Reader Question
Late Night Listings
How about listing the guests on Leno, Dave, Conan, and Kilborne for us late
nite people. (My question mark has left the building...)
Peace,
~~ Steve B
To be honest, Steve, I'm also a late night person. The most accurate late night TV listing for
Dave, Jay, Conan, Bill & Craiggers is in the morning paper, and it can leave a lot to be desired.
It gets here a little after 6am. Can't stay up that late anymore (well, most days). But, I am generally back online by 8am (well, ok, on
school days [barring kid-related festivals of phlegm]), so will try to give it a try, but, please, don't expect too much. : )
Reader Artwork
A Trollop In Paisley?
The ever-fabulous 'Misty of Chincoteague' (love the name - Marguerite Henry rules in my memory, and, my copy of 'Misty', [1961 edition]
is around here somewhere), sent this.
Visit her site at 'renovations coming soon'
Too late came I to thee, O thou Beauty both so ancient and so fresh.
Yea, too late came I to love thee. And behold, thou wert within me,
and I out of myself, where I made search for thee.
--St. Augustine
If I could tear my heart
and keep it miles apart
from love of beast or man
and never give a damn
If I could learn to lie
and never show my pride,
i'd be just like the rest,
be someone I detest.
-- the Gentle Waves
From 'TBH Politoons'
Great Site!
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The Festival of Phlegm, Day 3. Once again, the freaking daily matinee was 'The Iron Giant' and 'A Bug's Life'.
The young master will be returning to school in the am. (In the background, a large choral group does a grand rendition of
'The Hallelujah Chorus').
Saw some of 'Enterprise', and realized my backwoods high school yearbook more than proves the existence of Ferengi and they aren't
that foreign or exotic.
Tonight, Thursday, it's a fresh night on CBS with 'Survivor: Marquesas', 'CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation', and 'The Agency'. Dave is fresh.
It's also an all fresh night on NBC with 'Friends', 'Leap of Faith', 'Will & Grace', 'Just Shoot
Me' and 'ER'. Jay is fresh.
Showing their contempt for the audience once again, ABC starts an otherwise fresh night off with a rerun of 'Whose
Line', followed by another 'Whose Line', 'Regis' and then PrimeTime Thursday'. Bill Maher is still in reruns.
The WB has 2 fresh episodes of 'My Guide To Becoming A Rock Star', and then a rerun 'Charmed'.
Faux has a night of 'specials'. First up is 'Post Mortem' and then 'An O'Really Factor Special: The Corruption of the
American Child'. Am I the only one who sees a bit of irony in the network that single-handedly killed 'the family hour', and fills
with the most specious and salacious programming, bemoaning the whoring of childhood?
UPN has 'WWF Smackdown'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Finally Getting Some Respect
Rodney Dangerfield
Tie-shifting, googly-eyed comic Rodney Dangerfield finally got some respect Wednesday with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The 80-year-old comic and star of the movies "Caddyshack" and "Back to School" was praised by "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno and former "Full House" star Bob
Saget at a ceremony that attracted scores of fans.
"We're here today to bury Rodney," Leno joked in his opening remarks.
Dangerfield repeatedly interrupted praise with shouts of: "What a liar he is!" With his traditional "no respect" schtick, the self-deprecating
jokester delivered several one-liners in his speech before the Hollywood Boulevard crowd.
Pointing to his wife, Joan, he quipped: "She married me to get even with her parents."
"Now I'll tell you, things are going real good for me, real good," he added later. "I just finished my first book. ... Now, I'm gonna read another one."
Dangerfield suffered a mild heart attack last November but continues to perform live shows regularly at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas.
Rodney Dangerfield
Rodney was jaw-droppingly amazing in 'Natural Born Killers'.
Reality TV Gets Too Real
''Dog Eat Dog''
A contestant on a new NBC game show was hospitalized Wednesday after a stunt in which he held his breath under water for two minutes.
