Milton Berle





Milton Berle (nŽe Milton Berlinger) (July 12, 1908 - March 27, 2002) was an
extremely popular American comedian, whose career spanned vaudeville, radio,
television, and film. His first great television success was as the
headliner for Texaco Star Theater on NBC from 1948 to June 14, 1955 (as the
Buick-Berle Show when Buick became the main sponsor in 1953). Berle became
known as "Mr. Television" and "Uncle Miltie".

By 1960 he was unable to find new television work, so he played Las Vegas,
made nightclub appearances, appeared on Broadway in Herb Gardner's The
Goodbye People in 1968 and appeared in many films. These included Let's Make
Love, with Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand (1960), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad
World (1963), The Loved One (1965), The Oscar (1966), and Lepke (1975). He
appeared in Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose (1984) and Driving Me Crazy
(1990).

In later life he presided as master of ceremonies for many roasts and other
gatherings.

Berle had one of the greatest joke collections in the world, with about 6.5
million jokes on computer. The books Milton Berle's Private Joke File and
The Rest of the Best of Milton Berle's Private Joke File each had 10,000 of
these jokes.

He was born in a five-story walkup at 68 West 118th Street.

He was one of the first seven people to be inducted into the Television
Academy Hall of Fame in 1984.

Milton Berle was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver
City, California.