Milton Berle

Comedian

Name at birth: Mendel Berlinger

Milton Berle was the first great superstar of the TV age, the undisputed king of the medium in the early 1950s. His variety show Texaco Star Theater (later The Milton Berle Show) ran from 1948-56, with ringleader Berle often wearing women's gowns and other outrageous costumes; his popularity earned him the nicknames "Mr. Television" and "Uncle Miltie." Berle got his start in vaudeville, touring as a stand-up comic and eventually appearing with the Ziegfeld Follies. After his own show ended Berle made hundreds of guest appearances on TV and starred in movie comedies like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963, playing Ethel Merman's son-in-law) and Who's Minding the Mint (1967, with Joey Bishop). He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1984.

Extra credit: Berle won an Emmy Award for Texaco Star Theater in 1949, and again in 1978 for lifetime achievement... Berle played himself in Woody Allen's 1984 movie Broadway Danny Rose... Berle died on the same day as comedian Dudley Moore and one day before director Billy Wilder.

Other vaudeville-era comedians include Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, and Henny Youngman.