The 26-year-old man was alert and conscious when paramedics arrived at a downtown studio but was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital as a precaution,
Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
The man, identified by NBC only as a Los Angeles personal trainer, requested information about his condition be withheld, hospital spokeswoman
Mari Bregman said Wednesday.
It was unclear whether he lost consciousness during the stunt for the "Dog Eat Dog" show. In the 911 emergency call requesting help, an unidentified
caller said the man was unconscious, Humprey said.
When paramedics arrived at the Los Angeles Center Studios shortly after 2 a.m. he was "conscious, alert, breathing on his own and talkative,"
Humphrey said. Other TV show contestants have faced difficulties. Last year, "Survivor" contestant Michael Skupin suffered severe burns when he
fainted into an Australian outback campfire.
The episode was the first shot for "Dog Eat Dog," which does not have an air date, NBC said. The show was not in production today, as scheduled, the network said.
If the hospitalized contestant "wants to, he can continue," a network source said.
''Dog Eat Dog''
Yoo Hoo! Excuse me for asking, but what the fuck are they doing taping an NBC network show at the (Chicago) Tribune-owned station/studios at 2am?
They were taping a network TV stunt at 2am!?
Something is more than wrong with this picture.
Rusty & Ozzy & Autographs
Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne has bitten the head off a bat, defecated in a woman's handbag, and snorted a line of ants off the ground - but the rocker was
utterly disgusted at the idea of meeting Russell Yates, the husband of convicted child killer Andrea Yates. While shadowing Osbourne for an
upcoming story in Blender magazine, writer Adrian Deevoy accompanied him to a "Today" show taping, where Deevoy met Yates in the green room.
Yates yammered about what a big Osbourne fan he was, sang several Black Sabbath songs, and talked excitedly about getting a picture with the
rocker. But when Osbourne and wife Sharon were told that Yates wanted a photo, they were repulsed. "I will burn his eyes out with a hot poker,"
Ozzy bellowed. "He is profiting directly from the demise of his own children. And that, to me, is wrong." After being warned that Yates was
waiting for him in the green room, the Osbournes and Devoy ducked out the door.
Ozzy Osbourne
Big Dog Watch Continues
Bill Clinton & The Brady's
Former President Clinton praised the efforts of gun control activist Sarah Brady at a party in Manhattan to celebrate publication of her new book, "A Good Fight."
Clinton said Tuesday that Brady's 20-year campaign to keep guns out of the hands of criminals has "given the gift of life to countless thousands and thousands of Americans."
During James Brady's long recovery, the couple began a public campaign for legislation that would place restrictions on the purchase of handguns.
Their efforts culminated a decade later during the Clinton administration with the signing of the Brady Law, which requires background checks on gun buyers.
"This is pretty incredible. I guess it's like my life," Sarah Brady said. "This life I've had, with ups and downs, has been wonderful."
She said the Brady legislation might never have been passed without Clinton's support.
"We would never have reduced gun violence in this country, we would never be where we are today without the support of Bill Clinton," she said. "He's always
fought for what he believes in, and for that we have a safer world today."
Bill Clinton & The Brady's
$5000 In Damages
Naomi Campbell
British supermodel Naomi Campbell won a landmark privacy case against a tabloid newspaper Wednesday in a ruling likely to place important restrictions on the way
the media report on celebrities.
Campbell won damages of $5,000 from the Mirror for breach of confidence and invasion of privacy over a report that she was attending meetings of Narcotics Anonymous.
The judge, Michael Morland, backed the claims of the 31-year-old model, adding that a Mirror article had "trashed her as a person in a highly offensive and hurtful manner."
But the judge also criticized Campbell, who admitted being a drug addict during the week-long hearing in February.
Naomi Campbell
Too Much Bull
Lyle Lovett
Country singer Lyle Lovett was trampled by a bull and hospitalized with a broken leg Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Lovett was undergoing surgery on his right leg Wednesday night, said Memorial Hermann Hospital spokeswoman Beth Sartori.
