SKELTON, RED

born July 18, 1913, Vincennes, Ind., U.S. byname of Richard Bernard Skelton U.S. pantomimist and radio and television comedian, host and star performer of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) variety program The Red Skelton Show from 1951 to 1971. In this television series Skelton re-created a number of fictional characters whom he had used in vaudeville and radio, among them Clem Kaddiddlehopper, Sheriff Deadeye, Junior, the Mean Widdle Kid, and Cauliflower McPugg. Skelton employed a style combining buffoonery and emotional complexity. Skelton's father, a circus clown, died two months before Skelton was born, and he had to help support himself from an early age. He was a newsboy by the age of 7, and when he was 10 he took to the road with a medicine show touring the midwestern United States, putting an end to his schooling. He went on to minstrel shows, burlesque, circus clowning, and radio. He took roles in some 30 movies, including a film starring Ginger Rogers, Having a Wonderful Time (1938). His appearance on The Rudy Vallee Show in 1937 led to other bookings. Entering radio, he was voted the outstanding new radio star of 1941. His other movie credits included Excuse My Dust (1939), Bathing Beauty (1944), and The Fuller Brush Man (1948).