in Alfred Santells Having Wonderful Time, and he went on to appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, such as I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946) and The Clown (1953). The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skeltons program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Skeltons artwork of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife, Georgia, convinced him to have a showing of his work at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful and Skelton also sold prints and lithographs of them, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer believed that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television work. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 17:52:00 +0000
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