Milton Berle

Milton Berle
Birth Name: Milton Berlinger
Born: Jul 12, 1908
New York City, NY
Career: 1914-2000
Countries: USA
Genre/Type: Comedy
Biography by Hal Erickson
Few American comedians have had so aggressive a "stage mother" as did Milton Berle. Berle's mother Sarah dragged her son to New Jersey's Edison movie studios in 1914 to do extra work, then finessed the lad into supporting roles, including the part of a newsboy in the first-ever feature-length comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), which starred Charlie Chaplin. Under Sarah's powerhouse tutelage, Berle moved into vaudeville, making his debut at the prestigious Palace Theatre in 1921. Berle continued as a vaudeville headliner, with occasional stopovers on Broadway and in Hollywood, into the World War II years. His lengthy starring stint in the 1943 edition of Broadway's Ziegfeld Follies established Berle as a brash, broad, wisecracking comedian , whose carefully publicized propensity for "lifting" other comedians' material earned him the nickname "the Thief of Bad Gags." After only moderate success on radio and in films, Berle made a spectacular television debut as star of NBC's Texaco Star Theatre in 1948, which was the single most popular comedy/variety series of TV's earliest years and earned the comedian one of the industry's first Emmy Awards. So valuable was Berle to NBC that the network signed him to a 30-year "lifetime contract" in 1951, which paid him 100,000 dollars annually whether he performed or not (Berle managed to outlive the contract). Though his TV stardom waned in the late '50s, Berle was still very much in demand as an emcee, lecturer, author, TV guest star, motion picture character actor, and nightclub comedian -- still using essentially the same material and delivery which made him a star over 60 years ago. Berle died March 27, 2002 of colon cancer, he was 93.

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Filmography

Movie/Film Released Rating Role Buy
Two Heads Are Better Than None 2000 Actor [Starring]
Frank Sinatra Memorial 1999 Participant [Starring]
Steve Allen's 75th Birthday Celebration 1997 Performer [Starring]
Due South: Body Language 1995 Actor [Starring]
Storybook 1995 Actor [Starring]
The Real Story of Au Clair de la Lune 1994 Voice [Starring]
Hello Kaye Ballard! 1993 Actor [Starring]
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Season 04 1993 Actor [Starring]
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Ill Will 1992 Actor [Starring]
Driving Me Crazy 1991 Actor [Starring]
Best of 50's Comedy 1990 Archival Appearance
Carnival of Comedy 1990 Participant [Starring]
Happy Birthday, Bugs: 50 Looney Years 1990 Participant [Starring]
Help Save Planet Earth: Easy Ways to Make a Difference 1990 Participant [Starring]
Milton Berle: The Second Time Around - Comedy Carnival 1989 Archival Appearance
Milton Berle: The Second Time Around - Funny Fifties 1989 Archival Appearance
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Videos of Milton Berle

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Host Milton Berle demonstrates the trials and tribulations of hosting a variety television show episode... more | add synopsis
"according to mel blanc, the character's original voice actor, bugs bunny's accent is a flatbush accent, an equal blend of the bronx and brooklyn dialects. howevertex avery claims that he asked blanc to give the character not a new yor...
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