Lovett was injured on his uncle's farm is Klein, near Houston, the Tomball Regional Hospital said in a release. A bull flipped
Lovett's uncle, Calvin Klein, 67, and Lovett was trampled while trying to help his uncle. Klein was treated and released at Tomball.
Lovett's hits include "If I Were The Woman You Wanted" and "San Antonio Girl." Lovett won his first Grammy in 1989 for his
album, "Lyle Lovett and his Large Band."
Lyle Lovett
Lyle Lovett is also the first Mr. Julia Roberts.
Not A Corpse...
Doll Collector
A Munich man suspected of murder after he was seen carrying what a neighbor thought was a dead body into his apartment was cleared after he showed police
his collection of rubber sex dolls.
A police spokeswoman said Tuesday the neighbor called to say he saw the man carrying a "corpse" into the apartment. Police responding to the call found
the suspect to be "surprised and disturbed" by their questions at first.
"When the officers then told the man they were investigating a murder he showed them his newly acquired silicon sex doll," the spokeswoman said.
"The man also showed the officers four other inflatable sex dolls he owns. Apparently, he had just been testing out his new acquisition when police arrived."
The spokeswoman said the police then left the apartment and closed the file. "They didn't want to disturb him any longer," the spokeswoman said.
Doll Collector
Thanks, Alex! This one made me laugh.
Video Release - August 6th
LOTR
Middle-earth is getting bigger and bolder on home video.
The theatrical version of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" debuts on video Aug. 6, followed Nov. 12 by an extended
edition that will add about 30 minutes to the three-hour film.
The theatrical release was rated PG-13, but distributor New Line said Tuesday the extended version probably would be explicit enough to carry an R rating.
The August DVD release will come in a two-disc set with two hours of bonus material, including a 10-minute sneak preview of the second
chapter in the film trilogy, "The Two Towers," due in theaters Dec. 18.
The longer version of "Fellowship of the Ring" will come in a four-disc set with six hours of extra material, including behind-the-scenes looks at how
director Peter Jackson recreated J.R.R. Tolkien's mythical land of hobbits, elves and wizards.
LOTR
Alex's Guilty Pleasure
'DOL' & Mrs. Fields
The long-running NBC soap "Days of Our Lives," the Mrs. Fields cookie chain and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society have partnered in a unique promotion breaking
this month and running through February.
Although total spending by the partners is estimated at a little less than $1 million, the parties all expect to reap benefits valued at far beyond that amount
from added promotion on-air, online and at retail at Mrs. Fields' 450 locations nationwide.
The deal is the first of its type for all involved. "This whole cross-promotion thing is something new," said Greg Meng, senior vp at Corday Prods., which
produces "Days." "I was trying to think of ways to get our brand out there (and) integrating with other brands that target the same demo."
Mrs. Fields will be integrated into the plot of "Days" beginning next month. Several characters will talk about entering the Mrs. Fields recipe contest and
will be shown with Mrs. Fields products and bags. The soap also will feature a story line in which a character contracts leukemia, allowing the show to discuss
the disease and specifically promote a walk-a-thon in September. The LLS is consulting on these episodes.
Oversized posters, signs and countertop displays go up in Mrs. Fields stores this week, tied to the company's second annual Winning Is Sweet recipe contest. Mrs.
Fields launched the contest last year with no co-sponsor. This year, "Days" and the charity are flagged on promotional materials, and the grand prize includes
a walk-on role on "Days."
Online fan site SoapCity.com is tying in to the promotion, with information and links to the Mrs. Fields and LLS sites. Mrsfields.com also promotes the deal, with a
prominent "Days" logo on its page promoting the recipe contest.
'DOL' & Mrs. Fields
Thanks, Alex!
