Early years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929) Skelton was born Richard Bernard Eheart on July 18, 1913, in
Vincennes, Indiana. (The Eheart surname was his father's stepfather's, which his father occasionally went by.) Skelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a
clown with the
Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname, Eheart, was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future. He quickly learned the
newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence
stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin'', Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, "Help! I'm backing into heaven!" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. Ida Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son run away from home to become an entertainer, but "his destiny had caught up with him at an early age". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the
Great Depression, and it may have meant one fewer child for her to feed.
Burlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937) As burlesque comedy material became progressively more
ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; "I just didn't think the lines were funny". He became a sought-after
master of ceremonies for
dance marathons (known as "walkathons" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an
usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in
Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. He appeared in two short subjects for
Vitaphone in 1939:
Seeing Red and
The Broadway Buckaroo. For his
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as "Guzzler's Gin", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. "Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as
George Raft,
Edward G. Robinson, and
James Cagney. Skelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided
comic relief as a lieutenant in
Frank Borzage's war drama
Flight Command, opposite
Robert Taylor,
Ruth Hussey, and
Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in
Harold S. Bucquet's
Dr. Kildare medical dramas, ''
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective "The Fox", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark'' (1941) in which he began working with director
S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite
Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including
Whistling in Dixie (1942) and
Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite
Eleanor Powell,
Ann Sothern, and
Robert Young in
Norman Z. McLeod's
Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in
Edward Buzzell's
Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's
Panama Hattie. '' (1942) In 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King
Louis XV in a dream opposite
Lucille Ball and
Gene Kelly in
Roy Del Ruth's
Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in
Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy,
I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of
Buster Keaton's
Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film
The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's
A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and
Edward Sedgwick. His wife, Edna, is on his left. Skelton also imprinted "Junior's" shoes along with the message, "We Dood It!". Theater owner
Sid Grauman is in foreground of photo. Skelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist
Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show. Skelton's ability to successfully
ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of
The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's
A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits. Skelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as
Jack Donohue's
The Yellow Cab Man (1950),
Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's
Excuse My Dust (1951),
Charles Walters'
Texas Carnival (1951),
Mervyn LeRoy's
Lovely to Look At (1952),
Robert Z. Leonard's
The Clown (1953), and
The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received
Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series
Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in ''
Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'' (1965).
Radio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951) Performing the "Doughnut Dunkers" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on
Rudy Vallée's ''
The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour'' on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native
Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two
Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an
Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year. On October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced
Red Foley as the host of
Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on
Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.
"I dood it!" Skelton introduced the first two of his many characters during ''The Raleigh Cigarette Program's'' first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character
Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against
Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or "Junior", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. "Junior" would say things like, "If I dood it, I gets a whipping.", followed moments later by the statement, "I dood it!" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname "Junior" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in
a 1943 movie of the same title, but did not play "Junior" in the film. The phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when
General Doolittle conducted the
bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase "Doolittle Dood It" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a
Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the
Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber "We Dood It!" In 1986, Soviet newspaper
Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber. Skelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called "Mellow Cigars", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine "Guzzler's Gin", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience
warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his "Guzzler's Gin" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts. The divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's
deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the
Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio
sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to
Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own,
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. He was on army
furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in
Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his
tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.
A cast of characters ,
The Four Knights,
David Rose (orchestra leader). Seated:
Verna Felton ("Grandma" to Skelton's "Junior" character), Rod O'Connor (announcer),
Lurene Tuttle ("Mother" to Skelton's "Junior" character). Front: Skelton Skelton served in the United States Army during World War II, initially with the
field artillery at
Camp Roberts, California, and
Camp Ord with the double duty of entertaining soldiers. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer
exhaustion and a
nervous breakdown. He was
released from his army duties in September 1945. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945. Upon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a "loudmouthed braggart"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was
David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air. On April 22, 1947, Skelton was
censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer
Rod O'Connor and he began talking about
Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian
Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word "diaper". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons. Skelton changed sponsors in 1948;
Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was
Procter & Gamble's
Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.
Television (1951–1970) Skelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951. His television debut,
The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening
monolog, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943
instrumental hit by David Rose, called "
Holiday for Strings", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His "Freddie the Freeloader" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of "Good night and may God bless." as his wife, who appears to be walking on the wall in a 1952 Skelton show sketch During the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing. Skelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a
diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at
Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on
Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in
Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a
sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was
Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors
Johnson's Wax and
Pet Milk Company. By 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times between 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as
Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of
situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by
CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.
Richard's illness and death at dress rehearsal for
The Red Skelton Show, 1957|Skelton and Mickey Rooney at dress rehearsal for
The Red Skelton Show of January 15, 1957: Skelton as a sailor and Rooney as his wife play contestants on a parody of
Do You Trust Your Wife?. This was Skelton's return to television after his son Richard's leukemia diagnosis. At the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with
leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with
Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an
International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the
St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers. The Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a "cardiac-
asthma" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to
St. John's Hospital in
Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, "if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958. Richard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to appear on his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized
The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace
The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family.
Life magazine, profiling "The Invincible Red" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still "racked [sic]" by his son’s death. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station
KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at
Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it
The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his "Junior" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program. Skelton frequently employed the art of
pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the "Silent Spot". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, "They join a parade and start marching." In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by
Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform
Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was
Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator. In 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monolog about the
Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, "My heart has been broken." Skelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was canceled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (
Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on
The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May 1978. Skelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, "Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983,
Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.
Red Skelton onstage Skelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as "palaces"; he also likened them to his "living room", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, "Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone." Skelton was invited to play a four-week date at the
London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over
Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer
last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, "You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine." Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in
Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year. Though Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a
sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.
Later years and death In 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that
Neil Simon's comedy
The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in
Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1957. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with
Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast
Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well.
George Burns and
Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film. In 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including ''
Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces
series of specials. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime''. Skelton died on September 17, 1997, at the
Eisenhower Medical Center in
Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, from pneumonia. ==Art and other interests==