RICHARD (RED) SKELTON

From Circus Clown to World Renown Entertainer

Born in Vincennes, Indiana, Richard Bernard Skelton, son of a circus clown, was an American comedian who was best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971.

Skelton’s show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while silently pursuing another career as a painter.

Red Skelton got one of his earliest tastes of show business when he went to work for the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus as a teenager, the same circus his father worked for.

Red’s father Joe Skelton, passed away in a tragic accident shortly before Red was born.

Red Skelton caught the show business bug at 10 years of age from entertainer Ed Wynn, who spotted him selling newspapers in front of the Pantheon Theatre, in Vincennes Indiania. After buying every newspaper Red had, Mr Wynn gave him a ticket and invited him to see the show.

While performing in Kansas City in 1931, Skelton married his first wife, Edna Stillwell, who was an usher at the theater. In 1943 their marriage ended in divorce but Edna Stillwell remained his manager.

In 1945 he married Georgia Davis. They had two children, Richard and Valentina. Richard died in May of 1958 when he was a small boy, from leukemia, which devastated the household.

Red and Georgia divorced in 1971 and he married Lothian Toland in 1973, daughter of Gregg Toland, Academy Award-winning cinematographer.

Red Skelton died in a hospital in Palm Springs, California of pneumonia on September 17, 1997. At the time of his death, he lived in Anza, California, and was married to Lothian Skelton, his wife of 25 years. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

“GOODNIGHT NOW AND MAY GOD BLESS”

Get to know Red Skelton with these videos from YouTube!

The Red Skelton Tribute Theater does not own any copyright to these videos and is sharing these public videos for educational purposes only.