Gala Benefit Cedars-Sinai Research for Women's Cancer
'An Unforgettable Evening'
Honorary chairs director Steven Spielberg (L) and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, pose with actress Rita Wilson (2ndR) and her husband, actor
Tom Hanks, at "An Unforgettable Evening," the sixth annual gala to benefit Cedars-Sinai Research for Women's Cancer in Los Angeles March 26, 2002.
Sir Elton John was honored with the Courage Award for "making a difference through his commitment and dedication to helping others." Previous
recipients include Catherine-Zeta-Jones, Hilary Rodham Clinton and Rosie O'Donnell.
Photo by Jim Ruymen
Rockabilly Tour This Summer
Billy Bob Thornton
Actor Billy Bob Thornton, star of "The Man Who Wasn't There," will soon be the man behind the microphone as he launches a two-week rockabilly tour this
spring to promote his debut album, "Private Radio."
Thornton, who once earned a living as a drummer and opened for such acts as Humble Pie, Hank Williams Jr., Ted Nugent and Richie Havens, will return to
his musical roots with a series of small concert-hall performances starting May 17 at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.
The actor will use the eight-city U.S. tour to showcase songs from "Private Radio," released last fall by Lost Highway Records, as well as tunes from an
upcoming record, a statement announcing the tour said on Tuesday.
"Private Radio" was released to mixed reviews last fall, though Rolling Stone magazine, which gave it four stars, described the album as a "pleasing
Southern Gothic exploration in mid-tempo twang, bad-boy rockabilly revelries and dark balladry."
Most of the songs were co-written by Thornton, who plays drums on the record, and producer Marty Stuart.
Billy Bob Thornton
Snarky Gossip
Halle Berry
Did Halle Berry offend Oscar host Whoopi Goldberg during her acceptance speech? Halle, Best Actress for "Monster's Ball," cited Dorothy
Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll and Oprah Winfrey, but not Goldberg, who won Best Supporting Actress for 'Ghost." "No way," says
Goldberg's rep. "Whoopi was very happy for Halle." William Morris agent Cassian Elwes also got the shaft from Berry. Elwes tells Independent
Film Quarterly that he held Lions Gate CEO Michael Burns hostage in his office until he agreed to finance the film which "no one else in
Hollywood would even touch." Also unmentioned by Berry: her co-star, Billy Bob Thornton.
Halle Berry
''Bruce Almighty''
Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey is set to star in "Bruce Almighty," a Universal Pictures comedy that reteams him with "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective" director Tom Shadyac. Shooting will start in July.
Carrey, Shadyac and scribe Steve Oedekerk began working together on the film in earnest last month, when Carrey became available after the Gary Ross-directed comedy often
called "Dog Years" screeched to a halt. At that time, Universal executives were eager to get Carrey into another film following their success with "How the Grinch
Stole Christmas" and "Liar Liar."
Carrey and Oedekerk wrote together on "In Living Color," and Oedekerk also directed the "Ace Ventura" sequel.
"Bruce Almighty" is a whiny guy who questions once too often why God gives him so much grief. He is suddenly given almighty power for 24 hours to teach him how difficult
it is to run the world. Comedy ensues as the guy misuses, then tries to harness his awesome power.
Jim Carrey
Faberge Eggs
'Winter Egg'
The Faberge "Winter Egg" stands on display at a presentation for journalists in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow March 27, 2001. The egg, one of
the most famous of Faberge's Easter eggs and valued at 4-6 million US dollars, will be auctioned in New York in April by Christie's with
several other artifacts sold by the Russian State in the 1920's.
Photo by William Webster
Entertainment Employment Down In LA
'Blame Canada'
Los Angeles County's entertainment biz has lost nearly 18,000 jobs over the past year, due to the combined effects of last year's de facto writers' and actors'
strikes, runaway production to cheaper locations and the recession, according to an economic forecast due to be released Wednesday.
The UCLA Anderson Forecast estimates jobs in the Hollywood motion picture production business fell 11.8% to 133,600 in February from 151,400 in March 2001.
