Red Skelton
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 | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 0.48 |
| Birthday | 1913-07-18 |
| Place of Birth | Vincennes, Indiana, USA |
| Also Known As | Ред Скелтон, Richard Red Skelton, Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton, Richard Bernard Skelton, |
1960
Ocean's Eleven
6.366/391
Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night.
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Ocean's Eleven
1985
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
0/0
William Shatner, Liz Taylor and many more stars blow lines, lose their pants and more in this hilarious collection of movie and TV bloopers.
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Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
1965
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes
6.777/193
In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley announces an air race and offers £10,000 to the first person who can fly across the Engl...
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Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes
1977
Rudolph's Shiny New Year
6.434/106
Rudolph must find Happy, the baby new year, before the midnight of New Year's Eve.
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Rudolph's Shiny New Year
1979
The Hollywood Clowns
0/0
Glenn Ford narrates this hilarious look back at the greatest comedians in movie history.
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The Hollywood Clowns
1977
The People's Command Performance: '77
0/0
A celebrity lineup selected by a “specially conducted nationwide survey” entertains.
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The People's Command Performance: '77
1950
Three Little Words
6.1/15
Song-and-dance man Bert Kalmar can't continue his stage career after an injury, so he has to earn his money as a lyricist. By chance, he meets compose...
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Three Little Words
1952
Lovely to Look At
5/9
Broadway producers Tony Naylor, Al Marsh, and Jerry Ralby are having difficulty securing funds for their latest show. Then Al learns he has inherited...
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Lovely to Look At
1951
Texas Carnival
4.7/6
A Texas carnival showmen team is mistaken for a cattle baron and his sister.
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Texas Carnival
1945
Ziegfeld Follies
6/56
The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld looks down from heaven and ordains a new revue in his grand old style.
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Ziegfeld Follies
1949
Neptune's Daughter
6/31
Scatterbrained Betty Barrett mistakes masseur Jack Spratt for Jose O'Rourke, the captain of the South American polo team. Spratt goes along with the c...
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Neptune's Daughter
1948
The Fuller Brush Man
6/5
Poor Red Jones gets fired from every job he tries. His fiancée gives him one last chance to make good when he becomes a Fuller Brush man. His awkward...
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The Fuller Brush Man
1943
Du Barry Was a Lady
6.4/16
Hat check man Louis Blore is in love with nightclub star May Daly. May, however, is in love with a poor dancer but wants to marry for money. When Loui...
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Du Barry Was a Lady
1943
Thousands Cheer
6.4/20
Acrobat Eddie Marsh is in the army now. His first act is to become friendly with Kathryn Jones, the colonel's pretty daughter. Their romance hits a fe...
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Thousands Cheer
1942
Ship Ahoy
5.9/9
Miss Winters is a dancer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and is asked to secretly transport a prototype magnetic mine to Puerto Rico. She thinks that...
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Ship Ahoy
1944
Bathing Beauty
5.8/32
After breaking up with her fiancé, a gym teacher returns to work at a women's college, but a legal loophole allows him to enroll as one of her student...
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Bathing Beauty
1941
Lady Be Good
5.4/14
Married songwriters almost split up while putting on a big show.
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Lady Be Good
1968
The Dean Martin Christmas Show
7.6/4
A Classic Holiday Celebration with Dean and Friends.
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The Dean Martin Christmas Show
1938
Having Wonderful Time
4.6/14
Teddy Shaw, a bored New York office girl, goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains for rest and finds Chick Kirkland.
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Having Wonderful Time
1966
Clown Alley
10/1
An all-star cast joins Red Skelton in this lavish 60-minute salute to circus clowns.
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Clown Alley
1954
Susan Slept Here
6/30
On Christmas Eve, suffering from a case of writer's block, screenwriter Mark Christopher and his gofer Virgil get an unexpected visit from Sergeant Ma...
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Susan Slept Here
1951
Excuse My Dust
7.2/4
Joe, inventor in an American Small town of 1895 has problems with his new invention, a car, driven with a gasoline motor. Everybody is making fun abou...
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Excuse My Dust
1981
Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner
4.8/3
Freddie the Freeloader sets out to have Xmas dinner in a very expensive New York restaurant with his good friend, the Professor. Along the way he stop...
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Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner
1941
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
6.6/8
A variety of predicaments arise to distract Dr. Kildare from his wedding to Nurse Mary Lamont.
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Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
1941
Whistling in the Dark
5.8/14
Radio crime show host 'The Fox' along with his fiancée and ex-girlfriend are kidnapped by a larcenous cult who demand that he help them plan a perfect...
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Whistling in the Dark
1943
Whistling in Brooklyn
6.3/3
Radio crime show host "The Fox" finds himself on the trail of a serial killer while a suspect himself.
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Whistling in Brooklyn
1942
Whistling in Dixie
5/3
Radio sleuth Wally 'The Fox' Benton travels to Georgia with his fiancé Carol to be married; and to help Carol's college chum, Ellamae Downs, solve a m...
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Whistling in Dixie
1940
Flight Command
5.6/11
A rookie flyer, Ens. Alan Drake, joins the famous Hellcats Squadron right out of flight school in Pensacola. He doesn't make a great first impression...
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Flight Command
1953
The Clown
5.2/10
Once a famous Ziegfeld star, Dodo Delwyn is reduced to playing clowns in burlesque and amusement parks as a result of his drinking. His son Little Din...
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The Clown
1942
Maisie Gets Her Man
6.5/2
Struggling performers, Sothern and Skelton's lives are thrown off gear when they are caught with a bagful of hard cash robbed by a goon. With Skelton...
