![]() ![]() My destiny just caught up with me at an early age." The person most responsible for Red Skelton's involvement in the theater, however, was the famous actor and comedian, Ed Wynn. As Red Skelton later said, "Mom used to say I didn't run away from home. She taught her son Red (nicknamed for his bright red hair) to appreciate art and gave him tickets to vaudeville shows. His mother, left with four boys to raise on her own, worked as a cleaning woman and an elevator operator. In a People Magazine article in 1979, Skelton admitted that he fudged about his age, and was quoted as saying he was "in his seventies." Biographer Arthur Marx reported (from second hand information) that Skelton may have been born as early as 1906, and the year 1910 was sometimes cited as the year of his birth. In Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Skelton (1878–1913), who died in 1913 shortly before the birth of his son, and Ida (née Fields) Skelton (1884–1967). He was born Richard Bernard Skelton on Jin Vincennes, Indiana, the son of Joseph E. Skelton, who had his own radio show from 1941-53, embraced TV in 1950 and gained his greatest fame there, showcasing his gift for pantomime and his memorable characterizations, such as Freddy the Freeloader, on the long-running "The Red Skelton Show" which ran on NBC from 1951-53, then on CBS from 1953-70, and finally on NBC for its last year 1970-71. ![]() A vaudeville and burlesque performer who worked his way up from the bottom of the rung clubs and show boats to play the Paramount Theatre in NYC, Red Skelton entered films in 1938 and went on to appear in some two dozen musicals and comedies through the 1940s, mostly for MGM.
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