And the UCLA economists believe many of the eliminated slots will not be filled again, due to the continued move of feature production to lower-cost locales.
"We don't see a lot of these jobs coming back although we're also not anticipating any more major losses," said economist Christopher Thornberg. "It's
a reflection of the larger changes in the business with more of the jobs in Los Angeles in management, administration and design rather than production."
The UCLA estimate comes three months after the Los Angles-based Center for Entertainment Industry Data & Research released a report showing the
migration of features -- not even including TV films -- to Canada has led to losses for the U.S. economy of $1.8 billion and of 22,400 jobs in the past three years.
Thornberg noted the overall number of Hollywood jobs had been dropping by about 2,000 annually, mostly due to runaway production, before last
year's boom in shooting due to the unrealized threat of strikes. But he pointed out that the relative ease of shooting features in non-Hollywood
locations precludes any significant rebound in local feature activity.
Entertainment Employment Down In LA
Funny how this story misses the union-angle altogether. IATSE, for example, has bailed out of departments in signatory companies. These are jobs that are
here in LA, and not going anywhere. Told over 60 dues-paying members they didn't want/need them anymore. Oh, but, the member is still expected to pay into the 'withdrawal with
honor' fund. Kind of funny name for a group with no honor.
It's so much easier to 'Blame Canada'
Another Merger On The Horizon?
EchoStar
Federal regulators have received more than 1,000 letters on the proposed merger between the nation's top satellite TV providers, with the help of
a Web site EchoStar Communications Corp. established to make sending the letters easier.
EchoStar, which runs the Dish Network, is seeking approval to merge with Hughes Electronics Group, parent of DirecTV. The Federal Communications
Commission is not expected to rule on the proposed merger for a few months.
EchoStar's Web site forwards messages for and against the merger to the FCC and to the letter-writer's U.S. senators and congressional representative.
EchoStar
EchoStar merger site
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Memory
Dudley Moore
Actor Dudley Moore, who became an unlikely Hollywood heart-throb portraying a cuddly pipsqueak whose charm melted hearts in "10" and "Arthur," died Wednesday
at his home in New Jersey, a spokeswoman said. He was 66.
Moore died at 11 a.m. EST, said publicist Michelle Bega in Los Angeles. The British-born actor died of pneumonia as a complication of progressive supranuclear palsy, she said.
There was more than a touch of autobiography in "10," the 1979 film in which Moore played a musician determined to marry a perfect woman. But the happy ending eluded him
in real life. Four marriages ended in divorce.
He confessed to being driven by feelings of inferiority about his working-class origins in Dagenham, east London, and because of his height of five feet, 2 1/2 inches. In
later life he also spoke of the pain of being rejected by his mother because he was born with a deformed left foot.
Comedians, he said in an interview with Newsday in 1980, are often driven by such feelings. "I certainly did feel inferior. Because of class. Because of strength. Because of
height. ... I guess if I'd been able to hit somebody in the nose, I wouldn't have been a comic."
Music was Moore's entree into public performance, first as a chorister and organist in his parish church in Dagenham, near London, and then in 1960 as a young Oxford graduate
recruited for the hit four-man comedy review "Beyond the Fringe."
"Fringe," which played two years in London and then moved to Broadway, was perhaps the greatest assembly of young comic talent in Britain in this century. Moore was teamed with
Alan Bennett, later a successful playwright; Jonathan Miller, the cerebral opera producer and medical doctor, and Peter Cook, a surreal comic talent and a famously dissipated talent.
Moore's whimsical sense of humor fitted oddly with the more savage satirical style of his partners. "Apart from his musical contributions to the show," Cook wrote in Esquire in
1974, "Dudley's suggestions were treated with benign contempt by the rest of us."
One of Moore's celebrated contributions to the show was his impersonation of the pianist Dame Myra Hess, playing a bombastic version of "Colonel Bogey's March" which he couldn't seem to end.