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Maisie Gets Her Man
1950
The Yellow Cab Man
6.3/6
Pirdy is accident prone. He has been denied insurance from every company in town because he is always getting hit or hurt in some way. On the day that...
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The Yellow Cab Man
1970
Jack Benny's 20th Anniversary TV Special
0/0
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Jack Benny's 20th Anniversary TV Special
1942
Panama Hattie
4/2
Sailors and spies mingle in between the acts at Hattie's nightclub in the Canal Zone.
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Panama Hattie
1947
Merton of the Movies
6.3/5
In 1915, Kansas theatre usher Merton Gill is a rabid silent-movie fan. When he brings Mammoth Studios free publicity by imitating star Lawrence Rupert...
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Merton of the Movies
1941
The People Vs. Dr. Kildare
6.8/5
An ice skater sues Kildare (Lew Ayres) for malpractice after his roadside first aid leaves her paralyzed.
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The People Vs. Dr. Kildare
1943
I Dood It
4.2/5
Constance Shaw, a Broadway dance star, and Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a keen fan of hers, marry after she breaks up with her fiancé. Connie thinks Jos...
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I Dood It
1954
The Great Diamond Robbery
0/0
Ambrose C. Park, left on a park bench as an infant with an impulsive need to find his parents, is an assistant to a diamond cutter. Shyster lawyer Rem...
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The Great Diamond Robbery
1953
Half a Hero
5.5/2
A man moves his family from the big city to the suburbs.
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Half a Hero
1970
Swing Out, Sweet Land
6/4
John Wayne and an all-star cast tell the story of America.
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Swing Out, Sweet Land
1948
A Southern Yankee
5.2/4
Red Skelton plays Aubrey Filmore, a feather-brained but lovable bellboy who dreams of becoming an agent for the Union's secret service during the Civi...
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A Southern Yankee
1950
Watch the Birdie
5.3/7
A photographer falls for a rich girl and gets mixed up with crooks.
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Watch the Birdie
1946
The Show-Off
7/2
Chaos is brought to a family when daughter marries a brash young man met on a blind date.
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The Show-Off
1950
The Fuller Brush Girl
6/10
A daffy door-to-door saleswoman blunders into a murder investigation.
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The Fuller Brush Girl
1939
Seeing Red
5.5/2
When he is fired from his job, Red puts a hex on his boss. That evening, the boss goes to a nightclub and discovers that the hex worked.
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Seeing Red
1957
Public Pigeon No. 1
6/2
Swindlers con a lunchroom clerk into doing them a favor, supposedly on behalf of the FBI.
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Public Pigeon No. 1
1974
That's Entertainment!
7.4/65
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.
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That's Entertainment!
1955
Red Skelton Christmas Classics
0/0
The ultimate Red Skelton Holiday Collection! Restored and In Color!
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Red Skelton Christmas Classics
2001
Red Skelton: Bloopers, Blunders, and Ad Libs
0/0
Comedian Red Skelton, who delighted millions in his radio, TV, and movie appearances for more than fifty years, once said, "I'm nuts and I know it. Bu...
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Red Skelton: Bloopers, Blunders, and Ad Libs
1999
Television: The First Fifty Years
0/0
Trace the history of television and its impact on American culture with clips, newsreels, and exclusive interviews from television greats like Walter...
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Television: The First Fifty Years
1956
Around the World in 80 Days
6.646/569
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a ve...
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Around the World in 80 Days
1964
The Big Parade of Comedy
6.6/5
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
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The Big Parade of Comedy
1976
America on Parade
0/0
Television special for the American Bicentennial starring Red Skelton, featuring the America on Parade pageant at Disneyland.
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America on Parade
1939
The Broadway Buckaroo
0/0
Red Skelton inherits a dude ranch and must live there for six months, far from the bright lights of New York City.
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The Broadway Buckaroo
1976
That's Entertainment, Part II
6.9/39
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical num...
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That's Entertainment, Part II
1944
Twenty Years After
6/1
This short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then from a number of 1944 releases.
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Twenty Years After
1985
That's Dancing!
7/19
A documentary film about dancing on the screen, from its origins after the invention of the movie camera, over the movie musical from the late 20s, 30...
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That's Dancing!
1984
Red Skelton: A Royal Command Performance
0/0
This performance was recorded live on Red Skelton's 70th Birthday on 18 July 1983 and released on the pay cable channel HBO on 22 April 1984. The reco...
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Red Skelton: A Royal Command Performance
1995
Inside the Dream Factory
6/1
Faye Dunaway hosts a behind-the-scenes look at the Hollywood star-making machine.
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Inside the Dream Factory
1970
Honor America Day
0/0
Bob Hope's 2 1/2 hour star-spangled salute to America... "Honor America Day" as aired on July 4, 1970 on WTOP Channel 4 Washington. Billed as a non-p...
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Honor America Day
1987
A Tribute to Houdini
6/2
John Calvert performs an array of tricks inspired by celebrated escape artist and magician Harry Houdini.
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A Tribute to Houdini
2005
Pioneers of Primetime
0/0
An in-depth look at the early days of television and its first stars.
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Pioneers of Primetime
2005
Red Skelton: America's Greatest Clown
0/0
Hollywood has seen the coming and going of many comic geniuses, but only a select few have been as universally beloved as gentle, low-key Red Skelton...
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Red Skelton: America's Greatest Clown
1956
The Country Husband
0/0
After a car crash and the arrival of a beautiful babysitter, a young businessman, William Wiley, considers leaving his wife for the babysitter.
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The Country Husband
1960
The Man in the Funny Suit
0/0
A dramatisation of the difficulties faced by actor Keenan Wynn when his father comedian Ed Wynn is cast in the dramatic production of Requiem for a He...
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