Moore and Cook formed a fast friendship and later teamed on television as Dud and Pete on "Not Only ... but Also," a sketch comedy series. They also plumbed the depths of taste and decency
in a series of recordings as "Derek and Clive."
Cook and Moore made their screen debuts in "The Wrong Box" in 1966, and followed up the next year with another success, "Bedazzled."
Moore wrote, starred and composed the score for his next film, "30 is a Dangerous Age," in 1968.
Moore and Cook teamed again in 1971 for a comedy review titled "Beyond the Fridge," which was a success in London and a smash on Broadway in the 1973-74 season, with the pair winning a special
Tony award for their "unique contribution to the theater of comedy."
Cook returned to England but Moore settled in Southern California, where he met the director Blake Edwards in a therapy group. When George Segal walked out of Edwards' production of "10," the director turned to Moore.
The 1979 film, co-starring Bo Derek, established Moore as a Hollywood star. Two years later, he had another: "Arthur," playing a rich drunk who falls for Liza Minnelli.
That marked the peak of Moore's film career, though he made several more films including a sequel to "Arthur" in 1988.
Moore married Suzy Kendall in 1958, Tuesday Weld in 1975, Brogan Lane in 1988 and Nicole Rothschild in 1994. He had a son, Patrick, by his second marriage and a son, Nicholas, by his fourth.
Dudley Moore
TV's First Superstar
Milton Berle
Comedian Milton Berle, whose zany, cross-dressing entrances on the variety show he hosted from 1948 to 1956 ushered in the age of television and made him the medium's
first superstar, died on Wednesday, his spokesman said.
Spokesman Warren Cowan said Berle, known to millions as "Uncle Miltie," died in his sleep at his Los Angeles home. He was 93.
Hailed as both "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" at the height of a career spanning nine decades, Berle had been in declining health since suffering a stroke in December
1998 and was diagnosed with colon cancer in April 2001.
As one of the last of the great comedians -- among them Jack Benny, George Burns and Red Skelton -- who came of age in vaudeville, Berle's passing marked the end of an era.
With a beaming, Cheshire Cat-like grin, withering stare, cigar (and a notorious reputation for stealing jokes), Berle riveted viewers at the dawn of the television age.
Pushed into the limelight by his mother, he began as a child model for Buster Brown shoes in 1913 before working in dozens of silent movies. He then toiled on stage and
radio for years to perfect his wisecracking, comic persona.
Those three decades as a young performer served Berle well in preparing him for his biggest break -- his groundbreaking career in what was then the fledgling medium of television.
As the wildly comic host of NBC's "The Texaco Star Theater" (1948-53), which later became the top-rated "The Milton Berle" Show" (1954-56), Uncle Miltie ruled Tuesday
nights, virtually inventing TV's variety show format along the way.
Built like an old-fashioned vaudeville show, the original program opened with four Texaco Service Men singing "Oh, we're the men of Texaco, we work from Maine to
Mexico ...," followed by a musical introduction of Berle, who came on dressed in women's clothes or in some other outlandish costume.
Introduced as "the man with jokes from the Stone Age," Berle entered as a caveman. Announced as "the man who just paid his taxes," he came on wearing a barrel. The show
closed each week with Berle singing his theme song, "Near You."
As much as anyone, Berle established television as a form of popular entertainment. During his show's eight-year run, the number of TV sets in the United States jumped
from 190,000 to 21 million, almost all of them tuned into Uncle Miltie.
Other entertainment outlets felt the first sting of broadcasting competition as viewers stayed home to watch the man with the jug ears and overbite.
"Berle turned a TV set into more than a piece of talking furniture," Robert Batscha, then-president of the Museum of Broadcasting, recalled at a 1985 tribute.
Berle once described the success of his television program as "dizzying. ... I got a very big kick out of all the success, financially and everything, even though it
was terribly hard work. Just murder."
Without a budget for writers, Berle relied on sight gags and routines from his stage acts, and on guest entertainers ranging from singers to acrobats and ventriloquists.
"Berle was instant party time," critic Lawrence Christon wrote. "He was the long-deferred birthday cake for a country beginning to feel chipper after a postwar
convalescence, and he played that sense of giddy, goofy relief to the hilt, gussied up in those dumb costumes, chasing people in the audience, cracking up with
his guests, forever charging into our living room tranquillity."
Although Berle starred on the very first "Texaco Star Theater" broadcast on June 8, 1948, he rotated hosting chores with several other performers that
summer -- including Henny Youngman, Morey Amsterdam and Jack Carter -- before ultimately becoming permanent emcee in September.
With the rising popularity of TV westerns, detective shows and other dramas, Berle's show inevitably waned in the ratings. Two years after its final broadcast,
Berle reappeared on NBC in October 1958 as host of the "Kraft Music Hall" variety series," which lasted just one season. Another comeback bid in 1966, as host
of a more restrained version of "The Milton Berle Show" on ABC, was canceled after several months.
Still, he remained a fixture on television through the 1960s with numerous specials -- some built around him -- and guest spots on the other shows.
He was born Mendel Berlinger to poor Jewish immigrants in New York on July 12, 1908. To help support the family, his mother, Sarah, took him to booking and
modeling agencies and he became the boy in the Buster Brown shoe ads.
At age six, he landed a role in "The Perils of Pauline" series of movie melodramas, filmed in New Jersey. That led to a part in "Tillie's Punctured Romance"
with Charlie Chaplin.
With his mother, Berle headed to Hollywood where his childhood film credits included "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm." By his own
count, Berle appeared in more than 50 silent films as a youngster.
He made his Broadway debut at age 12 in a 1920 production of "Floradora." As a young man, he turned to comedy and by his early 20s was a star of vaudeville,
leading to engagements in the "Earl Carroll Vanities" and the "Ziegfeld Follies."
Wherever he performed, his mother attended every show. "It was a steel-cord story," Berle later said. "Umbilical. Couldn't cut it. Mama also loved the
notoriety. Loved the spotlight. It was always Milton and his mother." She died in 1954.
After his run on NBC ended, Berle made movies, playing himself as a comedy coach hired for a showgirl (Marilyn Monroe) in the 1960 film "Let's Make Love."
He appeared three years later in the all-star comedy "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and in a other features into the 1980s, including "The Muppet Movie"
(1979) and "Broadway Danny Rose" (1984).
In 1989, Berle toured the country with Danny Thomas and Sid Caesar in a show billed "The Living Legends of Comedy." He also made guest stints on many shows
and received an Emmy nomination for playing an Alzheimer's victim on "Beverly Hills, 90210."
But advancing years ultimately took their toll. A fall while performing a concert for his 90th birthday, followed by a stroke in December 1998, left Berle
unsteady on his feet, and by the end of his life was using a wheelchair to get around. But he continued to show up regularly at the Friars Club in Beverly
Hills, where he presided as Abbott Emeritus.
His later years brought kudos and ridicule. He received an American Comedy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1996, but a scathing memoir by his estranged
son, William Berle, titled, "My Father, Uncle Miltie," landed with a thud in 1999.
Berle is survived by his fourth wife, Lorna Adams, whom he married in 1992. His third wife, Ruth Cosgrove, a former press agent he married in 1953, died
in 1989. She is the mother of William Berle. The comedian was previously twice married and twice divorced from former showgirl Joyce Matthews, with whom
he had two children. His first marriage, to actress Beryl Wallace, ended in divorce.
Milton Berle Obit
Laugh.com - Milton Berle
Dress Up Milton
People: Milton Berle, Mr. Television
The Milton Berle Show - Yesterdayland Prime Time
About Classic TV - Milton Berle
BartCop TV!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
